Northwest Missouri residents seeking government help for spring flood and storm damage have less than two weeks to apply for the financial aid.

Kerry Sullivan, external affairs field specialist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C., said more than $3 million in aid already has been approved for Missouri. Housing assistance alone is accounting for $2.8 million of the total, Mr. Sullivan said.

More than 1,000 applicants have registered so far for the period June 1 through July 18, when severe weather rolled through the region. Mr. Sullivan was unable to provide a breakdown solely for Northwest Missouri counties.

“There may be new disasters declared in Missouri,” he said. “This is getting to be a stale disaster” in terms of time length, he added.

Recent damage to Mark Twain Lake in Northeast Missouri could potentially open a new signup period for aid throughout the state.

Those who file should collect as much information as possible when they apply. Anyone without flood insurance will likely face a deficiency. Incomplete insurance documentation also will cause a delay in the overall process of receiving aid.

“That’s going to help them quite a bit,” Mr. Sullivan said of flood insurance.

Applicants should also provide good contact information to assist FEMA inspectors who will survey the damage. Inspections usually occur within seven to 10 days of when the application is received.

“Right now we’ve had over 1,355 requests for inspection,” Mr. Sullivan said.

Bank account data is also crucial to assess the abilities to qualify for and pay back loans.

Letters of denial are often based on technical reasons related to insurance questions and aren’t necessarily the final word on disaster assistance. An extended period is available to applicants who’ve been denied to appeal the decisions.

For more application information, call (800) 661-7362 or visit the Internet at www.fema.gov.

Ray Scherer can be reached

at rscherer@npgco.com.