FEMA opens disaster relief center in Chicago for summer tornado victims
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Anyone whose home or business sustained damage from tornadoes in the Chicago area this past summer can now get help with repairs.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has opened a disaster recovery center in Cook County.
The National Weather Service confirmed 41 tornadoes in Northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana from the powerful and dangerous storms that hit the area on the night of both Sunday, July 14, and Monday, July 15.
Some downstate areas were also hit by storms with tornadoes and dangerous winds around that time.
Specialists from FEMA, the State of Illinois, and the U.S. Small Business Administration will be at the Cook County center to help survivors apply for federal disaster insurance, upload documents, get answers to questions in person, learn ways to make their properties more resistant to disasters, and get access to other forms of help.
The Cook County recovery center is operating out of the Frederick Douglass Branch Library at 3353 W. 13th St. in the North Lawndale neighborhood. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Another recovery center opens Monday at the Kaskaskia College Extension Center, at 17869 Exchange Ave. in downstate Nashville, Illinois. It will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.