SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Bruce Rauner is taking steps to ensure people and businesses in Lake County recover from severe storms and floods that occurred in July. He has submitted a request for U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) assistance that, if approved, will enable those in Lake and the contiguous counties of Cook and McHenry to apply for low-interest, long-term loans.
“Many people are still working to recover from these devastating floods,” Rauner said. “These low-interest loans could speed up that process and help people get back on their feet.”
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To be eligible for an SBA declaration, at least 25 homes and/or businesses in a county must sustain major, uninsured losses of 40 percent or more. A damage assessment conducted in August by the SBA identified 233 homes and 21 businesses in Lake County sustained major damages and uninsured losses.
On Aug. 31, the state of Illinois requested federal assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help people recover from the floods. That request was denied last week.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) consulted with the affected counties to see if any additional damage had been reported that could have been used to support an appeal of the denial. However, no additional damage information for homes and businesses was reported by the impacted counties.
