Queens Residents to Get Disaster Aid

Queens was designated a federal disaster area yesterday because of intense flood damage to hundreds of homes during a storm on Aug. 8, federal officials said.

The designation will make low-interest loans and grants available to Queens homeowners for repairs, replacement of lost property and temporary rentals. Homeowners can register online or by calling toll-free hot lines set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Last week, Gov. Eliot Spitzer asked the agency to declare Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island storm-related disaster areas. Brooklyn and Staten Island were hit by tornados, but the bulk of the damaged properties were in Queens — 1,359 buildings, compared with 189 in Brooklyn and 21 on Staten Island. Of those, 460 residences in Queens, 76 in Brooklyn and one on Staten Island were deemed uninhabitable by a FEMA inspection team.

Queens neighborhoods that were particularly hard hit included Woodside, Elmhurst and Middle Village.

from the NY Times