The State of Illinois has declared Marion and contiguous counties disaster areas following the severe storms and flooding that occurred April 2 through 6. The contiguous counties included are Clay, Clinton, Fayette, Jefferson, Washington and Wayne.
The state declaration opens the area for low interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The loans available are for business physical disaster loans, economic injury disaster loans, and home disaster loans. Applicants must have a credit history acceptable to SBA and must show the ability to repay all loans. Where no other credit is available loans could be as low as 2.750-percent for home loans and 4-percent for business loans.
A physical Disaster Loan Outreach Center will be opened at the Centralia Chamber of Commerce at 210 East Broadway in Centralia. It will open Monday May 19 at 10am. It will be closed Tuesday May 20 and Monday May 26, but will otherwise be open Monday-Friday 8am-5pm and Saturday from 10am-2pm.
Salem Emergency Management Director Andrew Strong says the damage surveys filled out earlier totaled enough for a State Disaster Declaration, but not a Federal Disaster.
The deadline to apply for physical damage is July 14 of this year and economic injury loans must be in place by February 17 of next year.
