FEMA will be opening a Disaster Recovery Center in Manatee County beginning tomorrow to help Florida storm survivors.

The Disaster Recovery Center will open from 1 – 7 p.m. Saturday at the Lakewood Ranch Library, 16410 Rangeland Parkway, Bradenton. The center will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily after that.

Disaster Recovery Centers offer in-person support to individuals and small business owners. Recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and the state, are available to help anyone with filling out applications or updating their status. Voluntary organizations are available and offer a variety of services to help survivors recover.

The registration process is the first step in your recovery and requires information such as insurance policies, and bank information for possible direct transfer of funds. To shorten wait times at Disaster Recovery Centers, citizens are encouraged to apply to FEMA online, by phone or using the FEMA App before going to a center for follow-up help. To apply, homeowners and renters can:

• Go online to disasterassistance.gov.
• Download the FEMA App for mobile devices.
• Call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362. Help is available in most languages. If you use a relay service, such as video relay (VRS), captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service.

Points of Distribution for emergency supplies that had been established at Parrish, Lakewood Ranch and Myakka City locations are being shut down as of 8 p.m. Friday. For further updates and information on Manatee County recovery efforts, please monitor mymanatee.org/storm.

For the latest information about Florida’s recovery, visit fema.gov/disaster/4806. Follow FEMA on X at x.com/femaregion4 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fema.

For more information on Manatee County Government, visit mymanatee.org or call (941) 748-4501. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @manateegov.

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