Hillsborough and Polk county residents affected by the January 2010 freeze can apply for disaster loans

News Release

Hillsborough and Polk county residents and businesses that suffered damage during the "January 2010 freeze(January 2010 Dover/Plant City freeze event)":/frost-freeze.php between January 2 and February 1 can apply for low-interest federal disaster loans from the "U.S. Small Business Administration(U.S. Small Business Administration)":http://www.sba.gov/.

In March, Disaster Assessment Teams inspected homes and property near the Dover/Plant City area for "sinkhole damage(Sinkholes)":/hydrology/sinkholes/ caused by the January freeze.

Loans up to $200,000 are now available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate; and up to $40,000 for damaged or destroyed personal property. The disaster declaration covers Hillsborough, Polk, Hardee, Manatee, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

The Disaster Loan Outreach Center will be located at the Plant City Visitors Center, 1702 N. Park Road in Plant City.

The center will open on:
* Wednesday, June 2 – Friday, June 4, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
* Saturday, June 5, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
* Monday, June 7 – Wednesday, June 9, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Anyone unable to visit the center in person, should call the SBA Customer Service Center at 1-800-877-8339, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; or Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Business loan applications may be downloaded from the SBA web site at www.sba.gov then click on "services" at the top of the page, and click on "disaster assistance."