FEMA disaster centers open to Leech Lake Band members, descendants

CASS LAKE — Assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is available for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe after this June’s windstorm.

Two FEMA disaster recovery centers will be open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. through Nov. 19, with Sunday closures. One center will be at the Leech Lake Facilities Center, 16126 John Moose Drive, Cass Lake, and the other at the former First National Bank building, 429 Minnesota Ave. NW, Bemidji.

Leech Lake Band members and their descendants are eligible for individual assistance from the federal agency after the June 21 storm that heavily impacted the Bemidji area and the western portion of the Leech Lake Reservation.

FEMA offers funds for temporary housing, repairing or replacing owner-occupied homes, hazard mitigation assistance and other uninsured or under-insured disaster-caused expenses.

First and second-generation descendants must contact the Leech Lake Enrollment Office for a descendancy document.

One-on-one assistance with the application is available at the recovery centers. Individualized assistance is available up to 18 months following the disaster declaration, with applications also accepted online or by calling the FEMA hotline at 1-800-621-3362.

As a tribe, the Leech Lake Band pursued a federal disaster declaration on its own. Beltrami County and others who intended to apply did not meet the state’s threshold to pursue a FEMA declaration.

The federal Small Business Administration is still accepting applications for low-interest federal disaster loans to offset losses for businesses, nonprofits, homeowners and renters impacted by severe storms through Dec. 1.

The SBA’s disaster declaration covers Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Hubbard, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Pennington and Roseau counties.