More than six weeks after Tropical Storm Ida swamped New Jersey, flood victims are still working to get back on their feet. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved more than $138 million in aid for more than 27,000 applicants around the state, and the agency will continue to accept new applications until Nov. 4.
Just last week, FEMA opened a new disaster recovery center in Passaic, a city among the hardest-hit by stormwater. It’s a place with a large immigrant community, whose various legal statuses can make it confusing and difficult to get federal help.
“We have a large undocumented population and when there’s a crisis some of them are left out and if for whatever reason FEMA can’t immediately assist them, we look to other sources like not-for-profit organizations,” said Mayor Hector Lora.
