MULLINS, SC (WBTW) – Several people in Mullins are displaced from their homes after last week’s flash flood caused damages to much of the area, and those residents are learning FEMA will likely not be available to help them.
In order to qualify for disaster assistance, more than 100 homes must be damaged, and officials did not think Mullins would meet that threshold.
Hines Ellison says last week’s flash flood pushed him out of his home, and now he has nowhere to live.
“It’s kind of rough, you know, we’ve got no place to go. It looks like they would try to help us some, but it don’t look like they gonna do nothing,” said Ellison.
Ellison says when he found out FEMA wouldn’t be able to help him, he felt abandoned.
“We tried to get the Red Cross to do something, tried to get FEMA to do something, they said they couldn’t help. They say it wasn’t a disaster area. So, we’re going to have to, you know, take it one day at the time,” said Ellison.
People living in Mack T. Hines Apartments in Mullins spent all day Tuesday cleaning out their homes. They’ve been forced to leave because every unit in the complex has flood damage.
Roberta Jiggetts lives in the complex and she says she has seven days to leave her home. When she found out FEMA wouldn’t help, she decided to turn to a higher power.
“God takes care of your needs. We don’t want no more of what has come to us, you know. Everybody needs help in a situation like this because this is a disaster. This is something that we didn’t make no decision on,” said Jiggetts.
Tuesday, Jiggetts spent the afternoon packing up what’s left of her belongings.
“I lost a whole lot of my clothing and half my…well all my furniture, and my living room,” said Jiggetts.
Marion County Emergency Management Director Jerry Williams says they’re still working to find help.
“Even though FEMA may not be able to come in and help directly with these impacted individuals, there are other programs that we can qualify for to give assistance to them,” said Williams.
Williams says before they can look for those other alternatives, they must first complete the initial damage assessment paperwork.
Marion County Emergency Management is hoping to finish up that damage assessment paperwork this week.
Williams says many people may qualify for low interest loans from the Small Business Addministration to help with the cost of repairs.
