DANVILLE, Va. – Sitting in the Small Business Administration's temporary office in Danville, which opened to help people apply for loans to recover from Tropical Storm Michael, Sidney Fitzgerald and his wife showed 10 News cellphone pictures they took in and around their house after the storm.
"We had tremendous damage in the garage as well as the house. We had about 2 feet of water in the garage and about a foot of standing water in the house," Sidney Fitzgerald said.
There was mold on the wall just above the baseboard in the basement.
"(We) lost all of the furniture, the entertainment center, couches, love seats, everything," he said.
On Thursday, he and his wife applied for a loan for a little more than $20,000.
"It was pretty quick, pretty simple," Fitzgerald said about the application process. "We were asked a series of questions, which we had to provide answers to, pertaining to our losses."
Small Business Administration public affairs specialist Sandra Lawson said applicants can expect to wait about four weeks after applying to find out if they'll get money, and if so, how much.
"If they're approved, they'll have to schedule a loan closing and things like that," Lawson said.
Once they close on the loan, they should get their first payment within a week.Â
Homeowners can apply for a maximum of $200,000 for property damage and can get an additional $40,000Â for personal property loss and 20 percent of the total loan amount for mitigation.
Business owners can apply for up to $2 million.
Applications can be submitted online, but Lawson encourages people to apply in person.
"There's nothing like the personal touch to kind of ask you questions or get you thinking about things," Lawson emphasized.
The SBA office is located at 515 Main Street and will be open through Nov. 20.
It will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Monday and Tuesday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
The deadline to apply for loans for physical damage to your property is Jan. 14, 2019.
The deadline to apply for loans for business lost as a result of the storm is Aug. 13, 2019.
On Thursday afternoon, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced that 17 new localities, including Danville, have been made eligible to receive federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency for damage caused by Hurricane Florence in September.