Free Legal Help Available for Survivors of April 2-6 Severe Weather
July 13, 2024
DR-4783-WV NR-011
FEMA News Desk: 215-931-5597
FEMAR3NewsDesk@fema.dhs.gov
Free Legal Help Available for Survivors of April 2-6 Severe Weather
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A free legal help hotline is now available for survivors of the April 2-6, 2024, severe storms and straight-line winds, flooding, landslides, and mudslides. The hotline is available to connect survivors who cannot afford an attorney to free legal services in qualifying counties. Survivors can call 866-255-4370 or apply online at any time at: https://legalaidwv.org. Help is available for legal issues like:
- FEMA and Small Business Administration (SBA) financial benefits
- Insurance Claims
- Home repair contracts and property insurance claims
- Home repair contracts and contractor fraud
- Wills and other important legal documents destroyed in the disaster
- Price gouging, scams, or identity theft
- Landlord or tenant problems, or threats of foreclosure
- Disability-related access to federal, state, and local disaster programs
- FEMA Appeals
Survivors can call the hotline during the following times and can leave a voicemail if calling after hours:
- Monday (8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET)
- Tuesday (8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. ET)
- Wednesday (8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET)
- Thursday (8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET)
- Friday (8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET)
Disaster Legal Services program partners cannot help in all cases. For example, they cannot take cases where a settlement could include legal fees or an award. But they can refer those cases to other legal help.
The Disaster Legal Services (DLS) program works with state and local partners to provide free legal help for low-income disaster survivors. The service is a partnership between the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
FEMA is committed to ensuring disaster assistance is accomplished equitably, without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. Any disaster survivor or member of the public may contact the FEMA Civil Rights Office if they feel that they are the victim of discrimination. FEMA’s Civil Rights Office can be contacted at 833-285-7448. Multilingual operators are available.
For more information on West Virginia’s disaster recovery, visit emd.wv.gov, West Virginia Emergency Management Division Facebook page,www.fema.gov/disaster/4783 and www.facebook.com/FEMA.
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FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters. FEMA Region 3’s jurisdiction includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
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Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency, or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 833-285-7448. If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service. Multilingual operators are available (press 2 for Spanish and 3 for other languages).
