SPRING, Texas – A woman who lost power for seven days after Hurricane Beryl has some words of advice for others seeking reimbursement.
Spring resident Maria Villanueva was in Florida when the storm hit on July 8.
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She tried calling her diabetic mother, who uses a wheelchair, to make sure she was okay. When she wasn’t able to get through, her out-of-state son ended up paying for three different Ubers to go check on her.
Villanueva landed back in Houston the next day and picked up her mother. The power outage at her home made staying there impossible, so she ended up paying $300 for a hotel room for the two of them.
“That just -- it broke me,” Villanueva said.
For the next week the family stayed at three different hotels, including one two hours away.
“It was just too much,” she said.
Villanueva had also bought food the day before Beryl hit but was forced to throw all of it away.
When she applied to FEMA for financial help, she was initially declined. She heard a similar story from others, and had this to say if you were denied.
“They don’t think they can do anything about it, but when I put my application in, a customer service person told me, ‘Just keep appealing, just keep appealing.’”
Shortly after, a FEMA inspector reached out and visited her in person Thursday. He took her information and said FEMA would contact her within 10 days. If she doesn’t hear from them, she’ll need to follow up, but was told to save her receipts.
“There’s going to be a way to submit all my receipts. I just need to find out how I’m going to submit that information to FEMA. That part seems unclear,” she said.
We will stay on top of this story and find out what Maria Villanueva’s next steps are so you can have all the information you need to apply for aid from FEMA.