COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — East Tennessee households impacted by historic flooding from Hurricane Helene may be able to get benefits from the state to help them pay for food or other needed supplies.
The pre-registration form to access the state's Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program went active Monday morning. The D-SNAP program is available to qualifying households who lived or worked in Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Johnson, Unicoi and Washington counties.
The households must have experienced loss as a result of Hurricane Helene and need to meet income limits, set by the USDA Food and Nutrition Services guidance. To see if they meet the income eligibility, households' monthly take-home income and "accessible liquid resources," minus expenses from the storm, need to be below certain thresholds.
For example, a household of two people should take how much money they make per month and add it to the amount in their bank accounts or other cash on hand. Then, they should subtract that number from the amount they spent to recover from Hurricane Helene. If it's less than the income limit, they could be eligible for a set allotment of benefits.
Households also need to have experienced at least one of four possible impacts from the storm, listed below:
- Damage to or destruction of the home or self-employment business.
- Loss or inaccessibility of income including a reduction or termination of income or a significant delay in receiving income due to disaster-related problems.
- Disaster-related expenses (home or business repairs, temporary shelter, evacuation, etc.) that are not expected to be reimbursed during the disaster benefit period.
- Food loss.
Households impacted by the storm can apply for benefits online. The pre-registration form opened on Monday and will close on Oct. 25. Anyone who needs technical assistance can call the program's hotline at 1-888-615-8180 during business hours.
People can also find face-to-face help in different offices across the impacted area, which are listed online. People who receive regular SNAP benefits are not eligible to receive D-SNAP benefits. People who get D-SNAP benefits will be able to access them from an electronic card, accepted at stores that accept EBT cards.