If you’re a resident of Montgomery County, Arlington, or Fairfax counties, and your property was damaged in Monday’s record-breaking rainfall, now’s the time to let your local government know.

Montgomery County opened a portal today for residents and businesses to submit the documentation of damages to their home, with a cutoff of Monday, July 15. And if you live in Fairfax, you have until Wednesday, July 24 to send in a disaster damage report. Folks in Arlington have a quicker deadline—damage reports there are due today.

All three counties have made it clear that owners are responsible for damages to their property. But the information obtained from the reports is critical to determining if the area meets the “eligibility threshold” to apply for federal funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz quickly declared a state of emergency in the wake of the flooding, which helps pave the way to receive FEMA funding. It’s not clear if Montgomery and Fairfax counties plan to follow suit.

“While we may not meet FEMA’s criteria for Individual Assistance, we want to make sure we have as much information as possible to make the case with our state and regional partners,” said Montgomery County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Earl Stoddard in a release.

Judy Stiles, a public information officer in Montgomery County, told DCist via email that the Maryland Emergency Management Agency is coordinating with its counterparts in D.C. and Virginia “to consider how they approach reaching out to [FEMA] for potential assistance.” There is a set of criteria that each of the governments would need to meet in order to qualify for the FEMA Individual Assistance Program.

But even if they think they can make the case to FEMA, Stiles says the federal agency’s decision-making process can take weeks or months.

And the individual awards that FEMA may offer will likely not cover much of the damages that residents are dealing with. Although up to $32,000 is available in financial assistance for an individual award, Stiles says that the average award in recent disasters was between $8,000 and $9,000.

Unfortunately, the costs to repairing residents’ homes and businesses may far exceed that amount. In a more extreme case, a Potomac home is in danger of structural collapse. Businesses in Westover Shopping Center in Arlington have a fundraising goal of $100,000 after their basements and main floors “were inundated with water,” while Ballston restaurant SER is seeking to raise $65,000. Residents, many of whom don’t have flood insurance, told ARLnow that they’re expecting tens of thousands dollars in repair costs.

Data about the damages is still valuable in its own right. Understanding the effects of the storm could help local governments prepare for future such weather events, and Stiles says it will be used “to identity hotspots in the county that would be appropriate for future hazard mitigation projects or [capital improvement] projects.” This data also gives first responders an idea of where flooding is more prone to occur.

Previously:
Historic Rainfall Caused Millions Of Dollars In Damage
Dozens Of People Had To Be Rescued Amid Emergency Flash Flooding
D.C. Is Already Susceptible To Flooding. Climate Change Is Making It Worse
These Are Some Of The Areas Most Susceptible To Flooding In D.C.