FEMA to start contacting applicants by text

BATON ROUGE – FEMA announces that flood victims who applied for federal help may soon get a text from officials to let them know of their application status.

FEMA says it is using texts to connect with applicants in an effort to enhance communications as it allows to communicate quickly and easily with applicants.

The agency says that applicants may still be contacted through email or phone if they chose one of those as a preferred communication method when they first applied.

Applicants may then check their application's status by going online to disasterassistance.gov or downloading and using the FEMA app and then logging into their account. They may also call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362.

With the change, FEMA reminds applicants to never provide personal information such as Social Security or bank accounts numbers to anyone. FEMA only requests this information when applicants first apply for federal disaster assistance. FEMA inspectors only require verification or identity.