The U.S. Small Business Administration adds six more counties to the Presidential Public  Assistance disaster declaration due to the severe storms and flooding that began on Oct. 1, 2015 in  South Carolina.    
The SBA disaster declaration now covers the PNPs located in Dillon, Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Bamberg,  Berkeley,  Calhoun,  Charleston, Chesterfield,  Clarendon, Colleton,  Darlington,    Dorchester,  Fairfield, Florence,  Horry, Georgetown, Greenwood, Kershaw, Laurens, Lee, Lexington, McCormick,  Marion,  Newberry,  Orangeburg,  Richland,  Saluda,  Sumter  and  Williamsburg  counties  in  South  Carolina are eligible to apply to SBA.  
Examples of eligible non-critical PNP organizations include, but  are not limited to, food kitchens, homeless shelters, museums, libraries, community centers, schools and  colleges.   
“PNP organizations are urged to contact their County’s Emergency Manager to obtain information about  local briefings.  For a complete list of County Emergency Managers go to http://www.scemd.org/. At the  meeting, PNP representatives will need to provide information about their organization,” said Frank  Skaggs, director of SBA Field Operations Center East in Atlanta.  
The information will be used to  submit a Request for Public Assistance which FEMA uses to determine if the PNP provides an essential  governmental service and meets the definition of a “critical facility.”  Based upon that conclusion,  FEMA may provide the PNP with a Public Assistance reimbursement grant for their eligible costs or  refer the PNP to SBA for disaster loan assistance.     
PNP organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate,  machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets.  The interest rate is 2.625 percent with  terms up to 30 years.  
Applicants may be eligible for a loan amount increase up to 20 percent of their  physical damages, as verified by the SBA, to make improvements that help prevent the risk of future  property damage caused by a similar disaster.    
The SBA also offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs, such as  ongoing  operating  expenses  to  PNP  organizations.    Economic  Injury  Disaster  Loan  assistance  is  available regardless of whether the organization suffered any physical property damage.    
Applicants  may  apply  online  using  the  Electronic  Loan  Application  via  SBA’s  secure  website  at  https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.      
Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer  Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an email  to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.   
Loan applications can be downloaded from the SBA’s website at www.sba.gov/disaster.  Completed  applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement  Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.  The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Dec. 14, 2015.  The deadline  to return economic injury applications is July 14, 2016.