(Radio Iowa) — The deadline to register for FEMA disaster relief is now less than one week away. FEMA spokesperson Pamela King says they’d like you to register as soon as you can before the July 16th deadline. She says you need to have an inspection of your property to determine what has been lost or damaged and there needs to be time for the inspectors to get there. King says you can register online.

“We recommend that people if they can go onto disasterassistance.gov and you can find out what you need to have ahead of time, before you start the disaster assistance process,” King says. She says some people don’t register because their damage may look like it is less than their neighbors. King says it’s best to have it checked out to be sure.

“Let FEMA come out and do the inspection and decide if its an eligible amount,” King says. “Sometimes it what looks like it is okay today — there could be water that’s gotten into the foundations and things like that and you could have problems down the road.” King says some people don’t sign up because of a mistaken understanding of the money they will get.

She says some people also think the grant money is going to interfere with other money they receive like Social Security or Medicare. “The grant does not count against any other assistance,” she says, “it’s not considered income that would make people lose any other coverage that they have.” King says 26-hundred-44 people in Iowa have already registered.

She says they have already paid out more than 14 million dollars in assistance to Iowans. The disaster registration deadline is again July 16th and those residents of the nine counties designated as federal disaster areas are eligible.