Recovery Center Offers Help To People Affected By Recent Flooding

By Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez
Published: Monday, August 25, 2014 - 3:38pm
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(Photo by Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez/ KJZZ News)
The Recovery Information Center at the Fire Department House at 1708 W. Dobbins Road, Phoenix. The temporary information center is where south Phoenix residents affected by the recent flood can learn about available resources.
(Photo by Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez/ KJZZ News)
Alan Dupre and his wife Kimla visited the Recovery Information Center in south Phoenix.
(Photo by Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez/ KJZZ News)
Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department and the Arizona Department of Insurance are among the more than 20 agencies helping south Phoenix residents.
(Photo by Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez/ KJZZ News)
The American Red Cross created a food station outside the temporary Recovery Information Center.

Monday is the last day an assistance center for residents of south Phoenix affected by the recent monsoon storms will be open. The city of Phoenix and state and county officials are in a south Phoenix fire station offering information to area residents affected by the flooding. 

Alan Dupre is one of about a dozen people who came to the Recovery Information Center Monday morning. He’s looking for help. Dupre’s house and his one-and-a-half-acre property on the foothills of South Mountain were flooded during the recent storm. The Recovery Information Center was created as a temporary program to help people like Dupre learn about available resources.

“Everybody’s real friendly," Dupre said. "Helped out real nice and told us all the different options they had. And they’re good I think."

The three-day service is located at the Phoenix Fire Station on Dobbins Road and 19th Avenue. There are more than 20 agencies including the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army on hand to help families.

“And we also issued a small business as well," said Fire department spokesperson Benjamin Santillan. "We have a lot of our small-business individuals that suffered some damage. And we didn’t want to forget about them neither.”

Santillan said about 100 people have taken advantage of the Recovery Information Center services since it opened on Saturday.

“What we’re doing here is bringing all the information into one hub where the customers can come and obtain basically a footprint, a template of what they can do to rebuild their homes, who they can contact as far  as licensed contractors," Santillan said.

Santillan said the Recovery Information Center is also available to help small businesses and anyone from other parts of the city hit by the recent thunderstorms. The center is open until 7 p.m. Monday.