The Federal Emergency Management Agency has opened DisasterRecovery Centers in Monticello and Hazlehurst to ease claimsprocessing and ensure everyone who needs to file has done so.

The Monticello and Hazlehurst centers, and a third which openedin Port Gibson, bring the total number of Disaster RecoveryCenters, or DRCs, currently operating in Mississippi to 31.

The Monticello center is located in the James E. GivensAgriculture Building at 1535 F.E. Sellers Highway, while the CopiahCounty center opened at the County Fairgrounds Multi-purposeBuilding at 2040 W. Gallman Road. Other DRCs in the area includeones in Brookhaven and McComb.

The centers are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday throughSaturday. Representatives of state, federal and volunteer agenciesare on site to answer questions and provide recovery information.Officials from the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) will beavailable to discuss disaster loans for homeowners, renters andbusinesses of all sizes. Written materials about various assistanceprograms are also available.

Lynn Kimbrough, a FEMA public affairs officer, said earlier thisweek the number of people using the Brookhaven DRC had dropped. Shesaid more than 6,000 people in the area had registered claims withthe federal agency and wanted to remind them that they could visitDRCs to check on the status of their claim or to file newclaims.