SAN ANTONIO – The American Red Cross intends to restart its application process for those seeking financial assistance after Hurricane Harvey on Thursday, the organization said.
The Red Cross said the plan is to have a single website where qualified households from the 39 Texas counties that were severely impacted by Harvey can apply for $400.
Recommended Videos
Presently, The Red Cross is only processing registrations for applicants whose registrations were not completed when their system became overloaded and crashed on Sept. 11.
The Red Cross says before the overload they had distributed $45 million in financial assistance to more than 100,000 qualified households who needed immediate help.
The organization already has released a statement apologizing for the frustration:
The Red Cross is fully committed to providing financial support to help meet the needs of those most impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Right now, we are working to strengthen our IT infrastructure so that when we reopen the application system, the process is as smooth as possible.
On the first day of this effort on September 11, we provided $45 million in financial assistance to more than 100,000 qualified households who needed immediate help. This unprecedented demand challenged our IT infrastructure and caused us to temporarily suspend service. We understand this has been frustrating and we apologize for the problems these issues have caused.
The Red Cross said that the new website will be designed to have sufficient capacity to handle all incoming registrations and that new applications will not be accepted through any other website or phone number.
Registration will remain open through October 10, the organization said.
