April 28, 2006
By Christine Gillette
Staff writer

Bailing out businesses: Access to emergency loans likely coming to North Shore 

Now that the rain has stopped, it's time for North Shore businesses to start mopping up.

It's a process that will likely be not only time-consuming but financially draining.

Just how much is still to be determined, but help is coming to flooded businesses. Starting today, a representative of the U.S. Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov) will be at the Peabody Chamber of Commerce to offer information about how the agency may be able to help businesses with funding to make ends meet and repairs — if the region is declared a federal disaster area.

Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday asked President Bush for such a declaration for areas of the state including Essex County.

"Our hope is the federal government will turn that around very quickly," said Peter Judge, public information officer for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, yesterday afternoon.

Judge estimated that if granted, the disaster declaration wouldn't be official until early next week. If it comes, it will open the floodgates for federal assistance to small businesses, including emergency loans of up to $1.5 million.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and SBA are scheduled to visit the region tomorrow for a preliminary damage assessment, an SBA spokeswoman said yesterday.

"This is the first step, prior to a formal declaration of disaster," said Joan Trudell, public information officer for the SBA's Boston district office.