The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says that the North Carolina river conditions continue to improve, and that there are no serious flooding situations associated with the current high water.

FEMA also reports that as of October 22 , almost 70,000 people in the state of North Carolina have registered for some form of disaster assistance as the result of Hurricane Floyd : 48,754 of these requests have been for housing assistance and 21,246 have been for other forms of aid. FEMA says that $58 million has been disbursed for emergency disaster housing and individual and family grants. Other numbers concerning the hurricane disaster include:

• The Small Business Administration has approved 2,059 low-interest loans for individuals and businesses totaling $116.3 million.

• Twenty-two disaster recovery centers have lent assistance to more than 35,000 disaster victims.

• More than 70 federal and state community relations specialists continue Hurricane Floyd outreach efforts.

• More than 7,000 affected families are learning how to reduce their property damage risks when rebuilding their homes by talking with mitigation advisors staffing disaster recovery centers and mobile mitigation vans now visiting declared counties.

Virginia

FEMA reports that 5,240 individuals in Virginia have applied for disaster assistance, and that more than $2 million have been disbursed for disaster housing. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved $3.5 million in loans for individuals and $647,200 in loans for businesses.