Structural housing inspectors from across the country are in Northwest Indiana assisting FEMA with inspections.

The Federal Emergency Management Bureau, Small Business Administration and state officials have been in the region since the president declared Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties disaster areas, paving the way for federal funds to help individuals and businesses whose property flooded as a result of the three days of torrential rain in mid-September.

Jean Riendeau, FEMA public affairs field manager, said Tuesday that the contractors work at companies across the country who contract with FEMA to do housing inspections.

FEMA has said it will try to have contractors out within 24 to 48 hours. Once the contracted inspectors come in, they get the names of people who have registered with FEMA and contact those individuals so they can go out to their homes to conduct the inspections and review the damage.

"The contractors will be in Northwest Indiana until the job is done, and we're never really sure how long that will be," Riendeau said.

Several contractors have come to the region from a company called Parsons Brinkerhoff Construction Services Inc. The company is headquartered in New York, but workers involved in the local effort at from Houston.

Meanwhile, FEMA officials said people who are not U.S. citizens but are in the country legally may be eligible for disaster assistance.

Stephen DeBlasio Sr., federal coordinating officer, said, "We don't want any residents who might be eligible to miss out on valuable disaster assistance that could help them get back on their feet." If in doubt, apply for assistance and FEMA will determine eligibility, DeBlasio said.

Disaster assistance is available to residents and business owners in 16 Indiana counties -- Clark, Crawford, Dearborn, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Knox, Lake, LaPorte, Lawrence, Martin, Pike, Porter, Spencer and Switzerland. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, noncitizen nationals or qualified aliens to receive FEMA monetary assistance. Their legal status will not be jeopardized by applying for assistance.

Finally, the Small Business Administration reported it has approved nearly $1.4 million in loans for home and business owners in Indiana who incurred damage from the storms. To date, 10,602 of the administration's loan application packets have been sent out. Of that number, 9,269 went to homeowners and 1,332 went to business owners.