STROUDSBURG, Pa. -- The Monroe County Office of Emergency Management is working to assess the damage caused by two recent winter storms, and officials are asking residents and business owners for help.
The Monroe County Office of Emergency Management is telling residents and business owners throughout the county to document everything. People who have damage from the winter storm should save all receipts for expenses on any services and photograph damage with a date and time stamp.
County officials say this information could help the state or federal government make a decision on relief aid.
Mother Nature was not kind to many parts of the Poconos at the start of the month of March. Two winter storms within a week of each other left piles of snow, thousands without power, and trees down on many roads.
The storms have settled for now and damage assessment is underway.
"If you need assistance from the government, it's always good to have receipts from Home Depot if you had to run there and get tarps or salt for ice and things like that," Alex Camaerei said.
Officials in Middle Smithfield Township say this information can be very important.
"There was a lot of overtime in cutting up trees, clearing roads, making roads passable. That is what we are documenting," said Annette Atkinson, Middle Smithfield Township.
County officials say it takes a few steps to apply for state or federal relief aid. Gathering that information from residents and businesses is where it all begins, and it can help determine if any money can or will be made available.
"If you had to buy additional fuel to heat your house in a different way, you should always keep the receipts to something like that," said Jim Cahill of Stroudsburg.
"Document everything you can while it's still fresh in your mind because you never know if there is going to be relief coming down the road or not," Atkinson advised.