The Berks County Department of Emergency Services (Berks DES), the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), and other state and county agencies and departments will open a Multi-Agency Resource Center (MARC) tomorrow at noon at the Exeter Township Lausch Administration Building to serve county residents with needs related to the catastrophic rainstorm and flooding that occurred on Sunday, July 9. The Exeter Township Administration Building is located in Exeter at 200 Elm Street, Reading, PA 19606 (to avoid arriving at the wrong address, please ensure you use the 19606 zip code in your GPS as there are several Elm Streets in the Reading area). The MARC is open to all Berks County residents and will be open Thursday from noon to 7PM, Friday from 10AM to 7PM and on Saturday from 10AM to 4PM.
A MARC is a temporary, quick-response center where a variety of state and county agencies collect in a central location to provide direct support to community members affected by a disaster event.
The following information was provided by the County of Berks regarding the local and state agencies who will be present at the MARC (as well as the services they can provide):
- Berks Department of Emergency Services - referrals to proper resources for individuals who have not yet reported their damage to local government
- Berks County Area Agency on Aging – assist older affected population;
- Office of the Attorney General – information on contractor fraud, scams, etc.
- Department of Environmental Protection – safety advice and questions with respect to waterway management and private wells
- Department of Human Services – document replacement assistance (i.e. birth/death certificates, etc.), disability assistance services, new benefit applicants, etc.
- Berks County MH/DD office – crisis counseling services
- Department of Insurance – address questions and information on conflict issues with insurance carriers
- Department of Military and Veterans Affairs – assist with replacement of documents, info on veteran -specific programs available
- PEMA – general MARC support, disaster recovery information, National Flood Insurance Program information
- Penn DOT – info on their online driver services, driver’s license replacement, etc.
- Department of Health – safety information
Berks DES would like to remind all Berks County property owners, renters, and businesses who suffered property damage in relation to the rain and flooding in the past several days to report their damage to their local municipality as quickly as possible. Your local municipality is the city, borough or township to which you pay your local taxes. Complete and accurate collection of this information could help Berks County residents and businesses qualify for additional disaster recovery programs.
For more information, please contact the County of Berks.