REGION – Although the deadline for Disaster Unemployment Assistance has been extended, there is only one more day to make a claim.

The last day to file an unemployment claim is today, Nov. 30.

“The hurricane was three months ago,” Artur Davis representative Audrey Haskin said. “This was just an extension of the original timeframe.”

Thus this is an official reminder from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to give final notice to persons wishing to file for Disaster Unemployment Assistance, or DUA.

More than $425,000 in assistance has been disbursed to aide 482 Hurricane Katrina victims as of Nov. 18, 2005.

Help is available to those living or working in Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Mobile, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa, Washington and other disaster-declared counties who became unemployed or were forced to discontinue their self-employment as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s for people who have lost their jobs because of the hurricanes,” Haskin said. “The same principles apply for this assistance as for unemployment.”

Hurricane Katrina evacuees from Mississippi and Louisiana who currently reside in Alabama may also file a claim against wages from their state and Alabama will send the information back to the state of origin.

To file a claim, call 866-234-5382, or 800-499-2035 for the speech or hearing impaired.

Individuals who need to register for disaster assistance or who want to check the status of their application may call FEMA at 800-621-FEMA (3362) or, 800-462-7585 for the speech and hearing impaired. You may also visit http://www.fema.gov for more information.