Apply for Disaster Food Stamps in South Carolina

Hurricane Florence has had a huge impact on South Carolina. There’s been flooding reported in many counties, including Georgetown. Many homes have sustained severe damages. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has estimated damage from the flood in his state at $1.2 billion. If you have been impacted by Hurricane Florence in South Carolina and need food assistance, we will walk you through the stop by step process of how to apply for disaster food stamps in South Carolina.

Disaster Food Stamps in South Carolina

Disaster food stamps, which is also called D-SNAP is a federal government program that is administered by the states when there is a natural disaster. For a state to qualify for D-SNAP, it first has to receive Major Disaster Declaration by FEMA. After Hurricane Florence, the States of South and North Carolina both received Major Disaster Declarations. Specifically, for South Carolina, this came on September 16, 2018, as shown below:

South Carolina Hurricane Florence (DR-4394)
Incident period: September 08, 2018
Major Disaster Declaration declared on September 16, 2018

What Happens Next?

Once a state has received a Major Disaster Declaration, it is now able to apply to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to offer disaster food stamps (D-SNAP). Here is the complete list of federal programs that a state is allowed to offer to individuals and households in the affected areas:

Disaster Food Stamps or D-SNAP

Individuals and Households Program
Crisis Counseling Program
Disaster Case Management

Disaster Unemployment Assistance
Disaster Legal Services

Current Food Stamps Recipients

If you are currently on food stamps in South Carolina, the USDA has eased the program rules for those that have been affected by Hurricane Florence. This means that you can now replace food purchased with SNAP benefits that were lost due to power outages and flooding caused by Hurricane Florence. Over 185,000 impacted households in 26 counties now have until Oct. 15, 2018 to report food loss to the state and request replacement benefits.

This rule applies to residents in the following counties in South Carolina that were impacted by Hurricane Florence: Berkeley, Beaufort, Calhoun, Charleston, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Colleton, Darlington, Dillon, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Hampton, Horry, Jasper, Kershaw, Lancaster, Lee, Lexington, Marion, Marlboro, Orangeburg, Richland, Sumter, Williamsburg, and York.

Apply for Disaster Food Stamps in South Carolina

If you are not currently on food stamps, you may be eligible for disaster food stamps (D-SNAP). Here are the steps you need to take to apply for D-SNAP.

Step 1 – Make sure You are Eligible

Since D-SNAP is for major disaster victims, the program is set up to make it easy to apply. The most important eligibility criteria is the income limit. Just like the regular food stamps program, the disaster food stamps program has an income limit that applicants must meet in order to be approved for benefits. We have provided the income limit table below. Note that it is based on household size. The larger your household, the larger the income limit you have to meet to qualify.

You are allowed to deduct certain non-reimbursable disaster-related spending such as medical bills, evacuation costs, and storage fees from your gross income in order to arrive at your net income. Note that the Net Income Limit is the maximum monthly income for a family after all deductions.

Step 2 – Apply for D-SNAP in South Carolina

You can only apply for the D-SNAP in-person. Contact the South Carolina Department of Social Services (SC DSS) to learn about locations in your area where you can apply for D-SNAP in person. Usually, this information is also provided to local media outlets – like TV and Radio Stations and Local Newspapers to share with the public. According to this announcement by USDA, the state is ready to provide nutrition assistance to those who are impacted by the storm.

Individuals and families applying for D-SNAP must bring proof of identity, such as a driver’s license or another form of identification issued by the government to a designated D-SNAP location to apply for the program.

The application process is simplified for D-SNAP and benefits are issued to eligible applicants within 72 hours. You can contact the SC DSS by calling 1-(800) 616-1309. You can also call your local SC DSS office by visiting this website and clicking on your county for more information.

If you have any questions about D-SNAP or how to get disaster food assistance, tell us in the comments section below.

Disaster Food Stamps in South Carolina Summary

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Be sure to check out our other articles about South Carolina Food Stamps and EBT, including:

Kwame Kuadey

Kwame Kuadey writes about personal finance and the social safety net. His career started in banking but he caught the entrepreneurial bug and has spent the last decade building successful businesses, including an Inc. 500 Company. Kwame believes everyone has the power to improve their quality of life by seeking knowledge and taking action. In 2012, Kwame founded Empower Media to help low-income households improve their financial situation. His expertise is in topics relevant to low-income households, including government benefits and assistance, banking products, access to credit, plus tools & resources to help reduce income volatility and build wealth. Kwame has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc. Magazine, Washington Post, ABC, and NPR.

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