INDIANA (WOWO) — Thousands of Indiana households affected by August power outages will receive replacement Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits after the federal government approved the state’s request. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration will begin automatically replacing SNAP benefits for eligible households in all or parts of 19 counties, including Wayne County. The replacement benefits are intended for households that lost food when severe storms caused power outages on Aug. 11. The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved Indiana’s request Thursday. Depending on when a household received its SNAP benefits, the replacement will range from 15% to 60% of the household’s monthly allotment. Households that received their benefits between Aug. 5 and Aug. 9 will receive the largest replacement, at 60% of their monthly allotment. Benefits distributed between July 19 and July 23 will be replaced at 30%, while those distributed between July 11 and July 17 will be replaced at 15%. The replacement benefits are expected to be loaded directly onto eligible households’ electronic benefits transfer cards on or around Sept. 26. No additional paperwork or interview will be required. Households that have already received replacement benefits will not receive another allotment. The state estimates about 36,533 households will qualify, with the total assistance potentially reaching $10 million. The eligible areas include all of Lake and Porter counties, along with portions of Carroll, Dearborn, Decatur, Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Hancock, Henry, LaPorte, Madison, Marion, Pulaski, Randolph, Rush, Tipton, Union and Wayne counties. The SNAP replacement is part of a larger storm recovery effort. Gov. Mike Braun said Thursday that FEMA has distributed $89 million in disaster assistance to Hoosiers. Combined federal, state and local assistance for temporary housing, food, clothing and other needs has surpassed $100 million. Meanwhile, hotel vouchers for Hoosiers displaced by the August storms are being extended for another 30 days. Indiana Department of Homeland Security Director Jonathan Whitham said about 260 households remain in hotels after roughly 360 households relied on the vouchers at the peak of the response. The post Indiana approved for mass SNAP benefit replacement after August storms appeared first on WOWO News/Talk 92.3 FM and 1190 AM. ...read more read less