The Warren County Long Term Recovery Committee, formed in June after the historic flooding of the Mississippi River, will host an information session Aug. 18 in an attempt to garner public interest, officials said.

“We want to strengthen our community and give residents some type of ownership of the community,” said committee member Barbara Tolliver, executive director of the United Way of West Central Mississippi. “The community needs to know what’s happening so they can help.”

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. at the AmeriCorps NCCC campus, 2715 Confederate Ave.

The Mississippi River crested at Vicksburg May 19 at 57.1, 14.1 feet above flood stage and 1.3 feet above the Great Flood of 1927. More than 3,000 residents in Vicksburg and Warren County were forced to evacuate their homes north and south of the city’s bluffs.

The committee’s mission is to serve as a disaster assistance agency assisting victims after the immediate needs’ agencies such as the American Red Cross and Salvation Army exhaust their efforts, Tolliver said. It will be active following all declared disasters.

The committee is an extension of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which handles natural disaster assistance, and will offer to disaster victims financial support, home remodeling, construction assistance and crisis counseling.

Tolliver said more than 900 families affected by the flood have applied to FEMA for help, but not all qualified for federal assistance.

The committee will provide assistance to those who did not receive help from FEMA, as well as for those who received no help from another source. Cases will be referred from the Coordinated Assistance Network database.

The committee has about nine members and is seeking more. They will provide information about the committee and needs, she said.

On Wednesday, the group submitted a $48,000 grant application to the Mississippi Disaster Recovery Fund Inc., and hopes to be assisting victims soon, Tolliver said. She said donations will be accepted at the meeting.

“We’re moving slowly, but things are moving,” Tolliver said.