The Small Business Administration said it received 500 loan applications after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed last week.
The funds could be distributed in two weeks to support small businesses that are out of operation as the Port of Baltimore remains closed. Baltimore is home to about 50,000 small businesses, employing 500,000 people.
“The immediate impact [of the bridge collapse] has really been felt by those supply chain, logistics and transportation companies that really focus their businesses on the port and the activity that was happening at the port,” Isabel Casillas Guzman, SBA administrator, told Forbes.
The SBA has distributed similar loans in times of unexpected disastrous situations. In 2005, 140,000 loans were given to small businesses affected by Hurricane Katrina. The federal government forgave 95% of those loans.
The Maryland Senate also unanimously approved a bill Wednesday to authorize Gov. Wes Moore
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