Partnerships and Progress: Louisiana Flooding and Severe Storms 30 Days Later

BATON ROUGE, La. – More than 30 days ago, many witnessed Louisiana residents and emergency responders from all levels of government join forces with voluntary groups, faith and community-based organizations, and neighbors helping neighbors to face the unprecedented challenges brought on by historic flooding and severe storms that began March 8 in the Pelican State.
    
The Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) coordinated life-saving emergency management activities with almost a dozen state agencies at the beginning of the severe storms and flooding. These agencies included the Louisiana National Guard, which performed sandbagging and rescue operations, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which oversaw waterway security, and the Louisiana State Police, which managed traffic in affected areas, just to name a few.

Disaster survivors addressed immediate needs, took care of families and loved ones, obtained life-saving information from parish officials, assessed damage, contacted and filed claims with their insurance companies and began cleaning up.

The impacted parishes conducted damage assessments, established emergency protective measures, provided essential services and relayed critical information to survivors as part of response efforts, which also included, distributing sandbags, establishing curfews, evacuating residents, managing dislodged caskets, responding to power outages, setting up points of distribution for resources and cleaning out debris.

In addition to FEMA, nearly a dozen federal agencies supported response and recovery to the Louisiana floods. These agencies include the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service, again just a sample of the federal family support.

On March 13, Bel Edwards, governor of Louisiana, requested a major disaster declaration. Within a few hours, President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Louisiana. After initially designating seven parishes, the presidential disaster declaration has been amended five times to increase the total number of designated parishes to 36.

Many flood survivors are now in the midst of repairing and rebuilding their flood-damaged homes. So far, more than 34,000 Louisiana survivors have contacted FEMA for help.

To date, survivors have received approximately $159 million in federal disaster assistance.

• Nearly $55 million in grants were approved for a place to stay for homeowners and renters whose residences were uninhabitable and to make essential repairs for homes to be safe, sanitary and functional.
• Approximately $15 million in grants went to homeowners and renters to repair and replace certain household items and for burial, medical and dental expenses.
• Homeowners, renters and businesses have received $36 million in low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration to repair, rebuild and replace damaged property and contents. Disaster loans cover losses not fully compensated by insurance or other sources.
• National Flood Insurance Program policyholders have received more than $53 million in claims to repair and rebuild flood-damaged property and contents.

Survivors who still need additional help cleaning up or with other recovery needs can turn to many voluntary, faith and community-based groups that are donating their time and skills in Louisiana. These groups are always the first and last presence to help disaster survivors recover. Since the flooding and severe storms began, organizations have assisted state and federal recovery partners in:

• Mobilizing nearly 7,800 volunteers.
• Completing nearly 1,300 muck outs.
• Continuing to provide casework to address unmet recovery needs.

Visit www.louisiana211.org to locate voluntary, faith and community-based organizations that may be able to help. Those who want to donate their time and skills should visit www.volunteerlouisiana.gov.

Disaster recovery officials are still on the ground in Louisiana and interacting with survivors in a variety of ways to help them recover:

• Disaster Recovery Centers: more than 8,000 survivors have visited 36 disaster recovery centers. These are facilities where survivors can meet face to face to discuss their cases with federal, state, local and volunteer representatives. The first centers opened less than a week after the presidential disaster declaration. Visit FEMA.gov/disaster-recovery-centers to find locations.
• Housing Inspections: over 28,000 FEMA housing inspections have been completed. Flooding has prevented inspections in parts of Louisiana, but FEMA will remain as long as it takes to inspect homes of all who register.
• Disaster Survivor Assistance Specialists: approximately 32,000 survivors have spoken with FEMA disaster survivor assistance specialists. These are FEMA staff who canvass affected communities to encourage survivors to register for help, provide recovery information and listen to their concerns.
• Mitigation Specialists: free consultations are available at DRCs and certain Louisiana home improvement stores where survivors can get tips and techniques on building hazard-resistant homes.

        
Those affected by the flooding who still haven’t registered can still do so by going online to DisasterAssistance.gov or calling the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362. Help is available in most languages and phone lines are open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week until further notice. Those who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability and use a TTY may call 800-462-7585 to register. Those who use 711 or Video Relay Service may call 800-621-3362.

For information call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362 or go online to www.DisasterAssistance.gov or www.fema.gov/disaster/4263.

We urge everyone to continue to use caution in areas where floodwaters remain. Monitor DOTD’s www.511la.org website for updated road closure information. Look for advisories from your local authorities and emergency managers. You can find the latest information on the state’s response at www.emergency.la.gov. GOHSEP also provides information on Facebook and Twitter. You can receive emergency alerts on most smartphones and tablets by downloading the new Alert FM App.  It is free for basic service.  You can also download the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Guide and find other information at www.getagameplan.org.

Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status.  If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-FEMA (3362). For TTY call 800-462-7585.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.  Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/femaregion6 and the FEMA Blog at http://blog.fema.gov.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is the federal government’s primary source of money for the long-term rebuilding of disaster-damaged private property. SBA helps businesses of all sizes, private non-profit organizations, homeowners and renters fund repairs or rebuilding efforts and cover the cost of replacing lost or disaster-damaged personal property. These disaster loans cover losses not fully compensated by insurance or other recoveries and do not duplicate benefits of other agencies or organizations. For more information, applicants may contact SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center by calling (800) 659-2955, emailing disastercustomerservice@sba.gov, or visiting SBA’s Web site at www.sba.gov/disaster. Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals may call (800)877-8339.