The Other Disaster Assistance – Public Assistance

BATON ROUGE, La. – The July 13 major disaster declaration for severe storms and flooding makes five Louisiana parishes eligible to receive disaster assistance from the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Public Assistance program – or the “other disaster assistance.”

Those five parishes are Bossier, Caddo, Grant, Natchitoches and Red River.

The PA program benefits everyone — neighborhoods, cities and the state of Louisiana. PA funding cleans up communities; repairs bridges and roads; puts water systems and utility systems back in order; and repairs public facilities such as libraries, schools and universities.

“FEMA and GOHSEP are working together to ensure that those parishes, communities and neighborhoods affected by the recent severe storms and flooding receive the funding they need to get started on the road to recovery,” said GOHSEP Director Kevin Davis.

“FEMA Public Assistance dollars come to Louisiana communities through a partnership of cost sharing between applicants and the federal government,” said Federal Coordinating Officer William J. Doran III. “FEMA picks up 75 percent of the eligible cost of putting a community back on its feet, and the remainder comes from non-federal sources, such as state and/or local funding.”

Types of entities that may be eligible for Public Assistance include:

• Local governments and special districts;
• Certain private nonprofit organizations or institutions that conduct activities of a governmental nature and are open to the general public;
• Federally recognized tribes; and
• State government agencies.

For more information on the severe storms and flooding recovery efforts in Louisiana visit http://www.fema.gov/disaster/4228 or www.la.gohsep.gov.

Follow FEMA Region 6 on Twitter at https://twitter.com/femaregion6.

Follow GOHSEP on Twitter at https://twitter.com/gohsep.

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The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) encourages all citizens to visit www.getagameplan.org  for information on how to plan for, and stay safe in, all types of emergencies, including winter weather events.

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.