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BATON ROUGE — The White House has approved Louisiana’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration following the flash flooding in mid-May, which damaged several thousand homes and left five people dead, Gov. Edwards announced Wednesday. This makes affected residents in five parishes eligible to apply for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“I want to thank President Biden for his quick approval of our request for a Major Disaster Declaration, which will go a long way to help the thousands of people affected in Louisiana by quick and severe flash flooding that damaged homes and left five people dead,” Gov. Edwards said. “As people continue to recover, I encourage everyone who was affected in Ascension, Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Iberville and Lafayette parishes to register for FEMA aid. If your parish is not yet declared and you suffered damage, you may continue self-reporting it online at damage.la.gov.”

Gov. Edwards’ initial request was for FEMA Individual Assistance for five parishes – Ascension, Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Iberville and Lafayette. Individual Assistance includes aid from FEMA related to housing and other needs. The White House also approved Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding statewide.

If additional parishes have sufficient damage identified through the state’s preliminary damage assessment process, the Governor’s request will be amended to request these parishes.

The Governor declared a state of emergency for this disaster on May 17, 2021.

So far, more than 2,900 homes have reported damage from the severe weather, including six that were reported as destroyed, 737 suffering major damage and 1,209 homes having minor damage. Louisiana continues to collect reports from the public via a self-reporting process at damage.la.gov.  Everyone with weather related damages is encouraged to take the survey, as additional parishes may be added to the request.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated parishes can begin applying for assistance by registering online at http://www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA(3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.