12,600 apply to FEMA for aid
More than 12,600 people in Livingston, Ascension and Tangipahoa parishes have registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster assistance since Hurricane Isaac struck Louisiana two weeks ago, a FEMA spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Residents from those parishes were continuing to apply in a steady stream, officials said Tuesday afternoon.
Those three parishes were hit hard by heavy rain and a storm surge that Hurricane Isaac pushed through Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas when it came ashore in Louisiana on Aug. 28, local officials said.
So far, FEMA has found the residents of those three parishes eligible for $5.7 million in individual aid, FEMA spokeswoman Gina Cortez said Tuesday afternoon.
Tangipahoa Parish residents were approved for $2.6 million in individual assistance, compared to $2.5 million for Livingston residents and $646,000 for Ascension residents, she said.
A lot of people were still applying, Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks said late Tuesday.
The amount of individual assistance approved for Livingston Parish residents has doubled in the last 24 hours, he said.
Ricks said personnel were in the field Tuesday trying to determine how many houses flooded and how many were damaged by the storm, which he said caused flooding in areas that never had flooded before.
In Tangipahoa Parish, more than 1,500 homes flooded and about 3,000 residences received wind and other damage from Isaac, Parish President Gordon Burgess said.
Ascension Parish President Tommy Martinez said Tuesday that initial reports indicate about 40 homes flooded in Ascension Parish and more than 200 homes received wind damage.
As of Tuesday, Cortez said, the number of people seeking individual disaster assistance, by parish, were: Ascension, 2,188 residents; Livingston, 3,710 residents; and Tangipahoa, 6,717 residents.
The Ascension Parish disaster assistance center probably will remain open about five more weeks, said Rick Webre, director of emergency preparedness for Ascension Parish.
He estimated that between 9,000 and 10,000 Ascension residents have applied for food stamps since the storm, but said the center in the parish handling food stamp applications was closing Tuesday evening.
Webre said teams will go out Wednesday to assess damage in homes that flooded in Ascension Parish.
The presidents of Ascension, Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes all said that floodwater in their respective parishes had receded and they were no longer aware of any homes that remain flooded.
Across the state, more than 162,000 people have applied to FEMA for help and about $61 million in disaster assistance was being provided to Hurricane Isaac survivors as well as Louisiana state government for its Isaac-related expenses, according to FEMA.
In addition to Ascension, Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes, FEMA reported it is providing individual assistance grants to people in Assumption, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Terrebonne and Washington parishes.