FEMA: $13 million paid in Isaac cleanup
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has granted $13 million in individual hurricane assistance to residents in Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes, according to data from the agency.
Debris cleanups continue in those two parishes, the parish presidents said Wednesday.
Most of the damage in Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes came from flooding, much of which was caused by a storm surge that rushed through lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, according to local officials.
More than 22,000 people in East Baton Rouge, Ascension, St. Helena, Tangipahoa and Livingston parishes have registered with FEMA for help as a result of Hurricane Isaac, the FEMA numbers show.
So far, the agency has approved about $16 million in aid in those five parishes.
Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks said he hopes the parish’s debris contractor can finish the cleanup by the end of next week.
As work has wrapped up in Jefferson Parish, Ceres Environmental Services has been diverting trucks to help in Livingston, he said.
Ricks said FEMA’s disaster recovery center for Livingston Parish, which is located in Satsuma, is scheduled to close next week.
He said he is trying to get FEMA to set up a temporary disaster recovery center in the Maurepas area, which suffered severe flooding.
A number of people from that area complained at a Sunday meeting with FEMA that the agency hasn’t met many of their needs.
“That meeting made a huge difference,” as did door-to-door visits by FEMA last week, the parish president said.
“Everyone isn’t getting the help they were hoping they would get, but they have gotten answers to their questions,” he said.
Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess said Wednesday that he hopes the parish can complete its debris cleanup within 10 days.
Tangipahoa’s Department of Public Works is handling the cleanup rather than a contractor, he said.
More than 9,500 people have applied for FEMA assistance from Tangipahoa Parish, according to FEMA.
Residents of that parish
have been granted $7.4 million in aid, according to FEMA data.
In Livingston Parish, 4,741 people had applied for help as of Wednesday morning and FEMA has granted $5.6 million in individual aid, so far.
The agency’s records show that 4,187 people have applied from East Baton Rouge and have been granted almost $1 million.
In Ascension Parish, 2,810 people applied and have been granted $1.4 million.
In St. Helena Parish, 865 people who applied for help have been granted about $400,000.
Across the state, 189,000 residents have registered with FEMA for individual assistance and the agency has approved more than $90 million in funds, FEMA spokesman Tom Pechal said.
The largest amount, $21.8 million, has been granted to people in St. John the Baptist Parish, where 12,236 people have applied, he said.
The largest number of applications, 57,427, has come from Jefferson Parish, where $12.2 million has been approved by FEMA, Pechal said.