BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. John Bel Edwards requested a Major Disaster Declaration on Wednesday formally requesting direct assistance to those people and communities impacted by Hurricane Delta.
According to a release, a Major Disaster Declaration can only be requested following a disaster. The governor previously declared a state of emergency and requested a Federal Disaster Declaration, which President Donald Trump approved.
Louisiana also has a declared federal Major Declaration for Hurricane Laura, which impacted many of the same communities as Hurricane Delta.
Hurricane Delta made landfall in Louisiana on Friday, Oct. 9, as a strong Category 2 hurricane, bringing with it severe storm surge and damaging winds.
In addition, Louisiana is still recovering from Category 4 Hurricane Laura and is in the midst of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the release, Edwards is requesting FEMA Public Assistance (for governmental and public entities) Categories A and B for debris removal and emergency protective measures and FEMA Individual Assistance (for people impacted by the storm) for the five parishes directly in path of Hurricane Laura and their residents.
Edwards states in the release that he has met with the FEMA administrator this week and discussed the need to address the complications and financial challenges following these back to back storms.
After further assessments are completed, additional parishes will be requested, the release states.
The five most impacted parishes are:
- Acadia
- Calcasieu
- Cameron
- Jefferson Davis
- Vermilion
The governor's request can be viewed here.
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