Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson is visiting Baton Rouge to meet with state and local officials and review ongoing response and recovery efforts in areas affected by severe flooding. While in Baton Rouge, Secretary Johnson is participating in a press conference to discuss the relief and recovery efforts, including assistance by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Watch video:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?414133-1/hom... The state of Louisiana continues to deal with a significant level of flooding and one of the worst natural disasters in recent years. Yesterday, the President spoke with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, who traveled to Louisiana yesterday, to receive an update on the response to ongoing flooding in the state. In the latest of a series of updates the President has been receiving since the weekend, Administrator Fugate briefed the President on the resources that have been provided to support the response and recovery, including FEMA Corps volunteers and federal assistance available to individuals who have been impacted.
The President directed Administrator Fugate to utilize all resources available to assist in the response and recovery and asked to be regularly briefed on the ongoing response. In addition, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Johnson visited the impacted region this week to review the ongoing response.
According to the National Weather Service, significant river flooding will persist this week across portions of southern Louisiana. Major to record flooding will continue along portions of the Amite, Vermilion, Mermentau, and Calcasieu Rivers. Additional rain is possible in slow-moving, persistent thunderstorms, with the greatest threat across south central Texas and western Louisiana. Pockets of flash flooding may develop as a result of this additional rainfall.
So here's what you should know about the federal response in Lousiana and the resources that you or anyone you know who is impacted by flooding can use:
Federal Response
President Obama has declared 20 parishes for a major disaster for severe storms and flooding, a declaration that makes federal funding available to affected people in Acadia, Ascension, Avoyelles, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Vermilion, Washington and West Feliciana. Additional parishes may be added to the declaration at a later date as damage assessments continue in affected areas.
This federal assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.
Last week when flooding began, President Obama spoke with Governor Edwards of Louisiana last Thursday and ordered federal aid last week to support state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by severe storms and flooding -- support that will continue as state and local officials in the affected areas address the impacts of the disaster. Since then, FEMA and Louisiana state officials have convened a Strategic Housing Task Force to explore immediate temporary housing solutions for displaced survivors. The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it will speed federal disaster assistance to Louisiana and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes due to severe storms and flooding
The Small Business Administration is also opening Business Recovery Center in Waka, LA to provide a wide-range of services. You can learn more about that center here.
Right now, FEMA, through its regional office in Denton, Texas, is highly engaged in response efforts in Louisiana as flooding continues across areas of the Gulf Coast. FEMA staff are on the ground in Louisiana as FEMA continues to coordinate closely with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. FEMA is also monitoring potential flooding in Texas and in states across the Gulf Coast. As of today, the Corporation for National and Community Service has assigned 310 AmeriCorps members serving through FEMA Corps to relief efforts, including 114 AmeriCorps members on the ground in Louisiana to support disaster assistance and other critical tasks and 196 members remotely staffing survivor call centers. In addition, 39 AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) members serving through the American Red Cross have deployed to Baton Rouge to support sheltering, disaster assessments, and feeding.
Here's what FEMA is doing on the ground in Louisiana:
• More than 300 housing inspectors are on the ground in Louisiana verifying damages reported by survivors who have registered for assistance. The number of inspectors is expected to increase rapidly over the next several days.
• FEMA established an Incident Support Base in Camp Beauregard in Pineville, Louisiana to distribute supplies such as water, meals, cots and blankets to the state of Louisiana. These include over 650,000 liters of water, over 800,000 meals, over 20,000 cots, and 42,000 blankets.
• FEMA Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) personnel and equipment are deployed to the Incident Support Base in Pineville to support the state with secure and non-secure voice, video and information services to support emergency response communications needs.
• After the state requested a Federal Urban Search & Rescue task force, FEMA has deployed Texas Task Force 1 to Louisiana.
• Six FEMA Incident Management Assistance Teams are deployed to Louisiana to support response activities and ensure there are no unmet needs.
LEARN MORE HERE!:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/08/17...
Posted By: agnes levine
Thursday, August 18th 2016 at 8:32PM
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