BATON ROUGE, La. – State and federal officials are encouraging Louisiana residents affected by Hurricane Laura to register for disaster assistance with FEMA as soon as possible.
Disaster assistance has been made available to the state of Louisiana to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis and Vernon parishes affected by the hurricane from Aug. 22 to Aug. 27.
In order to your process application for disaster assistance and avoid denial notifications, survivors can apply by following these steps:
The first step is to contact your insurance company to file your storm-damage insurance claims.
The second step is to register. To do so:
Call 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA) or TTY 1-800-462-7585 for the speech- and hearing-impaired. If you use 711-Relay or Video Relay Services (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362. The toll-free telephone lines operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. CDT, seven days a week. Go to www.disasterassistance.gov or via web-enabled phone or tablet at m.fema.gov.If you have already applied for FEMA assistance and been denied, additional information might have been needed to fully process your application. You will need to have the following readily available:
A current phone number where you can be contacted; Your address at the time of the disaster and the address where you are now staying; Your Social Security number, if available; A general list of damages and losses; and If insured, the insurance policy number, or the agent and company name.Disaster assistance may 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.
Low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration are available to homeowners, renters and businesses. Call the SBA at 1-800-659-2955 or visit www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.
Federal funding is also available to the state, eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for debris removal in those same parishes. Funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures (Category B), including direct federal assistance for Public Assistance, and for hazard mitigation measures in all parishes of the state.
