BATON ROUGE – FEMA announced that the grace period to renew flood insurance policies has been extended to 120 days for affected Louisiana parishes.

The grace period has been extended to 120 days and applies to the 20 declared disaster parishes: 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. There is typically a 30-day grace period to renew policies under the National Flood Insurance Program. Due to the flooding that took place last week, policyholders may have trouble meeting the 30-day deadline.

"This extension will give policyholders one less thing to worry about, at a time when they are trying to focus on getting back into their homes safely and on beginning to rebuild their lives," Roy Wright, deputy associate administrator for FEMA's Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, said. 

The extension applies to all National Flood Insurance Flood Program policies in the above parishes with a grace period ending Aug. 11 through Sept. 10. Policyholders should note that the flood insurance program cannot pay a flood claim that occurs after the expiration date, unless the policy holders renew their premium with their insurance carriers on or before the last day of the grace period.

More than 25,000 National Flood Insurance Program policyholders have submitted claims for flood loss. FEMA issued more than $15 million in advance payments to policyholders in the state who sustained flood-related damages.

FEMA advises those who would like to file a claim to call their individual insurance carrier or go to Floodsmart.gov and review the "File Your Claim" section.