BATON ROUGE – Governor John Bel Edwards sent an additional letter to President Barack Obama updating the state's request for federal assistance for an additional $800 million, bringing the total to amount to $2.8 billion. 

The additional $800 million requested will be used on projects to protect homes and businesses from future flooding. Gov. Edwards asked that the additional assistance be included in the Continuing Resolution that Congress will consider in the coming weeks. 

On Sunday, Edwards held a conference call with the Louisiana congressional delegation to discuss the updated request and asked for their support.

"After two rounds of historic flooding in just eight months, it is clear that Louisiana needs additional assistance from the federal government to rebuild our communities and make our state stronger than it was before," said Gov. Edwards. 

"The congressional delegation and I are working together to help the people of Louisiana, and I am hopeful that Congress will approve this funding in the Continuing Resolution they will consider in the coming weeks," Edwards said.

Last week, President Obama announced the federal government would cover 90 percent of the costs for last month's flooding.