Governor Edwards requests additional $125 million for disaster relief
BATON ROUGE – Governor John Bel Edwards has updated his request to President Barack Obama for disaster assistance for an additional $125 million.
The $125 million requested is to fund projects such as the Comite River Diversion Canal to ensure that similar projects can address future flood impacts.
Edwards in total has requested more than $4 billion in assistance in order to respond to families, businesses and communities in need and recovering from the August flood.
Additional requests include $92 million in Social Services Disaster Block Grants to address post-flood mental health and child-care challenges for families and the distribution of $39 million in Federal Highway Administration Emergency Highway backlog assistance for roads and bridges damaged by the flood.
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Previously, Congress passed a Continuing Resolution that included $500 million in disaster assistance for states, including $438 million in disaster relief for Louisiana alone. Gov. Edwards made three separate trips to Washington, DC to lobby Congress for the assistance, including two trips with Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain.