BATON ROUGE- Paying workers under the table for home repairs may be the quickest option for flood victims but it can be costly in the long run. Louisiana requires contractors be certified to protect customers from shaddy work or outright theft.

The state keeps a list of qualified contractors for the public.

However it's not just homeowners who take a chance in the labor black market. Workers run the risk of doing a job just to have the employer not pay.

The day laborers are often immigrants from Latin America who have no recourse over contract disputes.

Some of them have lived in Baton Rouge for years and are flood victims themselves.