BATON ROUGE – Governor John Bel Edwards announced that Louisiana will receive $26 million in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding from FEMA for the March floods.

Through the program, funds may be used for projects that support both state and parish hazard mitigation plans to reduce losses from future disasters. Of the $26.1 million awarded, $3 million will be reserved for state projects. The remaining $23 million will be allocated to all interested parishes that received declarations from the March floods.

Parishes will have until Jan. 13, 2017 to confirm the project scope and cost estimates to the state with project applications due on Feb. 13, 2017 and by Mar. 13, the state will submit applications to FEMA.

According to Edwards, 56 of the state's 64 parishes have received disaster declarations due to flooding.

"The March floods stretched from North to South Louisiana, and caused massive destruction to homes and businesses. After recovery, preventing future floods should be our top priority," Edwards said. "These resources will help our communities continue to rebuild stronger than ever, and I will continue to work with our congressional delegation to secure additional funding that we can use to prevent future disasters."

The allocation for the program funding is based on:

 FEMA Individual assistance

 - Number of applicants

 - Amount paid

 - Number of max grants

 Flood Insurance

 - Number of claims

 - Amount paid

FEMA Public Assistance

- Estimate of amount eligible

Allocations for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding for each parish is as follows:

Ouachita Parish: $5,938,616

St. Tammany Parish: $3,765,625

Tangipahoa Parish: $1,688,159

Vernon Parish: $1,128,755

Bossier Parish: $1,119,761

Washington Parish: $1,004,473

Webster Parish: $877,465

Natchitoches Parish: $839,012

Union Parish: $794,530

Caddo Parish: $689,940

Calcasieu Parish: $615,287

Richland Parish: $521,172

Livingston Parish: $435,928

Caldwell Parish: $335,261

Grant Parish: $331,793

Ascension Parish: $301,978

Lincoln Parish: $300,832

West Carroll Parish: $294,112

Bienville Parish: $288,601

Rapides Parish: $277,275

Catahoula Parish: $256,412

Allen Parish: $218,845

East Carroll Parish: $218,614

St. Helena Parish: $209,123

Red River Parish: $204,259

Franklin Parish: $184,336

Avoyelles Parish: $159,837