NEW ORLEANS - Letters have gone out to inform nearly 125,000 New Orleans-area residents and businesses that checks will be mailed soon in a 2009 settlement over flood damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

The money won't be major in most cases: Joseph Bruno, an attorney representing plaintiffs in the suit told Nola.comThe Times-Picayune that payments will range from $2.50 to $3,700.

The $20 million settlement came in a lawsuit involving the East Jefferson, Orleans and Lake Borgne Basin levee districts.

Claimants will have an opportunity to challenge the amounts they are receiving by March 29.

Individual awards were based partly on whether a claimant was a residential property owner, a non-resident property owner or renter in St. Bernard Parish or on the east bank of Jefferson or Orleans parish.