BATON ROUGE – The president has declared a “major disaster” in Louisiana because of the May flood, opening Louisiana to federal assistance as many neighborhoods in East Baton Rouge and Ascension Parish continue to clean up.

EBR, Ascension, and Iberville were among the parishes requested to be declared disaster areas.  Included in the declaration are also Calcasieu and Lafayette.

A federal disaster declaration makes federal funding available to people who flooded in the week-long rain storm that started May 17.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.
 
Federal funding can also be made available to governments.

More than 2,900 homes have reported damage from the severe weather, including six that were reported as destroyed.

Louisiana is tabulating damage reports online: damage.la.gov.  Everyone with weather related damages is encouraged to take the survey, as additional parishes may be added to the federal disaster assistance request.
  
Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated parishes can begin applying for assistance by registering online at http://www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA(3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired.  The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.