BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Department of Health has received more than $19.5 million to assist communities throughout the state that are still recovering from the severe flooding that occurred this past spring.

The grant, called the Disaster Case Management grant is from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Louisiana Office of Community Development-Disaster Recovery Unit.

The grant will fund disaster management activities in 26 state parishes that are eligible for FEMA assistance. The parishes are: Allen, Ascension, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne, DeSoto, East Carroll, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Union, Vernon, Washington, Webster, West Carroll and Winn.

Dr. Rebekah Gee, secretary of the Department of Health, said the goal of disaster case management is to help individuals become self-sufficient as they recover from the flooding.

"Our team will work with nonprofit agencies in the affected communities to promote this assistance, train the case managers and ensure that people are receiving the assistance they need to fully recover," Gee said.

It is estimated that 1,575 families or individuals in the 36 parishes will receive long-term assistance because of the grant. The funding will be allocated to nonprofit organizations that will train and administer case managers. These include Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, Catholic Charities Diocese of Baton Rouge, Easter Seals Louisiana, Upbring Disaster Response, ICNA Relief USA, Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Volunteers of America North Louisiana.