BATON ROUGE, La. – It will take several years for Louisiana to recover from the 2020 hurricane season, a process that remains in action on many fronts.
FEMA, along with its federal and Louisiana state partners, remains committed to respond to the long-term needs of survivors and help them rebuild stronger, more resilient homes and communities.
By Jan. 6, over $900 million has been put into the hands of Louisiana survivors. FEMA still has almost 900 agency staff members remaining in the state to work on these disasters and is hiring and training local residents to continue the work.
Survivors who received a determination letter saying their application was ineligible may believe that the decision is incorrect or that their situation has changed. Survivors can speak with FEMA specialists to learn about the appeals process, discuss documentation requirements and get assistance with writing an appeal letter. Contact FEMA:
- Online at DisasterAssistance.gov, or
- Call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-FEMA (3362) TTY 800-462-7585.
Specialists from FEMA Individual Assistance continue to work updating and completing applications and appeals from households that were affected by Hurricanes Laura and Delta. You can update your contact information or insurance settlement by using the contact information above.
Direct Temporary Housing assistance is provided only to residents in parishes where housing is not readily available. Direct Temporary Housing assistance is available to Hurricane Laura survivors in Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Grant, Jefferson Davis, Rapides and Vernon parishes, and for Hurricane Delta residents in Acadia, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis, Rapides, St. Landry, St. Martin and Vermilion parishes.
FEMA determines whether applicants are eligible for Direct Temporary Housing and pairs them with the best available housing solution to meet their household needs. No additional registration is required. The deadline for referrals is Jan. 31.
There are many other FEMA programs that are not as visible to individual survivors.
Specialists with FEMA assist communities as Voluntary Agency Liaisons (VALs). They serve as the central coordination point between local, state, tribal, territorial and federal governments and volunteer, faith-based and community organizations – including coordination for volunteers and donations. VALs play a vital role in FEMA’s mission and are often called upon to be FEMA’s bridge to the community.
Through its Public Assistance program, FEMA and Public Assistance experts in Louisiana are working long-term helping organizations to rebuild infrastructure that was damaged in the hurricanes. There are 381 approved Requests for Public Assistance (RPA) for Hurricane Laura and 186 for Hurricane Delta as of Jan. 11. The Request for Public Assistance (RPA) deadline for Hurricane Laura was Dec. 31; the RPA deadline for Hurricane Delta has been extended to Jan. 15.
FEMA specialists are standing by Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to talk to you about repairing/rebuilding safer and stronger. Please call them at 833-336-2487.
Visit this web page for publications you can use as guides for your recovery: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/lamit/ or https://fema.connectsolutions.com/la-es-mit/ for Spanish.
For the latest information on Hurricane Laura, visit fema.gov/disaster/4559. For the latest information on Hurricane Delta, visit fema.gov/disaster/4570. Follow the FEMA Region 6 Twitter account at twitter.com/FEMARegion6.