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Graves Urges POTUS and FEMA to Declare Presidential Disaster Declaration for Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, LA, May 29, 2021
After personally surveying badly flooded communities in Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, Iberville and Livingston parishes, and anticipating Governor John Bel Edwards' request for a presidential disaster declaration for these parishes, Congressman Garret Graves urged President Biden on May 25, 2021 to quickly provide disaster assistance to the Capital Region and Southwest Louisiana.

After personally surveying badly flooded communities in Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, Iberville and Livingston parishes, and anticipating Governor John Bel Edwards' request for a presidential disaster declaration for these parishes, Congressman Garret Graves urged President Biden on May 25, 2021 to quickly provide disaster assistance to the Capital Region and Southwest Louisiana. Graves urges that additional parishes – including Lafourche, St. Charles and St. John the Baptist – are included in a supplemental State request.

Excerpts from the letter:

"Closely following a pandemic and a record-setting 2020 hurricane season, the damage caused by this rainstorm will have long-lasting effects on the people of South Louisiana and federal assistance is badly needed to jump start the recovery process."

"Although the State is in the early phases of assessing damage in affected parishes, we ask that you give weight to the compounding effects of recent disasters that have fatigued local recovery resources and disaster survivors alike. Last year was the most active hurricane season in American history, and six different storms threatened Louisiana's homeowners. Every single parish in Louisiana was hit by at least one named storm in 2020, stressing emergency response resources that were already strained by the COVID-19 pandemic."

"In order to best allow for a complete disaster response and recovery, we ask that FEMA examine the impacts of all these events and provide Individual Assistance to affected homeowners accordingly."