St. Landry
Flooding Damage Assistance
October 30, 2006
Luis Hijar is going through his soaked home, throwing away belongings that have been destroyed by the waters. His trailer is one of nearly 100 homes in the parish that took on water. And, this area was one of the hardest hit. Residents in the Lewisburg and Bellevue areas say they need as much help as they can get to recover from Friday's flood, so they've called the St. Landry Parish government and they're hoping for a speedy response.The government is taking calls from residents like Hijar and spending the day surveying their damage.Parish President Don Menard says workers take all of the contact information of all of the probable and possible damage that was caused by the rains and the federal and state teams go and meet with individuals and they assess damages.When the state and federal officials come, they will determine how much money can be given to individuals and the parish for recovery.
But for now, all residents can do is clean up and wait.
Meanwhile, disaster teams are assessing damage in eight other parishes in eastern portions of the state. Friday, Governor Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency for the parishes of Beauregard, Evangeline, Vernon, Allen, St. Helena, Sabine, Calcasieu and Jeff Davis, in addition to St. Landry Parish.
In those areas, more than 400 homes were flooded or damaged during last week's storms.