President Trump Approves Request To Expand Federal Emergency Disaster Declaration

BATON ROUGE – Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards’ request that the federal emergency disaster declaration be expanded to include six additional parishes was approved by President Donald J.Trump. The parishes that have been added include:  Allen, Beauregard, Catahoula, Concordia, Evangeline and Vernon.

“I’m very thankful to the Trump administration for approving this request so quickly,” said Gov. Edwards. “It means that the affected parishes will be able to receive federal assistance as the amount of the damage is determined and our citizens work to recover. In addition, teams from the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness are preparing to travel to the various parishes and will continue the formal process of assessing the storm damage.”

The emergency declaration provides Direct Federal Assistance for emergency protective measures in a total of 41 parishes. We can leverage federal agencies to directly help protect lives and property. It does not provide financial assistance to governments or affected individuals.  The initial 35 parishes included in the declaration are as follows:

• Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Ouachita, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, Rapides, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Vermilion, Washington, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana.