FEMA: More than $2.5 billion paid to help Louisiana residents recover from Ida [The Houma Courier, La.]

Dec. 3—Over $2.5 billion in federal grants, loans and flood insurance payments have been paid in Louisiana to help residents recover from Hurricane Ida, FEMA said.

It has been three months since the Category 4 storm made landfall near Port Fourchon as the fifth-strongest hurricane in American history.

Of the $2.5 billion, $1.1 billion low-interest Small Business Administration loans have been distributed and $580 million in housing assistance for homeowners and renters, FEMA said.

FEMA said more than $124.6 million was paid to over 32,715 households in Terrebonne. This includes over $50 million in repair assistance, more than $26 million in temporary rental assistance and over $38 million for other needs.

In Lafourche, more than $99.9 million has been approved for over 27,463 households including over $44 million in repair assistance, over $18 million in temporary rental assistance and $30.1 million for other needs, FEMA said.

The agency said it has also distributed $441 million for medical bills, vehicle replacement, cleaning and other needs. There has $513 million distributed in National Flood Insurance Program claims and $2.7 million in Disaster Unemployment Insurance claims.

There were 25 disaster recovery centers set up across the state, eight of which are still operating.

In Lafourche Parish, the FEMA recovery center that was in the parking lot of the Geaux Pass Service Center in Golden Meadow has been relocated to the parking lot of the Tarpon Heights Shopping Center parking lot in Cut Off, 16245 East Main St.

In Terrebonne Parish, a new disaster recovery center opened on the grounds of the Montegut Recreation Center at 107 Recreation Drive.

So far, more than 552,000 residents in the state have been approved for individual assistance and FEMA representatives have visited 186,000 homes, the agency said.

Over 4,100 households are currently checked into hotel rooms that are being paid for by FEMA, the agency said. About 760 of them are from Terrebonne and 270 are from Lafourche.

At the peak, over 22,183 residents were temporarily sheltered in hotels after the hurricane made landfall, FEMA said.

FEMA representatives have offered rebuilding and repair advice to over 14,608 residents, and 152,142 survivors received expedited rental assistance for utility outages, inaccessible or damaged homes.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has installed 33,625 blue roofs, which allow residents in damaged homes to live safely while making permanent repairs.

For more information, visit fema.gov/disaster/4611.

— Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 448-7639 or at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DanVCopp.

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