FEMA Says They’ll Be in SWLA for as Long as It Takes To Recover

The road to recovery is long in SWLA, and FEMA says government programs will be around for as long as they are needed.

FEMA’s Federal Coordinating Officer John Long told KPLC the recovery process from two devastating hurricanes is a very complex process, and he knows it takes longer than anyone wants it to. FEMA has given more than $46 million in rental assistance to aid the housing issues in SWLA. Around 227,000 households have registered with FEMA for damage from Hurricane Laura, and more than 49,000 have registered from Hurricane Delta.

Long also said he knows affordable housing was hard to find in SWLA before the storms and now it's almost non-existent. FEMA is hopeful they will be able to get everyone placed who registered with housing assistance by September or October of this year.

Rebuilding the devastated infrastructure of SWLA will be the longest part of recovery. FEMA and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness representatives are going to search out and evaluate buildings that survived the storms with minimal or no damage and use these as examples of how future buildings should be constructed in SWLA.