Victims of Laura seeking help
Over 67,000 register with FEMA for aid; death toll in Texas, Louisiana at least 19
More than 67,000 people have registered for disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency since Hurricane Laura caused significant damage, according to the office of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
Laura’s death toll Monday was at least 19 in Texas and Louisiana — nearly half killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from the unsafe operation of generators. The latest known death, reported
Monday by Louisiana’s health department, was a 49-year-old man in Rapides Parish who died when a tree he was cutting fell on him.
Aid totaling $2.8 million has been given out to those affected as part of FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program, which provides housing-related financial aid after disasters, according to Melissa Wilkins, an agency public affairs specialist.
With about 18,000 residents in and around the Port Arthur area
still without power, that city started to bring residents back Monday.
The process is expected to take three days — the first two for general populations and the third for medical transport.
Residents will be received first at the Port Arthur Civic Center, where they can get transportation home along city bus routes or wait in a cool room for their own transportation.
The city and the American Red Cross also have stations set up to assess residents’ needs and to try to provide necessary supplies, such as diapers. Residents also will be given cans of water and meals before being taken home.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, DHouston, visited the setup at the Robert “Bob” Bowers Civic Center before residents arrived Monday morning.
She said this was the first of several stops she planned to make around Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange and Lake Charles, La., to get a better idea of how the federal government can respond.
The Texas Department of Transportation has started replacing 23 sections of concrete barrier along Interstate 10 in Orange and Chambers County to mitigate future flood effects, according to a news release. Each section will be 300 feet long and installed along flood-prone areas of the interstate.
The project will occur in two phases. In the first phase, a temporary concrete barrier will be installed in place of the current barrier. In the second phase, which could begin this year or early next year, the temporary barrier will be replaced by the new concrete sections.
The new wall will include drainage openings about 13 inches tall and 18 feet long, the release said.
In Louisiana, Gov. Edwards on Monday warned that residents were in for a long recovery, with 324,000 power outages across the state and 600,000 people without water or under boil water advisories.
Meanwhile, stifling heat and humidity were adding to the trouble of clearing out debris, patching roofs and starting rebuilding work.
“This is going to be a very difficult storm to recover from,” Edwards said.
But Edwards praised the federal response so far, saying FEMA was quick to arrive with assistance and sent hundreds of workers for recovery efforts. On Monday, Edwards announced a temporary roofing program operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In hard-hit Calcasieu Parish, some waited hours for tarps, water and other supplies at distribution sites, parish spokesperson Tom Hoefer said. The parish had been without power, and in many areas, including the parish seat of Lake Charles, which is home to more than 78,000 people, water had not been flowing from taps, he said.
Crews will have to rebuild hundreds of transmission towers and reset downed power poles and lines, said Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness for the Edison Electric Institute, an association of investor-owned electric companies in the U.S.
To register for FEMA assistance, visit disasterassistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362.