By Murray Wennerlund published 8-1-2022 updated 8-12-2022
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Declarations
LA
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Natural Disasters that Louisiana Homeowners should be aware of if you were determined to have major to severe damage to your primary residence and did not have enough insurance or government grants to cover 100% of all your repairs. No matter if you purchased the materials and did the repair work yourself or you hired a contractor or handyman to do the work. You must attempt to have all your expenses reimbursed or funded by HUD CDBG-DR grants starting no later than 12 calendar months from the date of the federally declared disaster.
It's important to understand that when the state talks about income limits that is typically just the opening statement and because HUD is watching. Once the program gets going and starts eliminating low income households due to ineligibility the state will start Solution 3 Reimbursements to all those in almost all income ranges that use bank loans, retirement funds or personal savings to repair. The state will reimburse you 100% at what they determine the damage amount to be. Be sure you document your damage and your repairs with date time stamped pictures and payment receipts using credit or debit cards. Do not pay with CASH for any labor or materials for your disaster recovery. It is best to open a checking account for your disaster recovery. Transfer money into this account and use this account to payoff credit cards used to purchase and pay for labor or materials. Use checks when paying local help and have them cash the check at your bank if they do not have a checking account. The state of Louisiana will be using management policy from the 2016 floods which required homeowners to provide proof of payment and cash receipts or cash payments were not accepted. If you have paid cash to a local company ask them to take a check and return the overpayment.
Disasters you should know of and should be applying for assistance no matter how much insurance you had. The key word is "UNMET" and the phrase is "Unmet needs" which is any damage expense or disaster expense you did not have insurance for and didn't receive any federal assistance in the form of grants or small business loans. (SBA loans are not the best resource for recovery from a disaster. Local banks or personal savings are better resources because they can be reimbursed by the federal government while SBA can not at this time.)
FEMA Declared Disasters Major / Severe:
Louisiana Hurricane Ida (DR-4611-LA)
Incident Period: August 26, 2021 - September 3, 2021
Major Disaster Declaration declared on August 29, 2021
Louisiana Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding (DR-4606-LA)
Incident Period: May 17, 2021 - May 21, 2021
Major Disaster Declaration declared on June 2, 2021
Louisiana Severe Winter Storms (DR-4590-LA)
Incident Period: February 11, 2021 - February 19, 2021
Major Disaster Declaration declared on March 9, 2021
Louisiana Hurricane Zeta (DR-4577-LA)
Incident Period: October 26, 2020 - October 29, 2020
Major Disaster Declaration declared on January 12, 2021
Louisiana Hurricane Delta (DR-4570-LA)
Incident Period: October 6, 2020 - October 10, 2020
Major Disaster Declaration declared on October 16, 2020
Louisiana Hurricane Laura (DR-4559-LA)
Incident Period: August 22, 2020 - August 27, 2020
Major Disaster Declaration declared on August 28, 2020
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