More than 2,700 households displaced by the August 2016 flood in the Capital Region remain in FEMA-provided mobile housing units, according to the updated federal statistics released today.
The majority of those households—about 1,500—are in East Baton Rouge Parish. Another 900 are in Livingston Parish while 300 households in Ascension Parish continue to utilize mobile housing units or MHUs.
FEMA says it provided the units at the state’s request last year. The MHUs were a last resort for individuals and families unable to find temporary housing after several days of heavy rains caused widespread flooding in southwest Louisiana.
In the Capital Region alone, 13 people were killed and nearly 60,000 houses destroyed.
At its peak, roughly 4,300 households were living in MHUs as they sought to rebuild or find new housing after the flood. About 31 households have moved out every week and returned home, FEMA says.
The agency estimates that 70% of those remaining in MHUs are on track to return home by February.
Read a recent Business Report cover package on the Capital Region’s flood recovery one year after the disaster.
