Last month’s historic flood caused in excess of $2 billion in damages to Louisiana businesses, according to the results of recent Louisiana Economic Development assessment.
Overall, LED says the widespread flooding, which resulted in 13 deaths, caused $8.7 billion in damage to Louisiana residential and commercial properties. Those figures do not include damage to the state’s public infrastructure, the department says.
“During the three-week period after the flooding event began, Louisiana shouldered labor and value-added production losses that affected 6 percent of our economic activity statewide,” says LED Secretary Don Pierson.
The department commissioned economist Dek Terrell of Lewis Terrell and Associates to conduct the damage assessment to support efforts by Gov. John Bel Edwards to gain federal funding from Congress for the state’s flood recovery.
Edwards is asking for $2.8 billion in disaster assistance via Community Development Block Grants administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Louisiana’s congressional delegation is also asking federal officials to view the Louisiana’s March and August floods as one disaster.
Last week, President Barack Obama approved increasing the federal government responsibility the August flood-related cost and recovery from 75% to 90%.
According to LED, an estimated 109,000 housing units were damaged and nearly 20,000 Louisiana businesses were interrupted by the flooding that began Aug. 11, leading to the flooding of more than 6,000 businesses in 22 affected parishes. LED surveyed 455 economic driver firms—employers that contribute the most output to the state’s economy—in flood-impacted regions and found that 6% suffered significant damage, while 9% sustained minor damage.
