Flood victims who have been displaced may have trouble finding a new home. Don Molino has more…
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LSU Economist Jim Richardson estimates it will take at least a year to recover from the historic flood damage. Jeff Palermo has more…
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State officials estimate 60-thousand homes were damaged in the Great Flood of 2016, and many displaced residents are now looking for new places to live. Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors president Tiffany Palmer says unfortunately there’s a low inventory of homes, especially for apartments…
Palmer says she doesn’t expect people to flee the area completely, but many will look for homes in areas that did not flood. She says if families are able to find rentals, they could run into leasing problems, because most landlords want to sign leases for at least six months.
The already short supply of available homes has dwindled, as some were flooded or taken off the market. Palmer says those looking to buy new homes may not be able to find their dream home, because of the limited availability.
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The evacuation order has been lifted in the Vermilion parish town of Gueydan (GAY-dahn). Vermilion Emergency Preparedness director Rebecca Broussard says they avoided major flooding in Gueydan thanks to the Louisiana National Guard.
An evacuation order for the town of Gueydan was issued when the levee along Highway 713 was breached Wednesday, but the breach was contained Sunday after hundreds of 4-thousand pound sandbags were dropped along the levee. However, Broussard says they still had over 11-hundred homes flooded throughout the parish.
Broussard says some homes in Vermilion Parish had water up to the roof, and several roads are still underwater. She says usually flooding in Vermilion is the result of storm surge from hurricanes, but that’s not the case this time.
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The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness says volunteers are needed to help flooded homeowners get the muck out of their homes. Mike Steele with GOHSEP says until this difficult cleanup is done, people cannot start to rebuild.
Steele says the damage from this flood is similar to what they saw in the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina.
Steele says people who want to help can sign up at VolunteerLouisiana.gov. He says many people whose home were damaged are elderly and not able to repair the damage.
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It’s estimated it will take at least one year to recover from the historic floods. That’s according to LSU Economist Jim Richardson who says Livingston Parish, which was the hardest hit, will need a while to get back to some kind of normalcy. He expects big national businesses should be back on their feet quickly, but it may take smaller businesses longer.
Richardson says in the short-term, this event could boost the economy with flood victims purchasing new furniture, flooring, and sheet-rock. He says the biggest issue is housing for those who lost their homes, which cannot be solved overnight.
Richardson says many victims of the flooding did not have flood insurance, which will force some to go into debt to restore their home.
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The Amite River, which contributed to much of the flooding in southeast Louisiana should finally fall below flood stage today. Freddie Zeigler, senior forecaster at the National Weather Service in Slidell, says the Amite is still above flood stage at French Settlement in Livingston Parish, but that should change by tomorrow
Zeigler says even though the Amite should be below flood stage by tomorrow, the flood event is not over as backwater remains a problem in some areas…
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