Why was Southwest Louisiana not included in State of Emergency following severe storms?

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – A state of emergency was issued earlier this week for several parishes across the state.

The emergency declaration covers the period of May 14-17 and allows the state to assist parishes with damage.

The parishes included are St. Martin, Iberville, West Baton Rouge, Pointe Coupee, and St. James parishes, but no Southwest Louisiana parishes.

A week ago, an EF-2 tornado traveled through Sulphur while an EF-1 struck Westlake then moved into Lake Charles – leaving a clear path of destruction behind.

One Sulphur resident who had a tree fall on her trailer says she is frustrated but not surprised that Calcasieu Parish was not part of the declaration. She feels Southwest Louisiana is often left behind – and this time around is no exception.

The mayors of Lake Charles, Sulphur and Westlake each expressed state or federal help would be welcomed for repairs and debris cleanup.

Westlake Mayor Hal McMillin told us he is grateful no one in our area was hurt during the storms – but still emphasizes the damage that occurred was not minor.

“There were a number of trees, houses, our church. They all took damage. It was a big event for Westlake,” said McMillin.

McMillin says he even reached out to state representatives hoping to get answers.

“Anytime you have a tornado like that that hits, you look for the state and federal people to come to your aid, and we’re hoping that we can get this declared as some type of disaster so we can have some relief. And the state and federal folks could come in and help the people that had damage as well as help the city be reimbursed for the things we did,” McMillin said.

So what goes into the decision to declare a state of emergency?

Emergency Preparedness Director Jared Maze says there is a monetary threshold a parish must meet to be included.

“We sent out this flyer so that people can actually assess their own damage to their house, which is disaster.la.gov, and they can send in pictures and then experts will be able to review those and determine if it meets a certain dollar factor for public assistance which is typically around a million dollars,” Maze said.

Maze explains that technically the decision to proceed with the declaration is still under review as only 15 people in our area submitted reports of their damage.

Maze said he hopes that by spreading the word about the website – more people will report their damage – moving our parishes closer to the state of emergency declaration – especially ahead of hurricane season.

You can visit the website by clicking here or by scanning the QR code below.

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