Biden approves Louisiana Disaster Declaration

US President Joe Biden has announced a natural disaster in Louisiana due to Hurricane Ida and ordered federal assistance to the victims, Report informs referring to the White House website.

“Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement State, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Ida beginning on Aug. 26, 2021, and continuing,” reads the message.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Ida made landfall earlier on Aug. 29 - on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina - as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph (67 meters per second), the National Hurricane Center said. Ida was a Category 2 storm, and its center was about 25 miles west-southwest of New Orleans.

More than one million customers are without power in the region, according to PowerOutage.US, including more than 990,000 in Louisiana and more than 30,000 in Mississippi.