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CONVENT, La. (WGNO) — Exactly one week to the day Hurricane Ida blazed a catastrophic trail of damage throughout Southeast Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards provided an update from St. James Parish on the state’s latest recovery efforts.

Gov. Edwards is also expected to tour Assumption Parish on Sunday as well.

“Today makes one week since Hurricane Ida made landfall on our state’s shores, while we still have a long road of recovery ahead of us, I am proud of the progress we have made,” said Parish President Pete Dufresne, before presenting Gov. Edwards.

“We are still 100 percent without power, and we are hopeful in the coming days we will begin to see our critical services come back online and provide power to our hospitals and our gas stations and our grocery stores.”

Talking points for the governor, included:

  • One week out from storm, progress made but people still hurting
  • Letter of thanks to other state governors for military, law enforcement and recovery support
  • Confirmed death total now 13, with latest 74-year-old man in Orleans Parish from heat exhaustion
  • Heat a major factor with power outages still in the hundreds of thousands
  • Check on neighbors, especially those who are elderly or have special needs
  • FEMA has received 380K applications for disaster assistance; $165 million approved for Louisiana residents for recovery
  • Beware of scams. If in doubt, call FEMA to report incident. FEMA representatives will have official ID
  • Army Corps of Engineers has activated its free ‘Blue Roof Program’ in the following parishes:
    • Ascension
    • Jefferson
    • Lafourche
    • Livingston
    • Orleans
    • Plaquemines
    • St. Bernard
    • St. Charles
    • St. James
    • St. Helena
    • Assumption
  • Thanks to President Joe Biden for assistance and greenlight transitional sheltering assistance
  • Reminder for residents to practice safe generator protocols; importance of carbon monoxide detectors
  • SNAP benefits extension for residents affected by loss of power for 24 hours or more
  • Child and Family Services has launched ‘Connect’ phone line to locate survivors at shelters

Gov. Edwards closed the briefing reminding the state to remain together as the recovery process will take time.

‘There are a 1,000 acts of kindness for every bit of foolishness that happening out there,” he closed. “And I’m probably understating that tremendously … and that’s why the people of Louisiana continue to inspire me.”