SLS 17RS-761 ORIGINAL
2017 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 83
BY SENATORS WHITE, ALLAIN, APPEL, CHABERT, CORTEZ, DONAHUE, ERDEY,
FANNIN, HEWITT, LAMBERT, MIZELL, PERRY, TARVER,
THOMPSON AND W ALSWORTH
FEDERAL PROGRAMS. Requests that CDBG–Disaster Recovery Program funds received
by Louisiana relative to damages caused by the flooding in the state during 2016 be subject
to legislative oversight.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request that the federal funds received by Louisiana through the Community
3 Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery Program relative to damages caused
4 by the flooding in the state during 2016 be subject to the same legislative oversight
5 as the oversight required for the allocation and expenditure of federal funds received
6 by Louisiana through the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery
7 Program relative to damages caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
8 WHEREAS, during the months of March and August 2016, the state of Louisiana
9 suffered two separate flooding events, each of which devastated large portions of the state;
10 and
11 WHEREAS, in March of last year the state was struck with a weather event
12 beginning Tuesday, March 8th, and continuing off and on through Saturday, March 12th,
13 bringing recorded rainfall amounts of twenty inches or more and resulting in extreme flash
14 flooding, the closing of numerous roadways, and the evacuation of homes and businesses
15 in many locations; and
16 WHEREAS, the official airport reporting station in Monroe had picked up in excess
17 of twenty inches of rain from March 8th through March 11th; and
18 WHEREAS, major flooding also swamped the Shreveport area, where up to eighteen
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SLS 17RS-761 ORIGINAL
1 inches of rain fell; and
2 WHEREAS, flooding from the March event prompted evacuations in Greenwood,
3 Haughton, Homer, Minden, and Rayville, Louisiana, and resulted in record crests on Bayou
4 Dorcheat at Lake Bistineau, Bogue Chitto River near Bush, Bogue Falaya River in
5 Covington, Little River of Louisiana near Rochelle, and Tchefuncte River near Folsom and
6 close-to-record crests on the Amite River at Bayou Manchac Point, Amite River at Port
7 Vincent, Bayou D'Arbonne at Lake D'Arbonne, Big Cypress Creek at Mooringsport, Bogue
8 Chitto River at Franklinton, Calcasieu River near Glenmora, Calcasieu River near Oberlin,
9 Pearl River near Pearl River, Red River at Shreveport, Sabine River at Logansport,
10 Tangipahoa River at Robert, Tchefuncte River near Covington, and Tickfaw River at
11 Liverpool, among others; and
12 WHEREAS, the August flood, which was described as the worst natural disaster in
13 the United States since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, damaged hundreds of thousands of homes
14 in the state and forced thousands of citizens into emergency shelters; and
15 WHEREAS, the August event started with a slow-moving low pressure weather
16 system passing through the state producing unprecedented rainfall and leaving as much as
17 two feet of rain in a twenty-four hour period in portions of the parishes of East Baton Rouge,
18 Livingston, and St. Helena; and
19 WHEREAS, further rain that followed affected the parishes of Tangipahoa, East
20 Feliciana, Washington, Ascension, Lafayette, Iberville, and St. Martin; and
21 WHEREAS, many affected by the rising waters in the August event had to be
22 rescued by boat or helicopter, resulting in the formation of the famed "Cajun Navy"; and
23 WHEREAS, the education of thousands of school children in the areas affected by
24 the flooding was adversely impacted; and
25 WHEREAS, the task of restoring and rebuilding in the affected areas is massive and
26 complex; and
27 WHEREAS, despite the efforts of the state to obtain funding from the federal
28 government to assist in the rebuilding process, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
29 Development's disaster recovery funding, the Community Development Block
30 Grant–Disaster Recovery Program, has thus far provided only a fraction of the funding
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SLS 17RS-761 ORIGINAL
1 needed by citizens for restoration and rebuilding of their homes, businesses, and lives; and
2 WHEREAS, it is an essential function of the legislature to monitor the use of these
3 funds as they are spent to rebuild and restore the state, as was done in the years following
4 hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
5 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana take the
6 necessary steps to ensure that federal funds received by Louisiana through the Community
7 Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery Program relative to damages caused by
8 flooding in the state during 2016 be subject to the same legislative oversight as the oversight
9 required for the allocation and expenditure of federal funds received by Louisiana through
10 the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery Program relative to damages
11 caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
12 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
13 Governor John Bel Edwards and to the executive director of the Louisiana Office of
14 Community Development–Disaster Recovery Unit.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Thomas F. Wade.
DIGEST
SCR 83 Original 2017 Regular Session White
Requests that the legislature take the necessary steps to ensure that federal funds received
by Louisiana through the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery
Program relative to damages caused by the flooding in the state during 2016 be subject to
the same legislative oversight as the oversight required for the allocation and expenditure
of federal funds received by Louisiana through the Community Development Block
Grant–Disaster Recovery Program relative to damages caused by hurricanes Katrina and
Rita.
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