President Trump Approves La. Request for Federal Assistance Related to Marco and Laura
By Nicole Mumphrey , WVUE
President Donald Trump approved Gov. John Bel Edwards’ request for federal assistance related to Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Laura, the governor said Sunday afternoon.
Edwards submitted the pre-landfall emergency declaration to the President and the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Saturday, August 22.
“I would like to thank President Trump for his quick approval of federal assistance for Louisiana and for pre-positioning FEMA assets and other federal support for our state during this unprecedented weather event,” Edwards said. “We’ve never seen two hurricanes hitting the same state back to back within 48 hours, as is anticipated in the coming days in Louisiana. At the same time, we are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes the prospect of evacuations, search and rescue and mass sheltering complicated and difficult. We will work alongside our federal and local partners to manage this unique and challenging group of disasters.”
Both storms are forecast to impact Louisiana next week within days of each other. Edwards said Laura could be a Category 3 hurricane when it makes impact with Louisiana.
Marco remains a tropical storm but is forecast to become a hurricane as the storm inches closer to the Louisiana coastline. A landfall is anticipated during the day Monday along the Louisiana coastline.
The track for Laura is a bit more uncertain with the influence of the mountainous islands of the Caribbean, but at this time the Central Gulf Coast is in line to see impacts from this storm as well.