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For Immediate Release:

Contact: Laura Tuggle (504) 529-1000 ext. 270 or ltuggle@slls.org

Flood Proof Project Helps Disaster Survivors Recover
BATON ROUGE, La—As the one year anniversary of last year’s devastating August 2016 flood approaches, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) and its “Flood Proof” project partners are pleased to announce that 106 disaster impacted homeowners have been assisted to unlock $3,045,763 in flood recovery funding or other economic benefits. “Flood Proof’s” goal is to help survivors living in their property informally passed down to them after the death of a loved one, get the legal proof they need to show they own their home. Such proof is often a requirement to receive federal recovery funds, insurance proceeds, loans, and other rebuilding resources. The project provides free legal services to eligible homeowners living in East Baton Rouge, Ascension, and Livingston parishes whose homes were flooded. Another 154 families still have pending cases.

“While we have made progress in helping move our community forward, we still have a long way to go”, said SLLS Executive Director Laura Tuggle. “Though it has been almost a year since the flood wreaked havoc, it seems like yesterday for thousands of people who still have been unable to rebuild. Due to the generous support of our funders, volunteers, and community stakeholders, we plan to continue the project to help as many vulnerable families as possible get the help they need to recover.”

Support for the project is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Equal Justice Works, and the Louisiana Bar Foundation. Project partners include SLLS, Louisiana Appleseed, Southern University Law Center, the Baton Rouge Bar Association, the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, and the American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Innovation.

Since its inception last fall, “Flood Proof” has participated in 84 outreach events reaching 4,900 survivors. Three events are planned this week:

August 10, 2017 5:30pm-8:00pm Baker Municipal Center, 3325 Groom Rd. Baker, La 70714

August 12, 2017 9:00 am-12:00pmDenham Springs Junior High School 401 Hatchell Ln.

Denham Springs, LA 70726
August 12, 2017 9:00 am-4 p.m. Arsenal Park, 930 N 7th St. Baton Rouge, LA 70802

To make it easier for survivors to access free legal help, the “Flood Proof” app was created. The app is available for download on Android and Apple phones.

We are excited to announce it is now available online at https://floodproofapp.org.

We are grateful to the ABA Center for Innovation and Stanford University for their support in creating the app.

A new video made possible by the ABA Standing Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness explaining the app and how we are making a difference in the lives of survivors is at https://vimeo.com/226507610/6ea3ec8103.

Disaster impacted families needing free legal help to prove ownership of their homes to help them recover from the flood, can call 1-844-244-7871, download the app, visit the website, or come out to outreach events.

SLLS also provides free civil legal services with other kinds of disaster-related problems impacting survivors like FEMA appeals, foreclosure prevention, contractor disputes, landlord-tenant problems, and family law matters.