Counties, Parishes in Arkansas and Louisiana Declared Disaster Areas

Two more Louisiana parishes have been declared major disaster areas as a result of severe storms that spawned tornados and flooding in parts of the state last October. Catahoula and Franklin parishes were added to the list; the others are Beauregard, Bossier, Caldwell, Claiborne, DeSoto, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Union and Webster.

In Arkansas, Gov. Mike Beebe declared 27 counties as disaster areas after a deluge of rain swamped the state during Christmas. Beebe made the declaration for Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Clay, Cleburne, Cleveland, Craighead, Dallas, Drew, Faulkner, Grant, Greene, Hempstead, Jackson, Lafayette, Lincoln, Lonoke, Miller, Monroe, Nevada, Ouachita, Poinsett, Prairie, Pulaski, Saline, White and Woodruff counties.

The Beebe’s office says the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assess damage in the affected counties. The National Weather Service says some areas in Arkansas received more than 8 inches of rain from Dec. 22 to Dec. 25.

Severe weather struck north and west Louisiana from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3. The storms dropped up to six inches of rain in some areas and spawned 12 tornadoes. To date, assessments indicate more than $13 million in damages to public infrastructure, primarily roads and bridges.