FEMA teams will be visiting Caddo neighborhoods tomorrow to assess the extent of damages from recent flooding in our area, said Sheriff Steve Prator, director of the Caddo Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.       

Preliminary Damage Assessment Teams will meet at the Caddo OHSEP at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. From there, they will visit the areas of Allendale, Martin Luther King Drive, Wells Island Road, LA Hwy. 3049, and Les Maisons.

Each team will include a city, state, and federal representative from FEMA, the Small Business Administration, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the Caddo Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, and the Shreveport Fire or Police Departments.

Approximately 150 homes and structures in Caddo Parish will be visited to determine the extent of any damages. Teams will assess damages from the outside, so residents or property owners do not need to be present.      

Mark Riley, Deputy Director of Recovery for the GOHSEP, is reminding residents that federal assistance is not guaranteed. “There must be substantial damage to a significant number of structures to have what’s needed to make a recommendation to the President for a Presidential Disaster Declaration,” he said. Such a declaration is needed to implement the Individual Assistance Grant Program.

In Caddo Parish, most roadways have reopened, and many residents have begun to clean up the mess left behind by flood waters; however, some residents on Perrin and Oregon remain evacuated because of water. The National Weather Service says there is the potential for large amounts of rain in the Red River Basin later this week, so Caddo residents are encouraged to keep sandbags in place for the time being.