BATON ROUGE (AP) — Residents of Lake Arthur and the surrounding areas may be getting some federal help to recover from the flooding that hit in the early part of the year.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has asked the White House to a disaster declaration for areas of the state that suffered from January flooding and severe storms.

Those areas include Jeff Davis and Vermillion parishes.

Jindal says in the letter to President Obama and the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the damage meets the requirements of the Stafford Act for an expedited major disaster declaration.

Jindal says preliminary damage assessments for 18 parishes and some state agencies is more than $6.5 million.

Jindal says the severe weather began on Jan. 8 and continued until Jan. 17 with extended periods of torrential downpours followed by flooding.

Other parishes listed in the letter are Acadia, Avoyelles, Catahoula, Concordia, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, Evangeline, Franklin, Iberville, Livingston, Madison, Rapids, St. Helena, St. Landry, St. Martin and Tensas.

(American Press Archives)