BATON ROUGE (AP) — President Barack Obama has authorized the federal government to cover a larger percentage of the costs for repairing damage to public infrastructure from the historic flooding in south Louisiana.
In a letter to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards dated Thursday, Obama says he agreed to increase the federal government's share of the costs for "public assistance" projects from 75 percent to 90 percent. State and local government agencies cover the balance for these projects, which includes debris removal and emergency response expenses.
Obama's letter says his administration already has spent more than $660 million to help the state respond to last month's floods.
In a letter to Obama dated Sept. 2, Edwards said the state had more than $8.7 billion in flood damage.
Read President Obama’s letter here
