Louisiana Flooding Latest: 40,000 Homes Damaged in Flood-Battered State, President Obama to Visit Tuesday

As Louisiana recovers from historic levels of flooding that has been described by the Red Cross as the worst natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy, impacting thousands of homes and leaving at least 13 people dead, President Obama has announced plans to visit the state on Tuesday and get a first-hand look at the damage.

In a statement issued Friday, White House officials said they coordinated with local authorities in Louisiana to determine an appropriate time for the president to visit the state and together decided on Aug. 23 as the date for the visit. Obama's visit requires a large security detail that will include local and state law enforcement officials, which the White House noted the president is mindful of and wants to ensure that his presence does not interfere with ongoing recovery efforts.

The president's visit comes just as GOP nominee Donald Trump visited the state on Friday along with his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Trump apparently did not inform Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards of the visit, according to a statement issued by the governor's office on Thursday.

"We welcome him to LA but not for a photo-op," the statement from Edwards' office said. "Instead we hope he’ll consider volunteering or making a sizable donation to the LA Flood Relief Fund to help the victims of the storm."

Trump and Pence visited flood-damaged parts of the state in the Baton Rouge area and later, at a rally in Michigan, Trump called on Obama to "get off the golf course and get down there." On Wednesday, the Baton Rouge Advocate published an editorial saying it was time for Obama to cut short his Martha's Vineyard vacation and visit the flood-battered state. The editorial noted that although sometimes presidential visits can do more harm than good, it was no longer a factor since flood waters are receding.

"We’ve seen this story before in Louisiana, and we don’t deserve a sequel. In 2005, a fly-over by a vacationing President George W. Bush became a symbol of official neglect for the victims of Hurricane Katrina," the editorial said.

Edwards said on Thursday that he would prefer the president to wait at least a week before making the visit.

A total of 20 parishes in the state have been declared a major disaster by the federal government. The declaration was initially granted for four parishes, and the rest have added to the declaration on a rolling basis, with Edwards stressing that no one would be forgotten and urging residents to register for FEMA. So far, more than 86,000 residents have registered for FEMA.

According to a preliminary report released by the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, more than 111,000 homes were located in flood areas, with the value of those homes being close to $21 billion. Nearly 7,400 businesses that employ close to 74,000 employees are located in flood areas with businesses in Livingston Parish experiencing the most severe impact. Just around 15 percent of homes in the region are insured against flooding, the report states.

Before displaced residents are provided with long-term housing, in the short-term residents will be offered transitional housing. The first option will be to stay in a hotel on a 30-day rolling basis, but only residents who indicated they are living in either a car, hotel, shelter or place of employment while registering for FEMA will be eligible for that option. FEMA will automatically call those who noted that while registering. The second option is to find rental properties on LA Housing Search. Edwards said officials will have a plan by the middle of next week to provide residents with long-term housing options. The Louisiana DCFS has also announced parish locations for the first phase of DSNAP.

While experts have noted the historic and record level flooding the state has experienced is a major natural disaster, news coverage of the flooding has been overshadowed by the election cycle and the Olympics. At a press conference earlier this week, Edwards warned against underestimating the impact of the flooding just because it wasn't a hurricane or a named tropical storm. On Friday, Edwards told reporters donations to recovery efforts have been less than what they should have been due to the lack of media coverage.

"FEMA understands this is a very large disaster that has impacted tens of thousands of people," FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said at a press conference on Tuesday. "Irregardless of what it may be getting in the national coverage, we know there has been a significant impact here in Louisiana."

Main Image via Louisiana State Police