NEW ORLEANS — More than 11,000 people are being sheltered in hotels and temporary housing after Hurricane Laura slammed southwest Louisiana last month. The vast majority of those people are staying in New Orleans.
During a press conference at the Family Resource Shelter where evacuees can check in to receive aid, Gov. John Bel Edwards said donations and a quickly established suite of aid services are helping those displaced by the Category 4 storm.
"There are almost no needs that are being unmet here," Edwards said shortly after touring the facility. "The supplies are being donated, people have access to telemedicine...(and) mental health services."
The governor updated the death totals from the storm, saying that at least 22 people have died from storm-related causes. More than half of those deaths are from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by improper generator useage.
An estimated 10,600 evacuees relocated to New Orleans in the past week, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said at the press conference.
"That number seems to grow by the day," she said.
More than 30 hotels have been contracted to house them.
Other evacuees are staying in Shreveport, Baton Rouge and in Texas.
Edwards warned that it would be a long time before even basic services could be restored to the southeast.
"We're going to still be sometime before basic services like electricity and water service, those things are just not going to be in place," he said. "The damage in southwest Louisiana is very widespread."
Despite the damage, Edwards praised New Orleans for stepping up to help in the wake of the natural disaster, which made landfall just before the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
"Fifteen years, almost to the day, after Katrina hit New Orleans and sent New Orleanians across the state and across the country, it's good to know that we are being good neighbors to one another," Edwards said.
Ed. Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the death toll from Hurricane Laura was 23 people. As of Friday, 22 deaths have been linked to the storm in Louisiana.
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