• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Nov 27, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Louisiana is receiving $438 million in federal funds to recover from hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

State officials said Wednesday they plan to use the money to help farmers, ranchers, fisheries and homeowners impacted by the September storms. The money is unlikely to start flowing before the first of the year.

The funds will help the thousands of homeowners grappling with flooded houses.

The assistance is part of $2.1 billion allocated Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A portion of the money must be used for rental housing.

Texas received $1.3 billion, or three times the amount that Louisiana got. Louisiana received the second-largest allocation among 13 states and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico that will share the disaster funds.

After Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana initially received only enough funds for homeowners who were outside the flood zone, excluding thousands of storm victims. Negotiations between state and federal officials resulted in an increased allocation for Louisiana.

However, Louisiana Recovery Authority Executive Director Paul Rainwater said Wednesday that everyone appears to have gotten their fair share in the latest round of funding.

He said the allocations were based on disaster damage.

“There’s no competition here,” Rainwater said. “We feel very comfortable that HUD used the right numbers.”

The $2.1 billion is the first disbursement of funding from a $6.1 billion pool set aside by Congress. State officials expect HUD to release more money in February.

Texas and Louisiana are rebuilding after hurricanes. The Midwest weathered summer floods.

Louisiana officials estimate that hurricanes Gustav and Ike flooded 12,000 homes and caused $750 million in agricultural losses.

“We are certainly pleased that the federal government is beginning to award this much needed assistance to our state to help local communities in their recovery efforts,” Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a prepared statement.