As Florida citizens prepared and then braced for impact with Hurricane Matthew, a storm of tremendous size and strength that loomed off the state’s eastern coastline in early October, President Obama took the anticipatory step of declaring a State of Emergency for the state of Florida.

This declaration allowed federal agencies to open an immediate

As announced today by Congressman Garret Graves, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will allocate $13 million of “sanction funds” to aid recovery in Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

Sanction funds are previously unused fund recuperated from grantees and may be used for infrastructure needs, small business and economic development needs,