Gustav Swells Unemployment

25,000 workers so far file for state benefits

12 September 2008

by Ed Anderson

BATON ROUGE - More than 25,000 workers who have become unemployed since Hurricane Gustav have filed for unemployment benefits, 10 times more than the average weekly rate, state labor officials said Thursday.

Tim Barfield, executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, said that as of noon Thursday, 25,026 people have filed unemployment claims since Gustav's landfall last week. More claims are expected, he said, but he could not venture a guess of how many or the amount of benefits to be paid.

"There are a significant number of claims still out there," Barfield said.

By comparison, there were about 350,000 claims filed in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Barfield also said benefits paid to those who qualified before Gustav will be paid by Friday. A loss of power by the department's main office for more than a week caused benefits to be delayed, some as many as 10 days. Barfield said he expects $8.3 million to be paid to almost 30,000 recipients by Friday.

"This will catch us up," he said. "We did not anticipate being out of power as long as we have been."

Barfield said not all of the 25,000 applicants after Gustav will qualify.

To file an application for benefits, a jobless worker can go online at www.laworks.net or call one of two toll-free numbers: 1.800.957.1605 or 1.866.259.6345.

The maximum benefit is $258 a week for 26 weeks. "It is difficult to estimate what that payout will be," Barfield said.

He said the deadline for most unemployed workers affected by Gustav to file is Oct. 6.

There are about 25,000 people who draw unemployment benefits each week, Barfield said.

He said more than 230 contract and full-time employees have been hired to field calls or answer complaints. For problems or non-claim questions, the agency has a third toll free-number, 1.866.783.5567.

On another Gustav-related matter, state National Guard officials said activities at the food distribution centers are starting to wind down. On Thursday, Gov. Bobby Jindal said 15 centers were still open, handing out provisions like ready-to-eat meals, ice, bottled water and tarps. Jindal said the number of centers peaked at 50.

Denise Everhart, a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that as of Thursday, the agency has supplied 444,225 tarps, 920,000 pounds of ice, 16.9 million bottles of water and 8.74 million ready-to-eat meals.

Jindal had complained earlier that FEMA was slow in supplying the meals and tarps at the centers but has improved.

Note:
While I do not know about other area’s of Louisiana, but in the New Orleans and vicinity you will find much sadness as well as human suffering; even with the mild fear of some of the sudden storms and wind that many hope is not a forerunner to more extreme weather conditions.

In some of the low lying area’s that was flooded during Hurricane Gustav, is not just flooding again, but other’s are threatened with flooding due to Hurricane Ike.

Traffic lines Interstate 45 leaving Houston as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas Gulf Coast Thursday, 11 September 2008, in The Woodlands, Texas.

It is a great hope that those cities in Texas, fair better then what occurred from not just Hurricane Gustav and Ike; but Katrina and Rita.

Furthermore, in some of the hurricane hit area’s, gas stations for fear of a gasoline shortage due to the hurricane’s, has stated selling gasoline at $4.63 per gallon; which is gouging, the already crippling market.