BATON ROUGE - East Baton Rouge has designated more than 1,000 homes damaged in the 2016 flood that will need to be elevated to fall into compliance with federal requirements.

Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced Friday the parish has identified those flood-damaged homes but that the parish will not be sending notices directly to homeowners. 

"Recent news reports have revealed that surrounding Capital Region parishes have issued letters to citizens concerning the repair of their homes after the 2016 flood related to required elevation.

East Baton Rouge Parish equally has over a thousand homes that fall into this unfortunate category identified by FEMA. As Mayor-President and as a citizen whose home flooded, I know many of our citizens did the best they could to repair their damaged homes and make them livable dwellings again.

As a result, I will not be issuing letters at this time. Many of these same individuals are trying to recover from and navigate a pandemic also. While I respect the federal government and guidelines, there must be a better way for our people who work hard every day and have been more than resilient in the face of adversity.

I am seeking assistance from our Congressional delegation to continue working with FEMA to find necessary relief from these guidelines and/or resources to help these residents come into compliance.

I have confidence we will find an amicable solution to this matter."

More than 1,200 homeowners in Livingston Parish were recently sent letters warning that their homes were out of compliance. Many homeowners felt blindsided by the notices, with several telling WBRZ they already sank a lot of money into repairs after the flood.

A day after reporter Brittany Weiss spoke with those worried homeowners, the Livingston Parish government announced a town hall meeting scheduled for next week where officials will address the concerns surrounding the notices.