February 02, 2026 LDH announces SNAP replacement benefits for 8 parishes impacted by winter stormBenefits will affect more than 51,000 recipients

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Feb 02, 2026 - The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) announced today that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients in eight parishes will receive an additional 20% of their January SNAP benefits following the winter storm.

Approximately 51,500 recipients in Caldwell, DeSoto, East Carroll, Jackson, Ouachita, Red River, Richland, and West Carroll parishes will receive the benefits.

This comes after the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA-FNS) approved the waiver, which the state requested for parishes where 50% of households were without power for more than 24 hours.

SNAP recipients living in one of the eight listed parishes will not need to report food loss or take any action to receive the 20% additional SNAP benefit. The benefits will automatically be added to household EBT accounts by February 10.

“These benefits will help families recover quickly without having to navigate mountains of paperwork during an already stressful time,” said LDH Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein. “Our priority is ensuring that eligible households can access the food they need so their families don’t go hungry.”

Households in the eight parishes whose food loss exceeds 20% of January benefits may request additional replacement benefits by completing and submitting a SNAP 38 form.

Recipients of parishes outside of the eight listed parishes who have also experienced food loss due to the storm must submit a SNAP 38 request for replacement of benefits by February 3. In this process, recipients may need to provide documentation from their utility company to verify their power outage. Because this process can take time, residents are advised to request their verification documents promptly.

Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) benefits are not currently available for this weather event. The D-SNAP program requires a parish to be under a federal Individual Assistance (IA) declaration, which is not currently in effect. D-SNAP provides eligible low to moderate-income households that do not normally receive SNAP benefits with help buying groceries due to lost income or damages following a disaster. SNAP recipients are not eligible for D-SNAP.

Households experiencing urgent food insecurity should contact their parish Office of Emergency Preparedness for the current location of local mass feeding sites. Contact information for local OEPs is available at GetAGamePlan.org.

More information, including online and printable SNAP 38 forms, can be found at ldh.la.gov/page/replacement-snap-benefits.