Despite the efforts of the governor, a congressman and a couple of senators, Washington Parish still has not received a disaster declaration from FEMA.

Initially, Washington Parish, along with St. Tammany and Tangipahoa, were omitted from the FEMA declaration. The latter two parishes were included Thursday.

While damage to the parish from Hurricane Gustav appears to have been minimal, the major burden the storm created was a financial one on governmental agencies. That’s because personnel — law enforcement and firefighters, along with workers from the parish and all municipalities — were essentially on the clock around the clock.

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And since those hours were the result of staffing necessitated by the storm, A FEMA disaster declaration would allow the governmental agencies to file claims for reimbursement.

The declaration would also allow others who lost business or suffered economic damage — such as dairy farmers — to seek relief.

On Wednesday, Gov. Bobby Jindal was in Covington to visit affected areas and emphasized that he had included all 64 parishes in his initial request to the federal. Jindal was joined by U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, who earlier in the day had sent a letter to FEMA administrator David Paulison urging that the three parishes be included in the declaration.

Also attending the Covington meeting were State Rep. Harold Ritchie, Washington Parish President Richard Thomas and parish director of Homeland Security Tommy Thiebaud.

“The Governor said he didn’t know what they were left off, but that it made no sense,” Ritchie said.