Information on Hurricane Katrina relief from other sources may refer to the counties and parishes affected by the hurricane differently. The IRS, for example, calls the counties and parishes declared disaster areas as a result of Hurricane Katrina the covered disaster area. FEMA does not identify a Hurricane Katrina disaster area per se. Instead, it identifies the type of assistance available to each county or parish declared a disaster area as a result of Hurricane Katrina: (1) Individual assistance refers to assistance FEMA provides to individuals and households and (2) Public assistance refers to assistance FEMA provides to state and local governments and some private nonprofit organizations for the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities.

Some counties and parishes in the Hurricane Katrina disaster area may qualify only for individual assistance or public assistance, while others may qualify for both.

The Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 uses the term Hurricane Katrina disaster area to describe the counties and parishes declared disaster areas as a result of Hurricane Katrina. The legislation provides the most Federal tax relief to individuals and businesses located in the core disaster area, which it defines as counties or parishes in the Hurricane Katrina disaster area designated by FEMA for individual assistance or individual and public assistance.

What follows are the counties and parishes that are part of the Hurricane Katrina disaster area for purposes herein.

Alabama

There are 22 counties within the Hurricane Katrina disaster area: Baldwin, Bibb, Choctaw, Clarke, Colbert, Cullman, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Marengo, Marion, Mobile, Monroe, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa, Washington, Wilcox and Winston.

Florida

There are 11 counties within the Hurricane Katrina disaster area: Bay, Broward, Collier, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton.

Louisiana

The entire state (64 parishes) is within the Hurricane Katrina disaster area: Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Cameron, Catahoula, Claiborne, Concordia, Desoto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Iberia, Iberville, Jackson, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Orleans, Ouachita, Pointe Coupee, Plaquemines, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John, St. Landry, St. Mary, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Terrebonne, Union, Vermilion, Vernon, Washington, Webster, West Baton Rouge, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.

Mississippi

The entire state (82 counties) is within the Hurricane Katrina disaster area: Adams, Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Franklin, George, Grenada, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lafayette, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Leflore, Lee, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Rankin, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union, Walthall, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson, Winston, Yalobusha and Yazoo.