Just more than two weeks after Hurricane Gustav slammed ashore, thousands of St. Tammany storm victims have been plucked from financial disaster’s door step as the federal government doled out more than $500,000 in disaster assistance locally, a sliver of its statewide aid package.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday had pumped roughly $30 million in disaster aid to Louisiana’s hurricane victims, including $547,241 to St. Tammany Parish residents, FEMA officials said.

After the howling winds subsided and crashing storm surges of Gustav waned, 15,779 St. Tammany residents reported damaged homes, medical and funeral expenses and temporary housing costs, all of which FEMA reimburses, Denise Everhart, FEMA spokeswoman, said. It’s unclear how many of those local residents were approved, but many more are likely to receive money through Oct. 31 when the 60-day individual assistance application time frame expires, Everhart said.

“We want to help all those who qualify to put their life back together,” she said.

Payouts in Orleans and Jefferson parishes dwarfed St. Tammany with more than $2 million allocated in each parish, Everhart said. In Orleans, 55,804 applicants registered for aid and $2.27 million was awarded. Jefferson awarded less to more applicants, with $2.06 million given to those approved out of 64,872 applicants, she said.

Unlike in St. Tammany Parish though, residents in those parishes are also eligible to receive aid for Hurricane Ike.

As of Wednesday, President Bush has not declared St. Tammany a storm disaster under Ike, and it’s unclear if he will, a move that would pave way for additional federal assistance.

The FEMA aid does not include food stamps, a state run program that announced Tuesday it botched its handling of stamps. Roughly 22,000 applicants received double payments while 33,000 eligible applicants still await funds, officials said just a day after Secretary Ann Williamson resigned amid pressure by Gov. Bobby Jindal to reorganize the problem-plagued operation.

It was unclear Wednesday, how many, if any at all, of those applicants were from St. Tammany, said Julie Miller, site coordinator with the Castine Center near Mandeville, one of several food stamp centers statewide.

“Hopefully it’s none, but we just don’t know yet,” she said.

Nevertheless, droves of people continued to line up for the free food stamps at the center off U.S. Highway 190 near Mandeville throughout the week. As of Wednesday, 10,800 people were processed with an average wait of four to six hours, Miller said.

“It’s been really nice the past couple of days,” she said. “People were processed really quickly.”

The food stamp program, operated by the Department of Social Services, will continue offering assistance until Sept. 23, but the Castine Center is only booked through today, Miller said.

She’s hoping the state administered program under the Department of Human Services will announce another location today.