SubscribeKatrina Victims Must Move To Temporary Houses
From an outraged Associated Press:
Regenia Scott leans on a box of her belongings after she was told by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to move from her mobile home in Hammond, La., Sunday, March 4, 2007. The FEMA site, set up for victims of Hurricane Katrina, housed 58 families that were given 48 hours to move.
Katrina victims evacuate FEMA park
By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 5
HAMMOND, La. - Dozens of families evacuated from a FEMA trailer park that had been plagued by sewage leaks and power outages were in temporary homes Monday, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it had requested work permits to dismantle the site this week.
Many of the residents were moved to other FEMA locations in the Hammond area, agency spokesman Manuel Broussard said.
“Some families were concerned about schooling for their children, and we have found housing for them close to their schools,” Broussard said. Likewise, he said, the agency has kept people who had jobs in Hammond close to town.
For Allsee Tobias, though, it still felt like yet another failure of the federal government to help Hurricane Katrina victims, even if the goal was to safeguard their health.
“They know how to put me out, but they don’t know how to help me out. That’s how I look at it,” said Tobias, who lost his New Orleans home in Katrina’s flooding and then was told to leave his Hammond trailer over the weekend. He and about 20 relatives, including 10 children, lived in four trailers, and were anxious about being split up.
“Pack and pray. That’s what they told us,” he said.
FEMA abruptly closed down the mobile home park because of ongoing problems with raw sewage that pours onto the grass. FEMA said electricity was cut off last week for the third time since Oct. 12; Broussard said the landowners hadn’t paid bills on time, while Frank Bonner, a co-owner of the site, said FEMA hadn’t paid on time.
A 48-hour deadline to leave fell on Sunday night, and FEMA scrambled to find new places for the 58 households.
By late Sunday, 48 of the 58 households had places to go to, with many of those households moving on to other FEMA sites, the agency said. Monday morning, Broussard said that Catholic Charities, a Catholic social work outreach program, had offered to temporarily house the 10 remaining households.
“This is a very quick, decisive move because of concern for the residents,” Broussard said.
The site, on the edge of town in loblolly pine country about 45 miles northwest of New Orleans, was one of the dozens of compounds the government rushed to establish for the tens of thousands of displaced hurricane victims.
Its displaced residents said they questioned the genuineness of the sudden concern for their health because the stink of sewage has been a nuisance for about a year.
“It’s very unhealthy. The question is why did it take a year?” said Ron Harrell.
He lived next to the site’s sewage treatment system with his family, and the stink of sewage filled the air as he spoke. He said his two sons have repeatedly complained of health problems, which he said could be related to the sewage.
FEMA personnel swarmed over the bustling site Sunday, trying to help wherever they could. The agency moved residents’ belongings in rental vans and agreed to pay to put some people’s boxes and bags in storage, especially those residents moving into tighter quarters.
“We have 150 people working on site today to make this as easy as possible. But it is a difficult situation,” Broussard said Sunday. He said Monday that FEMA hoped to have the site completely dismantled by the end of the week.It seems like only yesterday Hillary Clinton was denouncing (in her best southern drawl) the fact that there were people still living in FEMA trailers.
11 Responses to “Katrina Victims Must Move To Temporary Houses”
Leave a Reply
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment.
« Documentary Reveals Michael Moore’s Deceptions | Media’s Loathing Of Ann Coulter Exposed Again »
March 5th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
OMG, these FEMA crews are a bunch of clowns. They can afford to pay 150 people to help trailer dwellers pack, but can’t pay to have roto-rooter come on site and fix a clogged sewer pipe? And they can’t pay an electric bill?
This is what you get when you have bureaucrats running a civil engineering organization.
FEMA needs to be privatized. Halliburton or KBR could do this job, and they know how to call a freakin’ plumber when they need one.
March 5th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
If only I weren’t so honest, I could have been a millionaire by now just on Katrina.
March 5th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Granted, FEMA needs to be overhauled, the sooner the better. But why are these people still in Katrina housing? Did they think it was going to be the government’s responsibilty to house them permanently?
Oh, never mind. I know the answer to that last one.
March 5th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
What bugs me is all these people protesting that FEMA isn’t giving them a free place to live anymore.
This is still the land of opportunity–if after more than a year you haven’t found a job or a place to live, you ain’t been tryin’.
March 5th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I don’t get it…free rent, free utilities, food, medical…for almost a year and a half…where is the pride …spend as much time looking for work , that you have been spending whining about your situations to the press.
March 5th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Anyone see the “wife swap” with the racist black family and the white New Orleans (displaced) family. I had to watch it, the black woman who was not even affected by Katrina was trying to rationalize to a group of women who had been (picked themselves up and started over), why it was unrealistic to expect her black friend to be able to get a home and a job so soon (one year) after her home being destroyed by Katrina. It was amazing to watch. As a tax payer, it pisses me off that we are even paying for this crap. Would the government come in and give me a trailor and money for 2 years if my home was taken out by a tornado? No! They do not even pay for tree removal, city folk get charged big bucks for that. I have insurance and I do not live at the bottom of a lake. Load of BS.
March 5th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
I sa jus cant gets a break, Beens to bussey To finds me a job.
Thins to do dant ya know, Aints got da time to find work ands builds a new life.
sonly been 18 munths since da bombs blew da levees.
But the cusevatives is a trien to rush me inta sumtin I don wanna do,
I sho didnt have a job before da hurrycanes, Why shud i now, I sa only fotytu.
Nows you ya be sho to rite abouts how I needs mo help ans free stufs.
I hates ta rush yas off but Opras On, So much to do, I do declare.
March 6th, 2007 at 1:31 am
DEZ: Rehab for you!
“FEMA abruptly closed down the mobile home park because of ongoing problems with raw sewage that pours onto the grass.” Urgh.
If they made them stay there it would be called a crime against humanity. So they make them move and it’s heartless cruelty? BTW, that mobile home park isn’t next to a spinach farm, right?
March 7th, 2007 at 12:06 am
I sa need da rehab,
Its damned if you do and damned if ya don’t.
I think Nimblicity got my point.
Its a no win situation, Too many welfare recipients that have never gotten out of bed to earn any
type of paycheck sees this as a way to find even more freebies.
They want to sit on their lazy ever expanding asses and act like victims.
Lazy trash is lazy trash regardless of how much spin is added to the story.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:13 am
DEZ,
Man you are just not Presidential material like Mz. Hillary. Give it up. Only she can make fun of blacks to their face and get away with it.
March 7th, 2007 at 2:15 am
I don’t see why FEMA has a never ending obligation the house trailer trash. Or maybe they do now under the racist Bush administration, who hates blacks. They badgered FEMA into handing out $2000 credit cards like candy. How many people walked away with hundreds of thousands in their pockets we’ll never know. The waste and fraud continues today because everyone is afraid of being labeled a racist. Thank God for Ann Coulter who has the balls to challenge the system.