St. Bernard Parish Benefits From FEMA Funds
Release Date: April 30, 2007
Release Number: 1603-632
» More Information on Louisiana Hurricane Katrina
» More Information on Louisiana Hurricane Rita
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- St. Bernard Parish was one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina, and much work remains towards its recovery. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to work alongside parish applicants and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to aid in the rebuilding efforts.
Striving to help individuals get back on their feet, FEMA has aided 94,061 St. Bernard residents by distributing $350 million in individual assistance. Applicants were also provided approximately 9,000 trailers during the peak of the housing mission. Now, to help applicants transition from trailers into apartments, FEMA rental resources members have been actively searching for available rentals in the area. Today, 2,700 trailer units have already been deactivated, and each month another 130 are removed.
The magnitude of the Katrina and Rita disasters taxed the experienced resources of local jurisdictions and the state of Louisiana , as well as FEMA's public assistance program. FEMA responded with robust training and oversight of new personnel and ramped up public assistance operations at an unprecedented rate. Key team members who are ultimately responsible for public assistance funding for St. Bernard Parish have been working with the parish for 10 months on average.
Despite the challenges, FEMA has obligated $715 million in public assistance funds to St. Bernard Parish applicants, including $221 million in permanent work funding. When projects are obligated by FEMA, the funds are transferred to a Smartlink account. This allows the state to work with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness as quickly as possible to access the monies and distribute them to the local applicants. The state may require additional documentation from the applicant before disbursals are made.
"St. Bernard suffered tremendously in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. While it is difficult to grasp the enormity of what the parish and its residents have gone through, we vow to continue the recovery process until its completion, working closely with state and local officials to accomplish this feat," said Jim Stark, FEMA director of the Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office.
The devastating effects of Katrina left much of St. Bernard Parish littered with debris and thousands of buildings in need of demolition. FEMA has obligated more than $268 million toward this cause, including $98.5 million for curbside debris removal. To date, 3.1 million cubic yards of debris have been removed with another 250,000 cubic yards remaining. Of the 12,000 residential and commercial structures needing demolition, 4,629 structures have been completed and $126 million has been obligated by FEMA.
St. Bernard's sewer and water system was inundated by floodwaters and damaged throughout. Today, the design phase has been completed or is in progress for all of St. Bernard Parish's sewer and water system repairs, and FEMA has obligated $23 million for approximately 133 sewer and water restoration projects.
Flooding and drainage issues plagued the parish after debris piled up in area canals and pumps sustained damage from the storm. FEMA originally provided $8.2 million for storm drain cleaning. Another $5 million was forwarded to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers for debris removal from the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District canals outside the National Resource Conservation Service jurisdiction. Other funding includes $600,000 for temporary pumps for the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District and $332,000 for St. Bernard Parish canal debris removal and pump repairs.
St. Bernard's infrastructure was greatly damaged by the storm, leaving 94 parish buildings in need of restoration. As of today, five are currently in the design phase, 30 more are scheduled to start designs by the end of April 2007 and the remainder are estimated to have design work completed by the end of the year. So far, FEMA has obligated $18 million for parish building repair projects.
Katrina critically damaged 16 schools in a parish dedicated to teaching 8,800 students. Immediately after the hurricane, only slightly more than 300 students returned. The St. Bernard Parish School Board has received more than $100 million for repairs to area schools, of which three - Andrew Jackson High School (now an elementary school), Chalmette High School and Trist Middle School - have been completed, two - C.F. Rowley Elementary and J.F. Gauthier Elementary - are in the construction phase and five more are in the process of scope alignment. As the schools continue their progress, thousands of students have returned to re-enroll.
Other public assistance funds obligated to date include $43 million for the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Department to reimburse valuable emergency work needed after the storm as well as building repair projects, among others. The St. Bernard Port, Harbor and Terminal District was obligated $4.9 million for similar work, including repairs to 53 damaged buildings. Another $3.2 million will help the Parish library replace library books and contents destroyed by the hurricane.
The public assistance program continues with the FEMA project team completing scope alignments to address any missed or additional damage discovered by the applicant, its engineers, architects and consultants. Reviews thus far have resulted in nominal differences, which are captured in versions to the original projects. To further utilize the ongoing scope alignment process, FEMA and representatives from St. Bernard Parish are working together to identify hazard mitigation opportunities.
Mitigation is a key component for preparing for future disasters. Through attending council meetings, hosting public meetings and staffing the Disaster Recovery Center , FEMA mitigation specialists have been working closely with parish government officials and St. Bernard residents to address floodplain management and National Flood Insurance Program questions and requirements. Advisory Base Flood Elevations were just recently passed for the parish. Although hazard mitigation grant program projects have not been submitted for St. Bernard Parish at this time, the state has assigned a total of $11.2 million federal share for these projects in St. Bernard.
"While the process has been long and arduous, St. Bernard has made significant advances in returning to normalcy. We are all working toward one common goal, and every day that passes brings the parish one step farther on the path to completion," said Stark.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Monday, 30-Apr-2007 14:42:53