Officials Seek Housing Help For Families Floyd Displaced
Release Date: July 18, 2000
Release Number: R3-00-18
COURTLAND, Va. -- Hurricane Floyd drove scores of Franklin City and Southampton County residents from their homes. Ten months later, many of them still struggle with the need for long-term housing.
FEMA, state, and local volunteer-organization officials met today to discuss permanent housing options for 55 families still living in a temporary mobile-home park at the Agribusiness Park in Courtland. FEMA is working with such volunteer groups as the Blackwater Baptist Church, the United Methodist Church and the Salvation Army to help these families find new homes.
Thirteen other area families live in travel trailers on their own property. FEMA provided these trailers as temporary residences for disaster victims as they repaired their homes. Even now, many of these homes are not finished. Their owners need assistance to make their dwellings habitable.
Time is running out for all these residents. "FEMA can provide as much as 18 months of temporary housing for qualified disaster victims," said Robert J. Gunter of FEMA, who was the federal coordinating officer for recovery efforts for the presidentially declared disaster.
Gunter, speaking at a press conference after the meeting, said that more than half that period has expired and these families still have no provision for permanent housing.
Last Modified: Monday, 17-Nov-2003 12:56:36