Hurricane Katrina Recovery Update: Week 42 

FEMA has obligated more than $8.5 billion in federal funding to aid Mississippians through various Individual Assistance and Public Assistance programs, including nearly $3.2 billion in mission assignments. Mission assignments are work orders FEMA issues to other federal agencies requesting that they complete specific tasks during response and recovery, such as emergency medical assistance and debris removal. 

Mississippi Development Authority is wrapping up final applications for the Katrina Homeowner Grant program that was authorized by the federal government and approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. As this program concludes, Governor Haley Barbour is working with HUD to expand it to provide assistance to homeowners whose homes flooded but were not eligible for the original program. In an effort to design more effective housing assistance programs for Hurricane Katrina victims, Governor Barbour is asking low- and moderate-income homeowners whose homes flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina, but were previously not eligible for the program to register. To register, call 1-866-369-6302 to make an appointment at one of the service centers located in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Gautier and Jackson. The service centers opened June 22 for this registration process and will remain open for about four weeks.

The U.S. Small Business Administration's Disaster Assistance Program has approved about $2.5 billion in low-interest loans for homeowners, renters and business owners throughout Mississippi. The SBA continues to encourage everyone ready to build and whose loan application has been approved to call its customer service center at 1-800-659-2955 or email them at disastercustomerservice@sba.gov to arrange for a loan closing.

More than $1.2 billion in assistance has been disbursed to more than 274,000 Mississippi households that have registered through FEMA's Individuals and Households Program (IHP). Housing Assistance, used to pay for rent, repair or housing construction, accounts for $839.3 million. Other Needs Assistance (ONA), used for uninsured or under-insured disaster-related necessary expenses, is the second largest category at $366 million. ONA is a cost-share program that is 75 percent federally funded, 25 percent state funded.

More than 103,300 people are housed temporarily in 38,295 FEMA-provided travel trailers and mobile homes, including 3,196 units compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Public Assistance program has obligated more than $1.3 billion for emergency work and infrastructure repair. This includes $624 million for debris removal, $270 million for emergency protective measures, $185 million to repair public facilities, $169 million to restore public utilities, $40 million to restore public recreational facilities such as state parks, $23 million to repair roads and bridges and $1.3 million to repair water control devices such as reservoirs and irrigation channels

To date, 44.2 million cubic yards of debris have been removed from public and private property.  Debris removal operations for the entire state of Mississippi are 97.7 percent complete. Municipalities in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties had until June 15 to provide FEMA a list of eligible structures on private and commercial property they had documented as immediate threats to health and safety, which they wanted to demolish using federal funding.

FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has paid more than $2.4 billion in flood insurance claims to more than 16,881 policyholders in Mississippi. The NFIP plays a critical role in encouraging communities to adopt, implement and enforce broader floodplain-management regulations and programs.

Mississippians who applied for disaster assistance can update their contact or personal information or inquire about the status of their application two easy ways: by calling the toll-free FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or (TTY) 1-800-462-7585 or accessing the FEMA Web site at www.fema.gov.