30-Day Disaster Update: Recovery Continues As Louisiana Applications For Assistance Top One Million
Release Date: September 29, 2005
Release Number: 1603-045
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BATON ROUGE, La. -- One month after landfall, recovery from Hurricane Katrina continued in Louisiana even as the state reeled from a body blow by Hurricane Rita. In the immediate aftermath of both hurricanes, attention was focused on saving lives and providing emergency life-sustaining water, food and shelter. As emphasis shifts from rescue to recovery, a top priority is to transition people from temporary shelters to permanent housing and homes.
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State of Louisiana are looking at all options including existing rental sources and manufactured housing for people who were displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
- To date FEMA has approved $2 billion in payments for disaster housing including grants for temporary housing and for minor repairs to make a home safe and habitable.
- 348 shelters remain open in Louisiana providing emergency housing for more than 47,000 evacuees awaiting return to their own homes or transition to more permanent facilities that will provide a sense of community and normalcy.
- The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation has been established to help provide immediate assistance to citizens in need through a network of Louisiana charities, non-profit and governmental agencies. The Foundation also is designed to support long-term family restoration and recovery by focusing on education, housing, health care, legal assistance, and jobs for Louisiana families whose lives have been altered by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
- Community relations personnel working with nearly 700 firefighters from throughout the country are going shelter-to-shelter and door-to-door in affected neighborhoods providing disaster assistance information to victims. Their emphasis is on providing helpful information to resolve disaster needs.
- A newly-announced joint program of the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Homeland Security is designed to get transitional housing benefits in the hands of people quickly. It will provide an initial payment of $2,358 per household spread over a three-month period. Several hundred-thousand households are expected to qualify for this assistance under the law.
- To help those evacuees who were previously receiving public housing assistance, or who were homeless, HUD will work with FEMA and local authorities to provide housing vouchers that will address their immediate housing needs.
While housing will remain a top priority for the foreseeable future, massive amounts of other assistance continue flowing to bolster community functions and to repair and restore vital infrastructure.
- More than one million Louisianans have applied for state and federal disaster assistance by calling the toll-free registration line, 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA), 1-800-462-7585 for speech-and-hearing-impaired individuals or by registering online at www.fema.gov
- 21 Disaster Recovery Centers are now open in the state to provide information and face-to-face assistance. These centers have assisted more than 37,000 residents in the first month since Hurricane Katrina struck.
- Massive quantities of relief supplies are flowing daily to hard-hit areas of the state. Shipments to date include 1,130 truckloads of water, 1,011 truckloads of ice and 672 truckloads of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs).
- Electrical power has been restored to 700,000 Louisiana customers affected by Hurricane Katrina.
- An additional 500,000 Louisiana customers remain without electrical power -- the majority as a result of Hurricane Rita.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has provided affected Louisiana communities 135 electrical generators to meet critical needs of hospitals, law enforcement, public safety, water and sewage utilities and to power the pumps that are unwatering New Orleans.
- Telephone outages in the state have been reduced from 890,000 to 350,000 despite an additional 225,000 outages due to Rita.
- 37,959 National Guardsmen and 14,244 active duty military personnel are supporting Katrina and Rita operations in Louisiana .
- FEMA is reimbursing Louisiana parishes for 100 percent of eligible costs associated with emergency protective measures including shelter costs. Public assistance grants will cover 75 percent of eligible costs in most other cases. All parishes in Louisiana are eligible for emergency protective measures assistance.
The American Red Cross has served more than 4.7 million meals in Louisiana and has sheltered 66,000 people in 256 facilities. The Salvation Army has served 1.6 million meals to state residents, and both organizations have been supported by the Southern Baptist Convention, which has provided field kitchens and cooking. For financial donations to the Red Cross, call 1-800-435-7669 (HELP NOW). For Red Cross volunteer information, call 1-866-438-4636 (GET INFO).
A national toll-free number has been established for people who fear a family member may have perished during Hurricanes Katrina or Rita. Concerned relatives should call the Find Family National Call Center at 1-866-326-9393.
In its role as a federal coordination agency, FEMA has tasked 34 federal agencies with 330 missions related to hurricane recovery valued at $3.7 billion. Examples include:
- The U.S. Coast Guard working with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has removed 2.8 million gallons of oil from 10 medium to major spill sites along the Mississippi River .
- Doctors, veterinarians, and other medical support personnel serving in 20 Disaster Medical Assistance and Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams have treated more than 34,000 patients while dispensing more than 45,000 immunizations. Team members also have treated more than 7,000 pets and other animals rescued in the hurricane-affected areas.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and the National Guard have removed more than one million cubic yards of hurricane debris to date -- a quantity equivalent to 10 football fields piled 50 feet high. About 15 million cubic yards await removal.
- The Corps of Engineers' Operation Blue Roof has 379 people installing plastic sheeting to patch damaged roofs to provide temporary shelter in five parishes hardest hit by Katrina. To date more than 6,500 temporary roofs have been installed.
A Joint Field Office staffed by 2,300 FEMA employees and 1,200 other federal, state and local hires in Baton Rouge coordinates the efforts of federal, state and volunteer agencies involved in Louisiana hurricane recovery efforts.
FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003
Last Modified: Thursday, 29-Sep-2005 16:23:30