There is a bi-partisan bill being filed by Florida congress members to require FEMA to pay for the damage by Katrina. This is an update to a previous diary I posted, pointing out that FEMA is asking for money to be paid back from last year’s hurricanes. AND that even worse they are denying aid now to victims of Katrina when it hit Florida on its way to New Orleans.
Bill Made to Force FEMA Aid in State
The agency has said it will not pay for damage done by Katrina when it first landed in Florida.
By MICHELLE SPITZER
The Associated Press
MIAMI — Since Hurricane Katrina ripped the porch roof off Dorothy Rothbauer’s mobile home in Davie, all the 88 year old wants to do is cry.
“This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” Rothbauer said Monday.
Luckily, Rotherbauer is a saver and had money stashed away that she’ll use for repairs. But many residents whose homes were damaged by Katrina do not have the same option as Rotherbauer and were hoping to get assistance from the government.
In addition, the state’s congressional delegation filed a bill Monday that would direct FEMA to provide assistance to Floridians who suffered damage from Hurricane Katrina. All 25 members of Florida’s U.S. House delegation are sponsors.
Katrina hit Florida on August 25 as a Category One story. It does not sound bad after being hit by Cats 3 and 4 last…4 of them just in Florida. However, the people affected are hurting. Kudos to these congressmen and congresswomen who crossed party lines to present this bill.
Wasserman Schultz was joined at a press conference by U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Republicans. Miami-Dade County commissioners Dennis Moss and Sally Heyman also attended.
“Storms don’t know state boundaries,” Wasserman Schultz said. “So FEMA should not know state boundaries.”
FEMA does not have a good track record here. These articles from a previous diary show a lot of their incompetence.
This article shows that the people who are caught in a Category I hurricane will be victims not only of the storm, but of FEMA’s own fears.
Genuine storm victims pay for FEMA’s past mistakes
The type of disaster declared by President Bush for Broward and Miami-Dade on Sunday, three days after the storm hit, means local governments will get reimbursed for certain expenses, such as emergency personnel overtime and debris removal.
But individuals and homeowners impacted by Katrina are on their own.
As of Monday, FEMA had declined to activate its individual assistance programs, which bring up to $26,200 per household for uninsured damages, repairs and temporary lodging.”
There is more about this, and people will be hurt by these policy shifts from storm to storm. I guess that’s what we get for having a president who hires an Arabian horse guy to lead our emergency management.
Destruction not bad enough for FEMA
“They said this is not a disaster zone,” she said, in Spanish.”
FEMA officials said that local and state governments, along with volunteer and charity groups, have the capability of helping people like Ibanez in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe Counties.
South Florida officials disagree and are livid. They can give families a meal or two, but say they are incapable of providing semi-permanent housing or financial aid.
“We’re not geared for the long term,” said Don DiPetrillo, Davie’s fire chief and emergency management coordinator. “I’m not sure if the county is geared for that.”
Then, to add insult to injury, FEMA is asking that many Floridians pay them back…yes, I said pay them back. They goofed, and they are going to make Floridians who went through two storms last year pay them back.
Payback Time for Hurricane Victims in Florida
FEMA earlier this year began mailing letters to residents in efforts to recoup the overpayments from people who received federal aid after Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne hit Florida last August and September.
According to data supplied to The News-Press of Fort Myers through a Freedom of Information Act request, the agency detailed 6,579 cases in which they say people owe a total of $27.2 million.
I call this one “damage is whatever FEMA says it is.”
FEMA May Not Assist Individuals
But damage to individual homes in South Florida is spotty and scattered. And emergency managers in Miami-Dade and Broward have worked to help FEMA inspectors find all the trouble spots in the two large counties.
”There was more widespread flooding, but apparently the flooding did not go into a lot of homes,” said Craig Fugate, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “Most of the damage that the [FEMA] staff has seen has been very isolated.”
FEMA uses a complex, shifting formula to make its decision. Emergency managers say FEMA needs to identify anywhere from 100 to 800 homes with major damage to send help. FEMA says there’s no magic number.”
Sounds good on paper unless you are one of the individuals who fall between the cracks, so to speak. Some of the people who being asked to pay back are not even through getting their homes repaired from last year’s hurricanes and were within the legal guidelines. I don’t see much of Jeb speaking out on this. He has been hunkered down with insurance companies and developers figuring out best how to screw those with houses on the coastline. They will now require they have 3 separate policies….wind, flood, and other..regular coverage.
South Florida was hit by a hurricane, and FEMA changed the rules mid game. No way in hell to tell what they will do in New Orleans.