Hurricane Katrina Mississippi Recovery Update: February 2008
From: FEMA    Filed 2/27/08  GCN

Biloxi, Miss. – The following is a summary of Mississippi recovery efforts as of Feb. 25, 2008:

Individual support continues with more than $1.2 billion to individuals and families:

• 216,549 individuals and families have been approved for Housing Assistance totaling more than $851 million;
• 134,667 Mississippians have been approved for more than $415 million in Other Needs Assistance (ONA);
• 10,056 temporary housing units (travel trailers and mobile homes) in service.
• Nearly 33,000 units have been deactivated.
• To assist temporary housing occupants in their recovery, FEMA Voluntary Agency Liaisons have partnered with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), local business and non-profit organizations to create a series of Helping Hands Workshops. The next workshop is tentatively scheduled to be held in Stone County in March.
• The workshops address various personal recovery issues facing occupants of FEMA travel trailers and mobile homes. VAL has conducted workshops specifically targeted to occupants in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson and Pearl River counties.

Nearly 1,700 Mississippi families have been moved from FEMA temporary housing into a Mississippi Cottage. The Mississippi Cottage is a part of the Mississippi Alternative Housing Program, which is administered by MEMA and is funded by a $280 million dollar federal grant. For more information about the program, visit www.mscottage.org.

More than $2.4 billion has been obligated in the following Public Assistance (PA) categories:

• More than $713 million obligated for land-based debris removal;
• $370 million for emergency protective measures;
• $559 million to repair or replace public buildings;
• $514 million to repair public utilities;
• $125 million to repair and restore public recreational facilities such as state parks;
• $121 million to meet the costs of administering the PA grants;
• $63 million to repair roads and bridges;
• $1 million to repair water control devices such as reservoirs and irrigation channels.

MEMA administers PA funds. To date, MEMA has disbursed more than $1.4 billion to PA applicants for debris removal and rebuilding projects including bridges, public buildings and utilities.

An inter-agency campaign, directed by FEMA, has been working to clean up Mississippi’s coastal and inland waterways: 

• The U.S. Coast Guard has cleared nearly 358,000 cubic yards of marine debris from the water since marine cleanup began May 2006 and 11 of 15 marine debris removal contracts are complete.

o       Jackson County: 66,951 cubic yards

o       Harrison County: 175,074 cubic yards

o       Hancock County: 115,945 cubic yards

• The entire wet debris operation is nearly 94% complete.
• More than $63.3 million has been expended for marine debris removal. Due to the oversight and recommendation by the U.S. Coast Guard project officer and the FEMA Operations section, approximately $100 million of the $222 million obligated for the project has been de-obligated. Obligated funds can be adjusted if a project can be completed for less than the original project estimate.

Preparing today for tomorrow’s disasters:

• FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) brings together federal, state, and local governments to prepare communities for future events. Hazard mitigation is any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from natural hazards and their effects.
• MEMA, as designated by the Governor of Mississippi, administers the HMGP. MEMA provides eligible grant applicants with assistance in mitigation planning, project selection, application development and reimbursement. MEMA also identifies and manages the projects from beginning to closeout.
• MEMA has allocated more than $204 million for various HMGP projects throughout the state.
• Across the state, 280 jurisdictions have MEMA and FEMA approved Hazard Mitigation plans.
• The amount of funding available for the HMGP following a disaster is 7.5 percent of the total amount of federal assistance. More than $433 million in HMGP funds are available for Mississippi.    

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.

Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, economic status or retaliation.  If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, you should call FEMA toll-free at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or contact your State Office of Equal rights.  If suspicious of any abuse of FEMA programs, please contact the fraud hotline at

1-800-323-8603.

For more information on Mississippi’s disaster recovery, visit www.fema.gov or www.msema.org. For more information on the recovery of the entire Gulf Coast, visit www.fema.gov/gulfcoastrecovery.