With Hurricane Season Just Four Months Away...

Despite early promises to support a swift recovery after Hurricane Katrina, slow Federal cleanup of debris and inadequate provision of suitable housing for evacuees are slowing rebuilding efforts.

1 minute read

January 30, 2006, 3:00 PM PST

By Michael Dudley

"In Mississippi, 33,378 occupied trailers are meeting 89 percent of the estimated housing needs. But there have been 34,000 repair requests and maintenance complaints...

"Thirty million cubic yards of debris remain uncollected -- enough to build a five-sided column more than 50 stories tall over the Pentagon -- provoking environmental concerns, fears of runaway spending abuses and a spirit-sapping despair. Layers of subcontractors have caused debris removal costs to quadruple from $8 per cubic yard to $32 per cubic yard...

"State and local officials have said employers and investors will not take the risk of returning unless New Orleans's flood defenses are strengthened to withstand the strongest, Category 5, storms, an undertaking that could cost more than $30 billion. Because of budgetary constraints and the approaching hurricane season, the administration has committed to spending $2.9 billion to restore levees to pre-Katrina (Category 3) design standards, with additional floodgates and concrete and steel reinforcement, and $8 million to study going further."

FULL STORY: Post-Katrina Promises Unfulfilled

Saturday, January 28, 2006 in The Washington Post

Government / Politics Louisiana

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