Victims of the Louisiana floods in the present draw on the experience of the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the past.
August 23rd, 2016“…..The Louisiana Civil Justice Center, started in the months after the hurricane to respond to the many and confounding legal issues of the poor, is the official statewide legal aid resource in the state bar association’s disaster plan…..
The St. Bernard Project, a nonprofit rebuilding group started by two volunteers in 2006 in a parking lot in a wrecked parish outside of New Orleans, is planning to open at least one office, if not several, in Baton Rouge. The group’s leaders have been in talks with advertising firms in New Orleans about campaigns to educate people about how to navigate the FEMA process for grants and loans, how to avoid being defrauded by contractors and how to do some home-salvaging work without any outside help at all. ….
“We’re 11 years after Katrina, and only 60 percent of the housing stock in St. Bernard Parish is back,” Mr. Spain said, referring to a parish just east of New Orleans that was almost entirely destroyed by the levee failures after the hurricane. This time, it was Livingston Parish, just east of Baton Rouge, that was almost entirely flooded. “It’s important that we don’t repeat mistakes whether it’s from Sandy or Katrina or Gustav.”
Part of the issue then was how long it took for homes to be rebuilt and essential services to come back. After Hurricane Katrina, thousands endured extended stays in FEMA trailers, and thousands of others eventually settled down permanently in cities elsewhere, bleeding New Orleans of its population……”