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Slidell Weather
LA - Slidell, Slidell Airport
- Clear sky
- Temperature: 44.6 °F
- Wind: N (10°), 15 mph, gusts up to 23 mph
- Pressure: 1028 hPa
- Rel. Humidity: 57%
- Visibility: 10 miles
- METAR data:
KASD 211053Z AUTO 01013G20KT 10SM CLR 07/M01 A3036 RMK AO2 SLP281 T00671006
Fri, 11/21/2008 - 05:53
Trailer park being emptied; FEMA says it was unsafe
HAMMOND, La. -- FEMA gave residents of a 63-unit trailer park 48 hours notice to leave. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the park was too filthy to live in. The trailer park's owner said it was bureaucratic vengeance.
Residents got the word Friday afternoon. on Saturday, FEMA teams returned with moving vans and at least 100 people to help residents pack and move.
"Katrina gave us more notice than this," said resident Cecile DeGreat.
FEMA spokesman Ronnie Simpson said, "We don't want to have to do this. We have to." He said the trailer park had become a public health hazard. Its sewer treatment system pours onto grass. The electricity was cut off last week for the third time since Oct. 12.
An Entergy meter service representative told residents the landowners were behind on their bill. The power was restored by Wednesday afternoon.
Frank Bonner, who owns the trailer park with Ken Albin, blamed FEMA. He said he gets paid late by the agency, making it impossible for him to pay the power bill on time since FEMA's payments are their only income. He said they owned a mortgage company before Hurricane Katrina, but it folded because their office and their tenants' property all flooded.
Bonner denied that he has ever been behind on the power bill.
Asked about the sewage, he said, "That has nothing to do with it. So I'm not answering that."
Smoke and mirrors, Simpson said: "He bills us, we have 30 days for the contractor to pay him, and we pay him usually in less than 15 days."
FEMA had more than 40 agents at the trailer park Friday to counsel residents and help them decide where they would be relocated, according to Matt Miller, a quality control officer for commercial parks with FEMA.
DeGreat, sitting on a crate in front of her trailer, said the park had problems with sanitation but none with crime and violence.
FEMA agents did not say where families were being moved. Several residents said they were given several choices.
FEMA brought in a crisis counseling team from Louisiana Spirit, which is part of Volunteers of America, Greater New Orleans, to talk with residents. Catholic Charities also had a representative at the trailer park.
Noel Miller, an evacuee from Phoenix in Plaquemines Parish, pulled out a contract he had signed Thursday, extending his contract for six months. Others in the park also had recently signed extensions.
Shawana Steptoe, who has children ages 11 and 8, said she got a ride to check out the trailer being offered to her Saturday afternoon, only to discover that people were still living in it.
Trailers offered to her sister and brother have obviously been vandalized, she said.
"This is just so sad," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
