5.29.2008 11:16 AM

Toxic FEMA Trailers To Close on Eve of New Hurricane Season

Unfortunately, Some Katrina Victims Fear They Have Nowhere to Go

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FEMA Trailer, Louisiana.

Photo: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

By Brian Clark Howard

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, wants to close its last six trailer parks for Hurricane Katrina victims by Sunday, which is the first day of another hurricane season. These are the last of the 111 the agency had set up in Louisiana after the 2005 disaster.

Only trouble is, some residents are worried they'll have no place else to go. They have been promised only one extra month of government-subsidized shelter. Yet in a cruel twist of fate rents are high along the Gulf Coast since hurricanes have leveled so much affordable housing.

FEMA has been trying to help those affected find places they can afford, but the going has been slow. The agency says it will not forcibly evict anyone from the trailers Sunday, but they are working double time to try to clear the parks.

The fact that government tests have shown the FEMA trailers to off-gas potentially harmful levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) has been one more sad, and widely reported, aspect of the Katrina story. Hopefully, government has learned some lessons from the disaster, and will be better prepared to respond to future challenges.

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