(Katrina) Newly built trailer park… - Posted by The55+Guy
Posted by The55+Guy on October 14, 2005 at 09:49:10:
LA, 10/11 ( DeRidder Beauregard Daily News )- The government’s head of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts made a surprise visit to a newly built trailer park Saturday and said plans are moving forward for hundreds of similar makeshift towns to house residents displaced by the storm.
U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen called the construction of the park that holds more than 570 trailers next to this city some 91 miles northwest of New Orleans “pretty remarkable.”
“This went from nothing to something in about five weeks,” said Allen, who chatted with some of the residents who have filled nearly 200 of the small trailers equipped with air conditioning, plumbing and TV antennas.
Allen also checked out day’s food offerings: barbecued beef sandwiches, coleslaw and potato salad. “Looks good to me,” he said.
The park is laid out like a small town, with gravel roads, street lights and power lines.
Allen said about 120,000 trailers and mobile homes are expected to be delivered to Louisiana for evacuees in the coming weeks. The optimum size of each park will be about 200 housing units, but FEMA officials have said some trailers are also being be placed on the property of residents who are repairing their property. Other people may wind up in hotels or other settings, FEMA officials have said.
President Bush has said all Gulf Coast evacuees should be out of shelters by the middle of this month. The American Red Cross on Saturday said 23,970 Gulf Coast residents displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita had stayed in shelters around the country the night before.
“That goal is 15 October and we’re working toward that,” Allen said.
Timothy Ray Leonard, of Jefferson Parish, said he was happy to be moving into one of the trailers.
“I’m glad to be out of that shelter,” he said.
One elderly man who arrived at the trailer town Saturday simply dug into his pocket and pulled out the keys to his new home when asked if he has gotten housing.
“Great,” John Jackson said when asked if he liked the trailer: “Convenient, private.”
Jackson, of New Orleans, had been living in a shelter at a nearby church. He said his son was searching for more permanent accommodations and he wasn’t sure how long he would stay in the park.
“Might be a month, might be a week,” he said.