More people have raised homes and more have flood insurance. That’s reflected in the fact FEMA has provided markedly less assistance after Ike than it did after Rita, say the towns’ mayors.
Though the deadline to apply for funding for Ike has been extended to Jan. 12, FEMA spokesman Andrew Thomas provided figures for the agency’s assistance to Delcambre and Erath up until December.
  
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After Hurricane Ike, Delcambre has received $362,407 for housing and $204,581 for other needs.
Erath residents received $8.58 million for housing and $4.76 million for other needs after Rita. They have received $525,679 for housing and $149,358 for other needs so far after Ike.
More flood insurance
Erath Mayor George Dupuis said he would attribute the decrease in FEMA money to more people having flood insurance, more people living in raised houses and the fact there are fewer people living south of Erath and Delcambre, as many have moved.
“I think people that didn’t lift — furniture, vehicles, personal belongings — most people tended to do that (this time). Rita was a heck of an education,” Dupuis said.
He said recovery in Erath is going “real well.”
Delcambre Mayor Carol Broussard says, however, that “(FEMA) came up with a new answer to everything — no.”
“You need to have insurance today,” Broussard said. “So if you don’t have flood insurance, (they say) ‘shame on you.’ ”
Even when people have flood insurance, the companies don’t give them the full amount, Broussard said. He said he, for example, was insured for more than $200,000 and received $20,000.
Thomas said FEMA encourages people to apply for assistance, but it does not make sense to apply for a property over and over again.
“We’re not going to continue to pay you for losses when you’re aware of the risk and need to get insurance,” he said.
Thomas said one of the requirements for those who received assistance after a disaster like Rita is to maintain flood insurance. In many cases, FEMA purchased that insurance.
He said many of them were 36-month policies, meaning people who received a policy after Rita were covered for Ike.
“That has a tremendous impact,” Thomas said. “After that, it’s up to the individual to renew.”
Reimbursement concerns
Others also have expressed discontent with insurance carriers’ reimbursement after both Rita and Ike.
Ricky Luquette, vice president and general manager of Champagne’s supermarket, formerly located both in Erath and in Delcambre, said Champagne’s had to sue its insurance company after Hurricane Rita. Luquette said it took a year of fighting before they were able to rebuild in Erath.
By the time they got the money necessary to repair the building in Delcambre, it had deteriorated to the point to which it needs to be torn down, he said.
Broussard estimates about 10 percent of Delcambre’s homes have been elevated over the past few years, but he said the cost of raising a home can be more than building one much of the time.
“If there’s anything I get done in the next four years,” he said he wants raising homes to be it.
“We know what we have to do now,” he said.
Home elevation is also part of FEMA’s programs, Thomas said, and people can get grants.
Looking to the future, Broussard also said he does not understand why further studies of the coastline are necessary.
“They’re acting as if they don’t know what this coast is made of,” he said. “Is there any land that’s different — we can study this thing to death and not get anything done.”
Regardless of study outcome, Broussard said the town will have to change completely.
“We know we need some type of barrier from these tidal surges — a lot of people want to lift, but can’t afford it,” he said. “It’s tough. Three years later, we’re back at zero. We know we can’t just run away from these things. We’ve got to fight it now. Shame on us if we don’t.”
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Go to work Corp of Engineers wrote on Jan 5, 2009 8:45 AM: