WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) today complimented FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on their speedy deployment of mobile homes to provide temporary housing to displaced victims of an F-3 tornado which ripped through the Bootheel.

 

Nearly 20 mobile homes have been moved to a temporary holding area in Pemiscot County while a permanent site is constructed, others are being placed on private home sites where space is available.  The first two trailers were given to displaced individuals yesterday.  On Saturday, Emerson plans to visit one of those trailers, given to a constituent whose mother passed away during the storm in Braggadocio.

 

“FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have far exceeded the normal timeline for
making this important housing resource available to storm victims.  I appreciate their diligence and look forward to more and better stories about federal agencies going above an beyond, since that is what community, county and state officials are trying to do,” Emerson said.  “These mobile homes will put a roof over the heads of people who are right now living without a shelter of their own.  They have suffered a devastating loss of family and property, and this act only begins to make up for their suffering.”

 

In past months, Emerson has criticized the inability of FEMA to deploy the trailers from Hope, AR, to the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  Thousands of the trailers had been ordered following the hurricane, and they are still awaiting sites in the Gulf Coast.  Emerson asked that some trailers be directed to help victims of the April 2 tornado in Missouri.

 

“It makes sense to use every available resource to help in this ongoing emergency.  It is more than a crisis of recovery, and we are charged with rebuilding more than homes.  People’s lives have been forever altered by this terrible event, and they need to know that they will not be forgotten by their representatives or their neighbors during the long process of rebuilding ahead,” Emerson said.

 

WHO:          U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson
WHAT:        Tour of Bootheel Tornado Damage
WHEN:       TOMORROW, Saturday, April 22, 2006, starting at approx. 2:00 p.m. CDT
WHERE:     Tour begins at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office, 706 Truman Blvd.,
                     Caruthersville