4,536 in Livingston register with FEMA
MAUREPAS — Most of Michelle Posey’s possessions are piled up and awaiting Hurricane Isaac debris haulers.
“I’ve lost all my belongings,” she said Friday afternoon.
Posey said Isaac’s flooding also ruined the walls and floors of the home in which she and her family lived.
She said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is helping to replace some of the family’s belongings but isn’t helping to repair her home because she was a renter.
She and her family are living with in-laws now, she said.
Paul Williams, a FEMA representative who has been going house-to-house to talk to flood victims, advised Posey to visit the Disaster Recovery Center in Satsuma where she could qualify for additional assistance.
Just down the street from Posey, William Taylor smiled as he sat on the front steps of his home, which Isaac also flooded.
Taylor was happy because he received $14,000 from FEMA on Friday to help pay for his repairs and for his temporary living expenses.
Across the street, Tracy Pinion has applied for FEMA help and awaits an answer.
She said her floors are buckled and she had mildew in her home.
FEMA’s Tom Pechal said 4,536 Livingston Parish residents have registered with the agency for individual aid and that more than $5.1 million has been approved for eligible residents in the parish.
He said agency representatives with the aid of parish officials have been going to some of the spots that suffered worst from Isaac to make sure residents know to register for federal help.
Residents also are being advised that if their applications are rejected, they can go to the center in Satsuma and talk to FEMA representatives, Pechal said.
In some cases, denials are based just on a lack of information, he said.
Evelyn Dupuy, who has organized a community meeting for Sunday, said a lot of people in the area are concerned about how numerous the denials are.
She also said they are concerned that the area that flooded isn’t getting sufficient mosquito spraying.
Parish President Layton Ricks said Friday that he and FEMA representatives plan to attend a 1 p.m. Sunday citizens’ meeting at the American Legion Hall in Maurepas to answer questions from storm victims.
Pechal said FEMA also will be represented.
Along La. 22 and its side roads, pile after pile of debris bear witness to the hurricane’s destruction.
Televisions sets and personal items sit atop heaps of sheetrock, insulation, cabinets and warped doors.
Ceres Environmental Services has six large trucks, two with additional trailers, hauling away the storm’s ruins, Ricks said.
They will make two trips across the parish, he said.
Residents should place their storm-related waste next to the road and separate it into three groups, said Mark Harrell, director of the Livingston Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness.
Demolition debris should go into one pile, white goods into another and limbs and other vegetative waste into a third, since those types of wastes will go to three different areas for disposal, Harrell said.
Denham Springs officials plan a final hurricane debris pickup Monday.
Mayor Jimmy Durbin urged city residents to pile their debris at the curb this weekend to facilitate the contractor’s last sweep through city streets.
State roads that run through the city still have debris piled along them waiting for a state contractor, Durbin said.
He said state officials have assured him that work will begin soon.
Walker Mayor Bobby Font said that his city’s Department of Public Works employees have made their last full sweep to pick up hurricane debris but will go back to specific sites when called during the next few weeks.
A few residents have several trees down in their backyards, Font said.
When they get that wood cut and brought to the curb, the Public Work Department will send out a crew to pick it up, Font said.