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Rebuilding Lives, Revitalizing Communities: Mississippi

Rebuilding Lives, Revitalizing Communities - Five Years after Katrina and Rita

Mississippi Recovery Efforts after Katrina

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Katrina Recovery 2005-2010
  • 518,100 Mississippians registered for assistance
  • $1.3 billion distributed to families and individuals
  • $1.14 billion reimbursed to Mississippi to save lives, protect property and remove debris
  • $1.86 billion obligated to help communities repair and rebuild
  • $294 million to mitigate against future damages
The University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Park Campus Library reopened in 2008.
The University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Park Campus Library reopened in 2008. USM renovated several buildings with more than $26 million in funding from FEMA. 
Under the leadership of the Obama Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has launched a number of initiatives to improve the pace of ongoing recovery efforts and help rebuild the communities that are the economic engines of the Gulf Coast. All of these efforts have focused on finding innovative solutions to better support state and local officials, remove bureaucratic red tape, and help residents move forward.

Over the last five years:

In the last 18 months:

Streamlined Process to Accelerate Recovery

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Habitat for Humanity's Wendy McDonald participate in an Open House for a permanent Mississippi Cottage designed by the State of Mississippi and grant supported by FEMA Long Term Community Recovery staff in Mississippi.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Habitat for Humanity's Wendy McDonald participate in an Open House for a permanent Mississippi Cottage designed by the State of Mississippi and grant supported by FEMA Long Term Community Recovery staff in Mississippi. 
In the years immediately following Hurricane Katrina, many recovery projects were held up because of disagreements and an inefficient process for settling them. To make this process quicker, fairer and free up funds to get projects moving forward again, the Obama Administration and FEMA announced a new arbitration process to expedite resolution of outstanding public assistance projects in Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina. Under this new process, neutral, third-party panels adjudicate disputes – allowing some of the most difficult and complex disputes to get resolved. This is an alternative to the previous bureaucratic appeals process.

To date:

Economic Relief for Local Governments

In March 2009 Secretary Napolitano announced additional flexibility for an existing federal program that lends funds to communities following a disaster to continue providing key municipal services that they otherwise would not be able to afford.

Under the Obama Administration’s initiative, FEMA has the authority provided by Congress to cancel the loans, called Special Community Disaster Loans, for eligible local governments in Louisiana and Mississippi that received them after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In order to be eligible for the loan cancellation, governments’ revenues in the three fiscal years after the disaster must have been insufficient to cover their operating budgets.

Initiatives

Under the leadership of Administrator Fugate, a number of new initiatives have been put in place better serve the American people and their communities before, during and after a disaster.

Success Stories

Almost $6 million in federal funds has been approved for warning systems – sirens and FM transmitters – to alert Mississippians. Almost $30 million will be spent so that critical government operations – in particular, first responders and local emergency operation centers – can operate if power is lost. Hurricane/tornado safe rooms will protect first responders. And $157 million in federal funds are making it possible for the state to build a communications system that allows first responders throughout Mississippi to work together in a disaster.

Shelters
On the Gulf Coast and along evacuation routes, $156.4 million in federal funds are being spent to upgrade 23 existing shelters and build 33 new shelters. These shelters, designed to withstand category 5 hurricane winds and storm surge, will safety for 33,000 people.

Beauvoir, the last home of Jefferson Davis, held its re dedication ceremony in June 2008 and is now open to the public again after extensive restoration
Beauvoir, the last home of Jefferson Davis, held its re dedication ceremony in June 2008 and is now open to the public again after extensive restoration. Beauvoir was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina and FEMA helped fund the restoration. 
Preserving Mississippi’s Heritage
Beauvoir, a Gulf-front mansion in Biloxi, was the final home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The mansion and its companion presidential library, both listed on National Register of Historic Places and as Mississippi Landmarks, were severely damaged by Katrina. Today, with $17.2 million in FEMA funding, Beauvoir has been repaired and a new presidential library is rising on the site of the original museum. A portion of the federal funding will protect the 1852 structure from future damage.

For the city of Biloxi, restoration of its historic lighthouse is a symbol of the city’s recovery from Katrina. The 1848 structure, a National Historic Place and Mississippi Landmark and still considered an aid to navigation, was damaged by the hurricane. FEMA and state funding of $415,000 helped to make it possible to reopen the lighthouse in 2010.

Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation
FEMA’s Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation Program – EHP – is charged with ensuring compliance with federal environmental and historic preservation laws as communities rebuild. In the weeks and months after Katrina, EHP expedited review of more than 5,400 sites for the Mississippi Cottage program, reviewed over 14,300 Public Assistance projects and reviewed more than 11,200 individual safe room projects and 63 group safe room applications.

The federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation presented EHP with its chairman’s award for its innovate work with the state historic preservation office to create a digital database of historic properties in Vicksburg. This is the second time FEMA has received this award.

Recovery Photos

Last Modified: Thursday, 26-Aug-2010 12:30:34 EDT