Kenner, LA

April, 2009

Kenner After Katrina

FEMA obligated more than $31 million to help rebuild the City of Kenner after the storm. $1.2 million of the funding focused on the area along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain.

We hadn't had a storm in 40 years when Katrina hit.

We had a lot of floodwaters, a lot of roof damage.

People were disrupted and uprooted for a long, long time. Now we all learned a lot in Katrina, and we've done a lot of things since Katrina to be prepared.

Lake Pontchartrain is a very bountiful lake, there are probably 20 species of fish in the lake. They have crab, shrimp. It's recreational from the standpoint that people love to go out there.

They like to fish. The pier gives them an opportunity to fish at no cost in one of the most bountiful lakes.

The pier, it was destroyed twice. Once by a storm, and once by some other natural event.

We are rebuilding the pier with FEMA money, but we're also going to find local funds to repair the pier in such a way that it might withstand these hurricanes. Laketown is going to be a major area for the city once it's complete. It's a major area now.

Well, let me say this. Thank God for FEMA.

People now get the message, you have to take hurricane season very seriously. We pray to God that it goes back, that there's another 40 years, but if that's not the case, we're as ready as we can be.

For more information, visit www.fema.gov