Brusly, Louisiana

July, 2009

Recovery From Gustav

Hurricane Gustav heavily impacted the town of Brusly, Louisiana. Now, with the help of FEMA, the town is bouncing back.

I have been mayor for 8 plus years.

Katrina, Rita, and obviously Gustav.

The town was really impacted. We had a lot of damage, especially trees and branches. We had a loss of power for at least 2 days before any of it came back on. A lot of roofs blown off, no deaths. No serious injuries, thankfully. We had a lot of damage, more than we expected. More than we thought we'd ever see.

Well, the police station is right next door. The roof was blown off of that.

The fire district, which is a separate taxing entity, they had damage also to some of the fire stations and they work hand in hand with us. And they had some damage there too, and they just recently finished some of the repairs.

Our relationship with FEMA after Gustav was really good.

I thought FEMA did a much better job this time in distributing things to the public.

The distribution points were very well organized, people who needed it got it, people who didn't need it were not able to get it.

One of the main things we're trying to do is convince people that it is their responsibility to be prepared for a storm, it is not the government or FEMA or some agency's responsibility to take care of yourself.

I think we're in much, much better shape than we've ever been before. I think we're ready for a storm, hope we don't have to, but I think we're ready.