LAT: Uncertainty Has Washed Over Towns in the Bayou ("Where is FEMA?")

[DeepModem Mom]

Uncertainty Has Washed Over Towns in the Bayou
By Nicole Gaouette, Times Staff Writer


....In this corner of Jefferson Parish, south of New Orleans, residents trickled back in after Hurricane Rita flooded Jean Lafitte, Lafitte and Barataria, communities that are home to more than 2,000 people.

The parish encompasses industrial sites, Lexus-filled suburbs, historic areas that date back to the jazz pioneers, and the bayou, where some feed their children with what they can catch. Officials tout it as much for its casinos as its alligator swamps. Though many of the parish's communities are white, it has ethnically diverse pockets. In and around Barataria, houses owned by blacks sit alongside those owned by whites, all in a few feet of water.

Officials had ordered a mandatory evacuation of the area Thursday, then rescued the holdouts on Saturday after a breached levee sent water levels even higher. People whose memories stretch back to Hurricane Betsy in 1965 say this may be the worst flooding the parish has ever seen....

***

The destruction went beyond damage to homes and trailers pried open like tin cans. In a community where locals say two out of three men make their money shrimping, many say the storms have crushed an already faltering industry. There is fear about how people will make ends meet, anger at the official response and resentment that all the attention and resources seem to go to glossy, urban New Orleans.

"Everyone talks about the Lower 9th Ward," Rodgers said, referring to the New Orleans neighborhood that Rita reflooded. "What about us? Jefferson Parish is letting us down. Where is FEMA?" he asked. "They say they're helping people, but all they do is talk. I ain't seen nobody down here get help."...


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lafitte27sep27,0,7204678.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[ninkasi]

1. This is why the reconstruction work

needs to be given to the ones who suffered in either, or both storms. Instead of bringing in workers from Texas, put the ones out of jobs due to the hurricanes to work. They also need to be paid a living wage; Halliburton is scamming so much money from the public, it's time some of it went to citizens who DON'T have close ties to Bush/Cheney.

[hunter]

2. FEMA has become a malevolent tooth fairy...

...she takes away your teeth and your money.

It should be abundently clear to everyone by now that Bush uses government as a tool for channeling taxes to his friends and supporters.

[Lisa]

3. and she expects loyalty in return ...

Actually, this also describes a kind of "anti-Santa"!