Mississippi is receiving less than half of what it's asking in federal disaster relief for Hurricane Katrina, the director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said Sunday. Robert Latham is the latest Mississippi official to criticize efforts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree previously said the city went days before getting federal help.
"We're getting much less than 50 percent of what we're requesting," Latham said. "We're trying to ration it so that everybody gets some. We know it's not enough." Ice distribution points in Hattiesburg were empty Sunday, DuPree said, even though 50 trucks of ice are sitting at Camp Shelby. DuPree said the trucks can't be released because FEMA hasn't released them.
"That's the kind of service that we're getting ... something's wrong with that."
Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee said he took one of the trucks with ice to a distribution point in Brooklyn. He declined further comment and referred all questions to FEMA.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050905/NEWS05/509050303/1002/NEWS01