Hurricane Katrina Update

One year after hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, the numbers are not pretty. Read ‘em and weep … I did.

1. Number of housing units damaged, destroyed, or inaccessible because of Katrina: 850,791

2. Number of churches, synagogues, and mosques damaged or destroyed: approximately 900

3. Number of homes destroyed by breaches in federally designed and funded levees and not covered under the federal housing recovery plan: 200,000

4. Amount committed to Katrina relief by the federal government: $85 billion

5. Amount spent by FEMA specifically on housing assistance for hurricane victims: less than $4 billion

6. Amount spent by FEMA on operating expenses, including salaries and expense accounts: $6 billion

7. Amount spent on administrative overhead for every dollar FEMA spends: 26 cents

8. Number of FEMA trailers occupied in Mississippi: 94,000

9. Number of FEMA trailers still needed in Mississippi: 9,000

10. Number of FEMA trailers requested in the New Orleans metro area: 69,706

11. Number of FEMA trailers occupied in the New Orleans metro area: 31,517

12. Number of unoccupied modular homes purchased by FEMA and sinking into mud in Hope, Arkansas: 10,777

13. Number of FEMA trailers held in staging areas and unoccupied: 20,000

14. Number of repair and maintenance requests for FEMA trailers in Mississippi: 34,000

15. Average cost of a single FEMA trailer per month: $3,200

16. Cost to taxpayers for debris removal per cubic yard: $32

17. Payment to subcontractors for debris removal per cubic yard: $6-10

18. Number of “evacuees” given FEMA emergency assistance with invalid Social Security numbers or false addresses and names: 900,000

19. Percentage of FEMA contracts that were “no bid” in 2005:
In September: 80
In October: 60
In November: 68
In December: 50 (first half)

20. Percentage of FEMA contracts by mid-November 2005 that went to firms in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi: 12

21. Number of new migrant workers to the Gulf Coast region since Katrina: 30,000

22. Percentage of New Orleans pre-Katrina residents who have returned to the city: approximately 40

23. Percentage of homeowner settlements with insurance companies by January 2005 after the four Florida hurricanes: 90

24. Percentage of homeowner settlements by February 2006 after Katrina: 70

25. Average homeowner claim for flood damage before Katrina: $22,084,
After Katrina: $93,118

26. Number of insurance companies instructed by FEMA to cease National Flood Insurance payouts due to insolvency of the federally managed National Flood Insurance Program: 96

27. Amount allocated from Katrina funding to date to pay National Flood Insurance Program claims: $18.5 billion

28. Number of insurance companies sued for refusal to pay damages: 50

29. Number of counts in Senator Trent Lott’s lawsuit against State Farm Insurance: 7

30. Insurance industry’s contributions to Democratic campaigns and PACs for the 2004 and 2006 election cycles combined: $15,101,286

31. Insurance industry’s contributions to Republican campaigns and PACs for the 2004 and 2006 election cycles combined: $31,282,859

32. Percentage of homeowners still awaiting Small Business Association disaster loan approval: 50

33. Percentage of homeowner SBA disaster loans that have been fully paid after approval: 6.9

34. Amount collected by The American Red Cross’s hurricane relief fund: $2.1 billion

35. Annual salary of former Red Cross CEO, Marsh Evans: $651,957

36. Amount paid to consultants in the past three years to boost the American Red Cross’s profile: $500,000

37. Gallons of crude oil contaminating 2,500 Louisiana homes: 1,000,000

38. Number of medical professionals who volunteered with the Department of Health and Human Services after Katrina: 30,000
Number called to serve: approximately 1,400

39. Number of Katrina victims still missing: 1,960

40. Number of missing victims 20 years old or younger: 245

Sources (October 5, 2005–February 27, 2006):

1, 2, 30, 32 USA Today. 3, 7 Website of Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), http://landrieu.senate.gov. 4 Speech by President Bush in Waveland, Mississippi, on January 12, 2006. 5, 6 White House Office of Management and Budget, provided to Eyewitness News WWL-TV. 8, 9 Gulf Coast News. 10, 11, 17, 25, 36 The Times-Picayune. 12 DHS audit, February 2006. 13, 15 American Chronicle. 14, 40 The Washington Post. 16 Senator Tom Coburn. 18 GAO Report. 19, 20, 21, 22 www.federaltimes.com. 23 Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch/Institute for Southern Studies. 24 www.migrationinformation.org. 26, 27 Newhouse News Service. 28, 29 www.fema.gov. 31 White House OMB and Capitol City Press. 33 Trent and Tricia Lott vs. US State Farm Fire and Casualty Company and John Does 4, 7, 34, 35 www.opensecrets.org. 37 Senate Resolution 347. 38 The Associated Press. 39, 40 www.forbes.com (FY 6/30/03). Department of Health and Human Services, quoted by www.reconstructionwatch.org.