Thanks to Landrieu, Southwest Louisiana has Received Over $1.04 Billion to Rebuild from Rita
Landrieu made funding possible as chair of Homeland Security Approps. Subcommittee
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WASHINGTON – Nine years after Hurricane Rita, data provided by FEMA shows that Louisiana has received $1.04 billion to recover and rebuild from Hurricane Rita thanks to U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu’s, D-La., robust funding of the Disaster Relief Fund. Of that, $32.5 million helped rebuild and renovate schools for Southwest Louisiana students and $523 million helped individuals and families rebuild and strengthen their homes against future disasters. The data also highlights more than $94 million to restore power to 50,000 families and hundreds of businesses. In addition, South Cameron Memorial Hospital received over $20 million to rebuild in Cameron, La. Sen. Landrieu, the chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, pledged to push FEMA on outstanding projects that are waiting recovery dollars from the agency. Read the data. “Nine years ago, Hurricane Rita crashed our shores, flooded our communities and left destruction in its wake all along the coast of Southwest Louisiana,” Sen. Landrieu said. “We have not forgotten about the damage Hurricane Rita left behind, but the story of Hurricane Rita is now about the resilience and recovery of America’s working coast. Nearly a decade later, our homes and businesses are stronger to withstand future storms, our schools are newer and better and Southwest Louisiana is leading America’s energy revolution. There is still more work to be done, and not every community has seen the recovery and rebuilding happen fast enough, but we will continue to roll up our sleeves, do the hard work and continue to build a better, stronger and more resilient coast.” “When Hurricane Rita hit, it wiped out half of our electrical system. Anything from the Inter-coastal area of Cameron parish to the south was completely gone. We had to rebuild the entire system from square one in order to restore power to our customers across our service areas in Jeff Davis, Calcasieu, and Cameron parishes,” said Michael Heinen, General Manager of Jeff Davis Electric Co-op, Inc. “The funds provided by FEMA were instrumental in not only allowing us to restore power, but also giving us the necessary capital to serve our customers when they had lost everything. We are grateful to FEMA and Sen. Landrieu for continuing to support Southwest Louisiana and ensuring we keep improving our electrical infrastructure.” In the nine years since Hurricane Rita, Sen. Landrieu has delivered more than $32.5 million for SWLA schools:
Sen. Landrieu secured over $94 million for two electrical cooperatives in Jefferson Davis and Beauregard parishes:
Sen. Landrieu has secured over $532 million in individual assistance for those who call Southwest Louisiana home: Individual assistance from FEMA can be used right after a disaster to assist families in temporary relocation and allows them to buy food, water, clothes and any other incidentals that may be scarce after disaster strikes. FEMA’s individual assistance can also be used during a family’s rebuilding process to buy or build a new home, improve the infrastructure of their current home, and clean up debris like fallen trees or trash from floodwaters. Building America’s Resilient Coast Sen. Landrieu has continued to work to improve the federal government’s resources available to individuals and families in the wake of disaster and to bolster America’s working coast as it continues to contribute billions to the nation’s economy. She established revenue sharing and delivered billions to restore Louisiana’s wetlands, created a more responsive and agile FEMA, and rolled back draconian flood insurance rates. These efforts have helped build America’s Resilient Coast that produces one-third of domestic seafood, supplies 10 percent of America’s domestic oil and transports nearly half of all consumer goods purchased by U.S. citizens. In 2011, Sen. Landrieu prevailed over Republican leaders in the House of Representatives that did not want to replenish the disaster relief fund until offsets—cuts to other domestic priorities that invest in roads, education and the middle class—were found. Had Sen. Landrieu not been successful, the Disaster Relief Fund survivors of Isaac would have had to wait for Congress to reconvene and debate which offset was needed to send aid. It also would have established a dangerous precedent that requires disaster survivors to look and identify offsets before aid is sent. The Times-Picayune wrote that Sen. Landrieu was right and that “Americans shouldn't have to worry that they won't get help when disaster strikes or that their recovery could be shut down by political dissent.”
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