Voter Checklist
November 12, 2021
T- Bois Bridge Scheduled for Maintenance
November 12, 2021
Terrebonne Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness Director Earl Eues and Chris Pulaski, Director of Planning and Zoning for Terrebonne Parish, gave an important Hurricane Ida recovery update at this week’s Parish Council meeting.
Eues reported there are 41,856 households in Terrebonne Parish with valid registrations with FEMA. He reported that FEMA has completed 29,724 inspections of those households. They have seen 6,593 people at the Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) located at the Houma Civic Center and they are seeing an average of 140-150 people per day. Eues said they are currently trying to set up a DRC in the Montegut area close to the base camp because they feel that people in the area still need assistance with registration along with issues with FEMA assistance. “I want to remind everyone,” Eues said,” that if you have filed for FEMA assistance through disasterassistance.gov, and you have been denied, you can go to the DRC and appeal that.” He also advised that if residents have been referred to the Small Business Administration (SBA), they must fill the application for SBA. If residents are denied with SBA, they will be referred back to FEMA.
So far, Eyes reported that FEMA has distributed $303,859,016 in Terrebonne Parish for individuals and households. SBA has issued 2,083 homeowner approvals for $123 million and has approved 78 business loan approvals totaling $4.7 million. There were 12 approvals for the Economic Loss Assistance totaling $307,000 in assistance. Please note that it’s not too late to apply through SBA and disaster relief assistance through FEMA.
The Red Cross shelter that was located on Venture Blvd. closed on November 5 and everyone in the shelter was able to be placed in some form of housing assistance. At one time, Eues said they sheltered more than 350 residents throughout all of the sheltering options from Monroe through St. Mary Parish. All of the residents either have been placed in housing or have had some form of housing assistance, Eues said.
As of Wednesday, debris pickup was reported at 1.9 million cubic yards and Eues said they are continuing to meet with state officials and FEMA regarding demolition of houses and clearing waterways. He said it is an ongoing effort with the Solid Waste Department and the public works department. He also reported that the Corps of Engineers has installed 2,458 blue roofs and the program has ended.
Pulaski then reported that there are four base camps set up in the parish. One camp is on Scott Lane with a capacity for 100 people and has been recently expanded for an additional 100 people. The Dulac base camp is also for 100 people and is 30 percent occupied, the Chauvin base camp is around 50 percent occupancy, and the Montegut base camp is around 30 percent occupancy. He said that they have one on Williams Avenue that is beginning construction that will have a 50 person occupancy. He said they have recommended this camp have more flexibility with accommodations so that if someone needs a double bed instead of bunk beds, they can do so, which will help to accommodate a certain population such as the elderly who can’t get into a bunk bed. Pulaski reported that they are looking at another potential site by the airbase and will be a 100 person site.
Pulaski reported on the state housing program which is through GOHSEP and the contracting processing company, APTIM. In the previous meeting, it was reported around 30 trailers have been delivered to private properties, and eight have been occupied at that time. Since then, Pulaski said they have 213 trailers that have been deployed to private properties and 117 of those trailers are now occupied, as of Wednesday.
He reported that the permit office is getting batches, which usually consist of 20-30 sites, once or twice a day. That means they are applying to get permits to get the trailers up and running for residents to be able to reside in these shelters, “so trailers are moving in, I know you see them around town, but let me reiterate that the civic center is one of three staging areas in the region.” He said not all of the travel trailers that people see at the civic center are actually for Terrebonne Parish.
In order to be in the program, residents must be registered with the state. He told the council they have turned in all of the names collected and have now been turned over to the state, and the state is working through the list, making sure that they are registered. He said in some instances there are having issues contacting people, but that’s where Pulaski said they are jumping in to assist. “You must be registered to receive a travel trailer,” he emphasized.
APTIM is the contracting company that is processing applications and is still operating by phone, 844-268-0301, or online at idashelteringla.com for registration. If you are calling or going online to register, Pulaski said to be sure to have your FEMA registration number handy, because they will be asked for it.
APTIM currently has representatives at the Civic Center from 9-6 for the remainder of this week. Representatives do visit different areas weekly. During the report, Pulaski pointed out that once the trailers are delivered to the private properties, they have to be hooked up, then inspected, and at the same time that’s happening, the residents are filling out paperwork with the state to be able to utilize the trailers. COVID cleaning crews also have to clean them before residents can occupy them, “so there are things that happen from the day the trailer is delivered to the day the keys are actually handed to that resident, so that’s the thing we’re really trying to narrow down, is that time period,” he said. This struck everyone at the meeting wrong and started a conversation about how long it’s taking to actually hook up utilities to these trailers. It was pointed out that Entergy is an issue with the process of bringing electricity to the trailers.
Danny Babin, Councilman District 7, asked about the actual timeframe in actual days of once the trailers are delivered to when the residents are able to move in, and Pulaski said they don’t have that number. Babin then asked about Entergy being the problem specifically, and Pulaski said that it has been the biggest delay. “I think Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government is doing a great job, 95 percent of my constituents are on SLECA, and they’re doing an excellent job. But probably the majority of the parish is on Entegy, I don’t know,” said Babin. Pulaski confirmed that Entergy does have the largest number of customers and Parish President Gordy Dove was on the phone with Philip May, Entergy President and CEO, explaining that they need to increase the rate at which they are able to energize the travel trailers. Babin said, “that’s why I wanted to bring this up, for those people who are listening, it’s not the parish, or SLECA, holding it up. It’s Entergy holding it up and that shouldn’t be in 2021. We should get better service than that.” It was requested to get a representative from Entergy and APTIM to attend the next meeting so they can address questions directly and get more answers for the public. Pulaski said he will convey the request and strongly insist that someone come to the meeting.
Pulaski reported that there are group sites in the works. The main area the state and FEMA are focusing on is Rebecca Plantation by Hwy. 311 and Hwy. 90. He said the state contractor is looking at roughly 253 sites for travel trailers at that location. Pulaski was asked the timeline of the group sites, and he said they didn’t have a hard date, but they’re looking at least two-three weeks before they have it ready state program-wise.
As far as the FEMA housing program, they have over 2,400 people slotted for interviews, and they have approved a little over 1,100 people. From these numbers, five trailers have been leased, and 18 trailers have been delivered. FEMA is also looking at several commercial sites for group sites. The only one they have been able to obtain is Carriage Cove, which has 22 spaces available, but they do have other potential sites for mobile home parks. As far as the Rebecca Plantation site, FEMA is looking at 147 travel trailers. “If you ask me when they project to have that ready, “Pulaski said,” you wouldn’t believe me, but it’s April of 2022.”
Jessica Domangue, Councilwoman District 5, said, “This process is completely unacceptable, and I know we’re all upset and angry about it. We’re the ones that have to once again speak to these people on a daily basis to tell them no you can’t come home, no we don’t know when you’ll get a trailer, there’s nothing that I can do for you except to pray for you…I have no idea what the federal government is doing right now, but they definitely are not helping Terrebonne parish out, so I want to let Terrebonne Parish know that we are fighting for you, and you are fighting for them and Mr. Dove is fighting for them, but it’s completely out of our hands.”
