The FEMA Village

On the south east side of town is a FEMA village composed of approximately 600 trailers. There are several other villages on the outskirts of town made up of several hundred trailers. There were 4100 homes flooded during the summer of 2011.

Our son Barry & family visited us during the weekend & we took them to see this village. This is what my grandson, Zac, 15, journalled about his impression when we toured this village.

"Driving through the FEMA ( Federal Emergency Measures Act) trailer home told a desolate tale of depression and destruction. Once the floodwaters receded, those who were forced from their homes were shuttled into government provided mobile homes, plain white boxes are what they amounted to. Decent accommodations but the memories and joy of their previous residence had been washed away by the cruel indifference of mother nature. And to add insult to injury, if there were to be another flood, even these meager dwellings would be washed away."

 And this was Zac's impression of the flood zone & some of the MDS sites we visited.

"Meandering through the soaking streets the houses spoke all about destruction and depression. Sagging porches, debris hanging from the trees, mud instead of a lawn, it was enough to make a person despondent. Yellow signs reading "I'm coming back." littered the lawns & were the only defense against condemnation. With all the destruction, I'm not surprised the place looked like a ghost town."

For a 15 year old, I thought Zac's thoughts are pretty fascinating about how he observed the cleanup of the flood.