Midwest Praising FEMA

[dollardaze]

After FEMA's disastrous response to the people affected by hurricane Katrina, nearly 3 years ago, the agency is once again in the limelight. This time though, the people of the Midwest are praising the quick response FEMA has made, and the help it has already given to them.

When floodwaters knocked out the water treatment plant in Mason City, Iowa, FEMA rolled into town and promptly set up an account with a Pepsi bottler to supply bottled water. Then FEMA officials moved into a vacant store and began handing out the stuff.

(AP)


Seth Wenig, AP

Nelvin Wade, right, a contract inspector for FEMA, explains to Dorothy Nemecek and her children Jim Nemecek and Judy Dolezal that he can not complete his inspection because water is keeping him from reaching certain parts of their home. After Hurricane Katrina, many in the flood-stricken Midwest say the agency is doing a good job.

I'm so glad to hear that FEMA is doing such a good job for the people in the flooding Midwest. Those people certainly do need assistance, getting their lives back to some semblance of living normally. Unless you have lived through a flood like that, you can't imagine the devastation it leaves behind.
I have heard people say 'it's just water, it comes up and then goes down, you can clean up afterward and it's all the same again.' This is often not the case at all, but it's hard to explain to someone who has never seen the devastation it leaves behind.

Midwest Praising FEMA

[moneysense]

I am so glad that they are there and working to help people out in their time of great need.

When Katrina hit, that was a fiasco as far as getting those people the help they needed and help was slow in coming for those folks.

This time they are jolly roger on the spot as needed.

[pennypinch]

I am glad they are acting fast this time around. I am sure the speed with which they have acted is due to their very delayed reaction to hurricane Katrina.

I know how these people feel to some extent, I have been flooded four times within the past 15 years and it is heart-breaking. I am one of the lucky ones though, most of the damage occurs in my basement. Still, a lot of damage gets done.

You just stand there and watch the water pour into your home, ruining walls, floors, everything. And there is nothing you can do to stop it.

I am very thankful I have never had to experience it as badly as the folks out west. I hope they get all the help they need and can eventually live normal lives again.