[StBernard] FEMA to Provide Travel Trailers for Business Employees

[Westley Annis]

FEMA to Provide Travel Trailers for Business Employees

November 3, 2005

By: Steve Cannizaro


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

The St. Bernard Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness and Homeland
Security is offering applications for businesses that went to seek travel
trailers from FEMA as temporary housing for their employees displaced from
their homes by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita. 

The Emergency Preparedness Office is on the second floor of the St. Bernard
Parish government building at 8201 West Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette. The
applications are available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the week.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is offering travel trailer units to
businesses who need them for employee housing, according to the Louisiana
Department of Economic Development, which is working with FEMA.

If the employee's residence is capable of supporting a travel trailer and
it's necessary hookups, including , electricity, sewer and water, that would
be the first choice for the delivery of the assigned trailer, officials
said. If the employee residence can't be used, FEMA's second choice would be
another location secured by the company involved, either on or off-site from
the business. The Louisiana Office of Economic Development has gotten
approval on temporary waivers of regulations by the Department Of
Environmental Quality that normally bar residential units to be placed on
industrial sites.

A site visit by FEMA representatives may be needed o confirm suitability of
private and group sites. Minimum site requirements include space to
accommodate up to 8-feet by 35-feet per unit and access to water, sewage and
electrical hookups.

A typical trailer has two bedrooms ad is fully furnished and
air-conditioned.

Employees of a business must be registered with FEMA to be eligible. Their
FEMA registration number will be required prior to receiving the trailers.
To register, an employee can call FEMA at 1-800-621-FEMA.