[StBernard] FEMA wants permanent operations at Hope trailer site

[Westley Annis]

HOPE, Ark. (AP) - Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency say
they want to build a permanent structure at the Hope Municipal Airport,
where the agency is storing about 10,000 mobile homes initially intended for
use by victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 
 
FEMA says the building would be used to store emergency supplies, including
food for distribution in a disaster. The building also could be used to
refurbish mobile homes stored at the airport. 
  
The mobile homes were sent to Hope after Hurricane Katrina but only a
limited number were sent to the Gulf Coast. Some were shipped out for use by
tornado victims in northeastern Arkansas in the spring. 
  
FEMA has asked city officials for permission to build a 45,000-square-foot
building at the 453-acre mobile home site. Also, it hopes to obtain a
longterm lease agreement with the city, which it now pays $25,000 a month
under a two-year deal. 
  
City Manager Catherine Cook told city directors Tuesday that if the new
building is contructed, two-thirds of it would be used as general warehouse
space while the rest would be a climate-controlled storage area for food,
bottled water, blankets and other emergency supplies. 
  
Hope Mayor Dennis Ramsey said the general warehouse area also could be used
to work on mobile homes if they need to be repaired. 
  
The trailers, plus travel trailers recently added to the collection, were
intended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be shipped to the
Gulf Coast for use by storm victims. The agency said various restrictions on
where the trailers could be placed stalled deployment, including a
prohibition on placing them in flood plains. 
As of last month, Hope's airport was holding 9,700 trailers, down from a
peak of 10,777. Another 1,100 were at the Red River Army Depot west of
Texarkana..