[StBernard] NUNEZ COMMUNITY COLLEGE RECOVERS WITH HELP FROM FEMA

[Westley Annis]

NUNEZ COMMUNITY COLLEGE RECOVERS WITH HELP FROM FEMA

 


NEW ORLEANS – The aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina inundated Nunez
Community College with up to eight feet of flood waters. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is committed to restoring the Chalmette
campus back to its original, pre-flooded condition.

 

FEMA has paid to rebuild the school’s Arts & Café Building, which is home to
the college’s culinary arts program. Hurricane-generated damages were severe
enough that the entire structure had to be replaced. The new facility is
still in the design phase and construction has not begun, but fall classes
are being held in a temporary facility funded by FEMA.

 

Nunez’s Institutional Advancement Executive Director Teresa Smith said the
new building will utilize some of the finest culinary equipment, which
students are currently using in the temporary trailers.

 


“It’s going to be a tremendous resource for our students,” she said of the
new building. 

 

The St. Bernard Parish campus flooded after Lake Borgne overflowed and the
nearby levees failed. Water submerged the ground floor of every building.
The college, which had more than 2,300 students before the storm, reopened
Jan. 25, 2006, just five months after Hurricane Katrina. 

 

More than $1.4 million was obligated by FEMA for the Arts & Café classrooms.
To date, more than $21.2 million has been obligated for recovery efforts at
Nunez Community College. In addition to the Arts & Café classrooms, 16 other
campus buildings are eligible either for replacement or repairs. 

 

When projects are obligated by FEMA through its supplemental Public
Assistance grant, the funds are transferred to a Smartlink account. This
allows the applicant, in this case the State of Louisiana’s Facility,
Planning and Control, to work with the Governor’s Office of Homeland
Security and Emergency Preparedness as quickly as possible to access the
reimbursement monies. The state may require additional documentation from
the applicant before disbursing the funds. Obligated funds may change over
time as the project worksheet is a living grant that is often adjusted as
bids come in and scope of work is aligned. 

 

The Public Assistance program works with state and local officials to fund
recovery measures and the rebuilding of government and certain private
nonprofit organizations’ buildings, as well as roads, bridges and water and
sewer plants. In order for the process to be successful, federal, state and
local partners coordinate to draw up project plans, fund these projects and
oversee their completion.

FEMA coordinates the federal government’s role in preparing for, preventing,
mitigating the effects of, responding to and recovering from all domestic
disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror. 

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Editors: For more information on Louisiana disaster recovery, visit
www.fema.gov/gulfcoastrecovery