Need For FEMA Trailers
For homeowners, FEMA trailers are intended to provide temporary housing until they are able to gut and repair or rebuild their homes. Because of the extensive destruction to residential neighborhoods by winds, flooding and tornadoes in 2005, many of these disaster areas were suffering from an extreme housing shortage. The widespread extent of the rebuilding effort caused a shortage of building contractors and materials throughout the region, which further delayed the construction of new housing, and required existing apartments or motels to house the incoming construction workers.
In New Orleans, the failure of the levee system inundated the city with standing flood water for several days after the storms. Even one inch of standing flood water is enough to cause an outbreak of toxic mold throughout an entire dwelling. This is especially true because the storms took place in the heat and humidity of the New Orleans summer, ideal conditions for mold spores to flourish. Residents were prevented from returning home and gutting their houses for weeks by local government officials, until basic infrastructure for water and electricity were restored to the city. This gave mold colonies time to expand and cover sections of wall that were not flooded. Concentrations of indoor mold spores pose a serious health hazard and can even cause illness in people with weakened immune systems, such as the elderly and young children.
Flood damage of this type requires the complete removal and replacement of carpeting, flooring, insulation, and sheetrock. Flood damage beyond a few inches may also destroy furniture, appliances, and other personal belongings. Almost all of these homes also received additional water damage from roof damage, so that roofs also needed to be replaced or repaired.
In coastal communities, such as Gulfport and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, buildings were entirely demolished by storm surges. Similarly, many apartments and public housing buildings were closed due to storm damage. Large buildings that sustained significant water damage, including apartment complexes, often require extensive rebuilding and a mold-removal process known as "mold remediation" before they can be rendered safe enough for habitation. With the housing shortage, leasing rates for apartments have become so prohibitively high that most working class storm victims cannot afford them. Without FEMA trailers, some people who do not own or rent homes would be unable to find any form of housing within the disaster area.
Extensive flooding in the summer of 2006 in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey also led to FEMA trailers being made available in the region. Trailers were installed relatively quickly, about a month or six weeks after the flooding, and response times from FEMA for repairs has been extremely quick.
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