FEMA Responds to Emergency, Homeowners' Claims

June 20, 2008 — -- As President Bush flew over the flood-ravaged Midwest today in a helicopter tour of the area, the views he took in were nearly as awe-inspiring as they are devastating.

Entire towns, now evacuated, sleep soundly under the rushing mighty Mississippi or Iowa Rivers. Thousands of acres of crops, usually swayed only by the wind, are now pushed about by the water's current. More than one levee was breached today and over two dozen more are still in danger.

Yet when President Bush disembarked from Air Force One in Iowa today, he smiled and looked at ease. According to a recent Federal Emergency Management Agency teleconference, there may be reason behind his composure.

"The FEMA of today is not the FEMA of 2005. We took the lessons of Katrina and applied them," said Glenn Cannon, assistant administrator in the Disaster Operations Directorate of FEMA. "We have risen to the level that the public expects from us."

Though the flooding crisis is more than a week old, FEMA officials claim that their agency is now an "active" agency rather than "reactive," citing the 3.6 million liters of drinking water, nearly 200,000 Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) and nearly 13 million sandbags FEMA and its partners have deployed in flooded or endangered areas. And more are on the way.

According to David Garratt, FEMA deputy assistant administrator, more than 33,000 applications for individual assistance have been filed with FEMA, each of which received an answer in an average of "10 seconds or less."

Though the agency has to balance reconstructive operations in areas that have already been flooded with emergency response operations in endangered areas downstream, Garratt is confident in the future.

"We have met every requirement. There have been no shortfalls," Garratt said. "We think we're going to be able to meet whatever requirements that are going to emerge."

Additionally, on Wednesday, Congress agreed to allocate $2 billion in disaster relief for those hit hardest by the flooding.

Garratt also emphasized the value of individual contributions in greatly assisting FEMA in emergency response, and especially in meeting the demand for temporary housing.