NEW ORLEANS — The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday that it will step up efforts to move Gulf Coast hurricane victims out of more than 35,000 trailers because tests indicate some of the temporary homes contain high levels of formaldehyde.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fumes from 519 tested trailer and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi were — on average — about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes.
FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison and CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said at a news conference that they hope to get people out of the trailers before the warm summer months, when heat and a lack of ventilation in the trailers could make formaldehyde accumulations worse.
Gerberding said that about 5 percent of the trailers had levels high enough to cause breathing problems even in people who do not ordinarily have respiratory trouble. Trailer occupants will be moved to apartments or hotels. If necessary, sturdier mobile homes — pretested for formaldehyde — will be used, Paulison said.
Even as it began a rush to move out thousands of victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, FEMA said it is sticking with plans to distribute mobile homes to victims of recent tornadoes. Thousands of FEMA trailers were intended for hurricane victims but have sat vacant at the Hope, Ark., airport. Paulison said workers would air out mobile homes at Hope for up to two weeks and later test them.
