EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — When floodwaters knocked out the water treatment plant in Mason City, Iowa, FEMA rolled into town and promptly set up an account with a Pepsi bottler to supply bottled water. Then FEMA officials moved into a vacant store and began handing out the stuff.
“We saw different FEMA people in and out,” said City Administrator Brent Trout. “We really started seeing FEMA people showing up to see what was going on in town and putting out the word on flood assistance.”
Nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina turned FEMA into a punch line, many homeowners, politicians and community leaders in the flood-stricken Midwest say that so far, the agency is doing a heck of a job — and they mean it.
Up and down the Big Muddy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is being commended.
“The lessons we learned from Katrina we’ve taken very seriously,” said Glenn Cannon, FEMA assistant administrator for disaster operations.
After Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, FEMA came into New Orleans late and unprepared, and it soon became a symbol of government bungling. President Bush’s compliment to FEMA Director Michael Brown — “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job!” — became a joke.
Now, storms and flooding in the upper Midwest have left 24 people dead, driven tens of thousands from their homes and caused billions of dollars in damage.
After the rain started falling in early June, FEMA arrived with 13 million sandbags to pile onto the levees, 200 generators, and 30 trucks to haul off debris. Across the upper Midwest, the agency has delivered nearly 3.6 million liters of water and 192,000 ready-to-eat meals. About 650 inspectors are working in Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin alone.
The agency has already handed out $81 million in housing assistance funds, said Carlos Castillo, a FEMA official.
Still, FEMA’s grades are not report-card perfect. Mike and Jeanna White had deep floodwaters in the first floor of their Cedar Rapids home, so they called FEMA. More than a week later, they had heard nothing back.
