Water Log 18.3

FEMA Assists Alabama and Mississippi after Georges Batters Coasts

Kristen M. Fletcher, J.D., LL.M.

In the early morning hours of Monday, September 28, Hurricane Georges made landfall at Ocean Springs, Mississippi, with wind gusts up to 125 miles per hour, dumping heavy rains along the Gulf Coast. President Clinton responded by declaring an emergency in both Alabama and Mississippi, ordering Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts along the coast.

The declaration of emergency authorizes action by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster relief efforts, alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the disaster on the local population. Authorized under the Stafford Act in 1974, FEMA provides assistance for emergency measures necessary to save lives, protect public property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in coastal and nearby counties.¹ Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide, at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the disaster. Federal assistance and emergency protective measures supplement state and local efforts and are provided for the first 72 hours at 100% Federal funding and debris removal at 75% Federal funding.

Damage reports from both states highlighted the need for assistance. In Pascagoula, Mississippi, the area hardest hit by the storm, commercial buildings looked like they had been "shattered by a bomb," as reported by CNN. ² The winds and rain of Georges pounded Pascagoula for over 12 hours, causing power outages and tornadoes. The eye of the hurricane traveled over the city of Biloxi which received winds up to 105 miles per hour during the height of the storm. The majority of Biloxi residents evacuated, leaving the casino barges and hotels that line the shore boarded up to survive the storm waters. The barrier islands took a beating as well. Tidal surges from Hurricane Georges created another 3/4-mile wide cut in Ship Island, a smaller cut in Horn Island, and washed away nearly a mile of Petit Bois Island.

To the east, the city of Mobile received over 30 inches of rain, raising water in the heart of the business district to over four feet. Even after Georges was downgraded to a tropical storm, the threat of flash flooding continued because many of the rivers and creeks in southern Alabama drain into the Mobile Bay. Inland areas required assistance as well: Interstate 10, the major east-west highway that runs well inland along the Mississippi and Alabama coasts, was washed out near the Alabama line.

In preparation for Georges, FEMA deployed emergency workers, flying in search-and-rescue and medical teams and positioning emergency equipment such as generators, water pumps, sandbags, tents, cots, and plastic sheeting used to cover houses whose roofs are ripped off. In recovery efforts, James Lee Witt, Director of FEMA, stated that "What's important now as we rebuild in high-risk areas is that you look at those high-risk areas, and you look at how to rebuild or not rebuild in those areas." ³

Hurricane Georges will have a lasting impact on Pascagoula even after repairs are complete. In October, 1997, FEMA chose Pascagoula as one of seven cities to be part of a pilot program named Project Impact. Project Impact is a FEMA initiative designed to help build "disaster resistant communities." Community officials are trained in order to plan for better and more efficient recoveries after storms. As part of the program, Pascagoula was initially given a million dollars in Federal money to go toward hurricane preparedness. The city's first task was to commission a risk assessment survey to find what parts of the city would be greatest at risk in a hurricane. Surveyors delivered the report to city leaders ten days before Hurricane Georges came ashore.
 

NOTES

1. Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C. § 5121 (1998).

2. CNN Worldview Transcript, September 30, 1998.

3. CNN Worldview Transcript, September 29, 1998.
 
 

University of Mississippi