Hello and welcome

FEMA arrived in St. John the Baptist Parish yesterday. For the first time.

My parish president announced today that if the thousands of FEMA trailers that are just sitting there aren't moved very soon, he will take parish law enforcement officers with him and commandeer them.

A woman called in to the radio station to say that she had no walls or floors in her house. The FEMA adjuster came out to inspect it, then she was told she was getting a check for $5,200. When she called FEMA to ask if there had been a mistake, she was told by the FEMA staffer that there was no mistake. However, the staffer failed to explain that an SBA loan would be on the way--instead, she told the caller that she shouldn't expect to be living "in the lap of luxury."

Traffic is horrendous around here. We have a lot of new temporary residents and at least one major artery to New Orleans is still closed. Very few telephones work all the time, and those have buzzing and static. Either an electric company or telephone company truck came by today and knocked our mailbox down. Everyone in the parish looks dazed and confused. There is still tree debris everywhere, but now it is stacked neatly on the street.