Orange County still has more than 300 FEMA trailers serving as houses for people displaced by the Tropical Storm Harvey Flood. County Emergency Management Director Joel Ardoin said the county is requesting an extension of the deadline to use the trailers.
The deadline has been extended several times and is now February 28. In addition, the county is asking to let the rural people buy their trailers.
Ardoin said the Texas General Land Office, which is overseeing federal Harvey recovery in the state, asked if the county needed the extension for the trailers. In addition, the GLO wanted to know if the county wanted to allow the program that lets people with the FEMA trailers purchase them.
“We still have 300-plus-something FEMA trailers out there,” Ardoin said. So the county is asking for the extension.
If FEMA approves letting people buy their trailers, residents in the rural, unincorporated areas of the county will be able to still use them on their land. Ardoin said the trailers will be allowed in the areas expect in special flood hazard areas.
Cities have their own rules regulating the use of trailers. The Orange City Council has allowed FEMA trailers for periods after Harvey.
Ardoin said after Hurricane Ike 10 years ago, people who bought their FEMA trailers often used them as camps at lakes.
On Tuesday, the county’s office for the Homeowner Assistance Program will be open at the Expo Center on FM 1442 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The office will continue to be open for those hours on Tuesdays through Thursdays until further notice.
Ardoin said the program allows qualified homeowners to have their flooded homes repaired or, if needed, demolished and replaced with a new house.
Orange County is in the region with Jefferson and Hardin counties. Ardoin said 191 people in the region have already filed for the program, which is on a first-come, first-serve basis as long as the grant money is available.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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