FEMA offers Joplin tornado victims existing homes

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Some of the people left homeless by the Joplin tornado could be placed in rental homes nearly an hour's drive away, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday it will consider bringing in trailers, as it did for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, if enough homes are not available.

FEMA's first option for housing the thousands of displaced is to find them existing rental housing within a 55-mile radius of Joplin, because isn't much housing left in in the city of nearly 50,000 residents that was left badly damaged by the May 22 tornado, spokeswoman Susie Stonner said. Nearly a third of the city was damaged by the violent storm that left killed more than 130 people. Twenty-nine people remained unaccounted for Monday.

Stonner said that despite the distance, putting people in permanent housing is preferable to trailers -- especially in an area prone to tornadoes and severe weather.

"Wouldn't you prefer to be in a stable building over a mobile home?" she said.

Stonner also noted that getting things like water, sewer lines and developing pads for trailers would take substantial time.

Temporary housing will be made available for up to 18 months. Some people along the Gulf Coast still live in FEMA trailers nearly six years after Hurricane Katrina.

Another FEMA spokesman, Bob Josephson, said the agency will consider bringing trailers to Joplin if enough existing housing isn't available. He said every effort will be made to find existing rental units closest to Joplin and that many residents may simply choose to find their own housing options.

People who lived in the 8,000 structures smashed in the storm have scattered to the homes of friends and relatives or camped out in emergency shelters in the city. Some may leave town -- New Orleans lost nearly one-third of its population after Katrina.

Penny Musgraves is happy -- and almost surprised -- to be alive. But for Musgraves, whose low-income townhouse was ripped away above her head as she protected her cowering 6-year-old daughter, the joy of surviving is beginning to give way to confusion and anxiety about the future.

"I'm kind of scared," said the 45-year-old mother, who is unemployed and currently living with her daughter at the Red Cross shelter set up at Missouri Southern State University. "There isn't much low-income housing. I can't rent a place. I don't know what I'm going to do."

While many of the survivors had insurance, it could be months, if not years, before they can rebuild. Removing the millions of tons of debris and remaking the city's destroyed infrastructure will likely take well into the summer if not longer.

Rebuilding homes can't start until that work is finished.

For low-income residents, the Housing Authority of Joplin provides some housing. But it was not known how many, if any, of the homeless it can accommodate.

Recent history suggests many people won't be able to wait for the answers to emerge or for the rebuilding to be completed. The current population could drop substantially.

New Orleans lost 29 percent of its population after Hurricane Katrina as residents left and settled elsewhere. Greensburg, Kan., which was leveled by a tornado in 2007, lost about half its population even though the town was rebuilt. It dropped from 1,574 before the tornado to 777 in 2010.

At the Red Cross shelter, 150 people seemed grateful for the cot, warm food and donations of clothing. Many were trying to figure out where to go next.

Ask 64-year-old William Whittenback where his home is, and he has a quick answer. "Plum off the map," the retiree said.

Whittenback and his 67-year-old wife, Lorna, narrowly made it through the tornado. The roof of the home they've lived in for 15 years collapsed, leaving Lorna with a massive gash on her forehead and her cheeks black and blue. Every house in their neighborhood was a total loss.

The couple has insurance, and Whittenback said he'll rebuild in the same spot. With no family in the area, though, he's wondering where they can live until then.

The weather brought Gerry Guitierrez to Joplin. Now it's forcing him to leave.

"What brought me here? Snow," said Guitierrez, a 29-year-old massage therapist who arrived in Missouri just last month from San Banito, Texas. "I love the cold weather and the snow. I wanted to stay. Now I've got to come up with the money to go back."

Guitierrez lived in an apartment with a friend. But since his friend's name was on the lease, not his, he doubts that FEMA will provide for him since he wasn't a registered resident of Joplin.

"How does it feel being homeless? Honestly, horrible," he said. "It's just so bad."