Weeks after record flooding in RI, FEMA says some 2,000 still cannot return to homes
By APFriday, April 23, 2010
About 2,000 in RI still homeless after floods
WARWICK, R.I. — For many Rhode Islanders impacted by last month’s flooding, home is a hotel room, extra space at a relative’s house or maybe even their cars.
A spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency tells the Providence Journal that about 2,000 residents in the state still haven’t been able to return to their flood-damaged homes.
The agency says it is providing housing assistance to many of those people, but some complain of being caught in an endless maze of red tape and insurance forms.
Judy Jacques-Perez is staying at a Holiday Inn Express in Warwick. She says it’s the third hotel she’s lived at since the Pocasset River spilled over its banks and left nearly six feet of water in her home.
State officials say total damage from the record flooding will exceed $200 million.
Information from: The Providence Journal, www.projo.com/
