20 years after Katrina, a Mississippi town is still waiting on FEMA funding to rebuild
Biloxi, Mississippi — Twenty years ago Friday, Katrina made its second and most destructive U.S. landfall, coming ashore just southeast of New Orleans as a Category 3 hurricane.
While the damage and destruction left by Katrina in 2005 changed New Orleans forever, the storm surge and powerful winds also left a lasting blow to other parts of the Gulf Coast, including Alabama and Mississippi.
Two decades later, Biloxi, Mississippi, is still trying to rebuild. Mayor Andrew "FoFo" Gilich says it has been a constant battle with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over funding.
To rebuild the city's pier stronger than before, the city says it needs $4 million. Gilich says FEMA has proposed a different number: $555,000.
"$555,000, which in my mind is absolutely ridiculous, you can't build anything with that," Gilich told CBS News.
The biggest unfinished project, though, has been upgrades to the city's sewage and stormwater system in order to better protect Biloxi from the next monster storm.
"We can't bid these last two projects unless we have assurance of funding," Gilich said.
Gilich said FEMA still owes Biloxi $34 million to finish work planned about 20 years ago. FEMA won't pay it until Biloxi begins the work on the final phase, but Gilich says he doesn't want to start something he knows he won't be able to afford to finish. The mayor said as time has passed, the cost of supplies and labor has outpaced the original estimates.
Gilich says the city now needs $111 million to finish the project, but FEMA has denied his request for more money — twice.
"I'm not bashful, and they [FEMA] understand, you know, where our concern is," said Gilich, who described the way he feels his city has been treated by FEMA as "just ridiculous."
Biloxi submitted a second appeal to FEMA this summer.
Over the years, FEMA has tried to claw back some of the money provided for earlier phases of the sewage system upgrades, claiming that the city has not used the federal money it has received appropriately. Biloxi and FEMA reached a court settlement over those concerns a few years ago.
Gilich says FEMA's allegations are "not right."
"Bottom line, I'm here to say we've done everything we could possibly do," Gilich added.
In documentation Biloxi provided to CBS News, FEMA's denial this summer of Biloxi's request was due to the fact that the city, "has not provided documentation substantiating the reasonableness of the costs claimed or demonstrating any errors or omission in the approved ... cost estimate requiring adjustment of the costs agreed upon."
Biloxi is not alone in its struggles with FEMA. CBS News found 254 other FEMA Katrina relief projects through the agency that were designed to help municipalities across Louisiana and Mississippi that still aren't done.
Gilich said the experience is "almost like dealing with insurance agents. The delay, depose and deny."
Complicating matters is the Trump administration's efforts to potentially overhaul FEMA, and controversy over cuts to some disaster mitigation grants, among other funding changes. CBS News reported in May that FEMA has lost about one-third of its staff through a combination of firings and buyouts.
And earlier this week, a group of 181 current and former FEMA officials signed on to an open letter that said the White House's changes to the agency could undo decades of reforms that were enacted post-Katrina. More than 20 employees who publicly signed their names to the letter have since been suspended.
In May, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testified before Congress about her plans to improve the agency's processes.
"We still have claims outstanding in FEMA from Hurricane Katrina," Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, said. "Wildfire claims from out West that are 10 years old, where people said, 'We have this claim, this loss. FEMA committed to pay it and still has not followed through on it.' We saw political targeting that happened in North Carolina, where individuals within FEMA decided who could get help and who didn't get help. So that needs to end. And this needs some integrity to it and making sure the federal government is there for support, but [that] the states are empowered to do the emergency response is very important to President Trump."
Gilich has traveled to D.C. three times already this year to advocate for his city. He said he's feeling cautiously optimistic that the funding will eventually come through and the rebuilding process will be complete within about three years.
"The end result is righteous," Gilich said. "It's going to be something that we can sustain a lot of the things, you know, as far as what Mother Nature throws at us."
In a statement provided to CBS News Thursday in response to a question about those communities who say they are still waiting on post-Katrina funding, a FEMA spokesperson said, in part, that "it's ridiculous, unacceptable, and absurd that FEMA is still working and processing claims from a disaster that happened 20 years ago. This is an example of unnecessary red tape and a broken government agency that does not work in the best interest of the American people. We're moving away from the bloated, DC-centric model of the past and creating a lean, fast, and effective disaster response agency focusing on empowering states and local communities to lead the way in helping their citizens, with FEMA standing ready to support."
The spokesperson noted that the FEMA Review Council, established by President Trump in January, "is conducting a thorough review to ensure FEMA delivers swift, effective disaster response for Americans."
That council is expected to release a final report with "actionable recommendations," the spokesperson said.
The FEMA spokesperson also added that, "To date, FEMA has provided impacted states with significant federal assistance, including over $6.6 billion in Individual Assistance – which includes money for rent, basic home repairs and other disaster-caused needs – and over $17.1 billion in Public Assistance reimbursements has been approved for recovery projects like rebuilding roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure."