Ross: We Must Prevent What Happened in Arkansas From Happening Again

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Mike Ross (AR-04) Thursday called on FEMA to cut through bureaucratic red tape and start fulfilling its duty of helping those in need after a disaster strikes.

Ross secured the hearing after the lack of a federal response due to the devastating storms and tornadoes that ravaged Desha County, Arkansas, on February 24, 2007.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe testified as a witness on the panel which testified before the Committee. Ross made his remarks at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing entitled: "Disaster Declarations: Where is FEMA in a Time of Need?"

"I am frustrated with the massive bureaucracy involved in simply helping people in an emergency situation, which is what FEMA is supposed to be in the business of doing," Ross said. "It is astounding to me that for 13 days hard working families in my district had no where to live and yet, 160 miles away 8,420 new, fully furnished never used mobile homes sat untouched."

The tornadoes that passed through Desha County, Arkansas, destroyed or heavily damaged more than 150 homes; caused up to 800 people to be out of work because more than 25 businesses were destroyed or heavily damaged; required the Governor to send in the National Guard to enforce security and for clean up purposes; and forced the town to be without electrical power for six days. In this small town, with a population of more than 5,000, this level of damage and destruction has been overwhelming.

"I want to use this hearing as an opportunity to improve this process for the next town that is forced to deal with a natural disaster that might not rise to the level of a ‘federal disaster'," Ross said. "I hope to enact legislation that will empower FEMA or some other federal agency to distribute these surplus homes in a timely manner to the people who so desperately need them in the direct aftermath of a natural disaster."

In the days and weeks after the devastating tornadoes, Ross called on President Bush, Director of FEMA David Paulison and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to declare Desha County a Federal Disaster Area and to move 150 of the 8,420 new, fully furnished mobile homes sitting less than three hours away at a FEMA staging area in Hope, Arkansas, for displaced storm victims. It took two weeks before FEMA would respond to these calls and release 30 used manufactured homes to the state of Arkansas.

Ross was given special consideration to sit on the House Committee on Homeland Security for the hearing by Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (MS-02).

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