AP: FEMA Underestimated Katrina Repair Costs

[Eugene]

FEMA Underestimated Katrina Repair Costs

By MICHELLE ROBERTS
The Associated Press
Friday, September 22, 2006; 2:22 PM

NEW ORLEANS -- Many initial estimates by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency of the cost of repairing thousands of water-logged buildings, cracked
pipes and crumbling streets in hurricane-staggered Louisiana were way too low
_ and some reconstruction projects are being held up because of it.

Some local governments say they cannot legally or financially hire contractors
and get on with the work, because they fear they will be saddled with repair
costs that won't be reimbursed by Washington.

The FEMA estimates were made as part of a federal program under which local
governments make repairs at their own expense, then ask for reimbursement
from the federal government.

The low-ball estimates were done by sometimes-inexperienced estimators hurriedly
hired and trained by FEMA in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,
which struck last summer and fall. Often, the estimates were based on the
much-cheaper, pre-storm costs of labor and equipment.

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Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092200816.html