FEMA DENIES KATRINA VICTIMS AID

South Floridians whose homes were destroyed or heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina have to look elsewhere for someone to pay their lodging and repair expenses as the Federal Emergency Management Agency has refused their requests.

The same day FEMA denied individual assistance, the agency expanded the amount it plans to reimburse local governments for repairs to public property in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. The assistance to local governments will probably amount to more than $100 million.

FEMA spokeswoman Frances Marine said the agency relied on a combination of factors to determine that South Florida was not hit hard enough to receive the aid, including the fact that about half the damaged properties in Miami-Dade were insured and that damage in Broward was mostly minor.

FEMA’s individual assistance program would have provided up to $26,200 per household to pay for long-term rentals, repairs and temporary stays in hotels. In some cases, FEMA also pays for funerals for storm victims.

Local and state emergency managers said they were told by FEMA officials that the agency denied the aid because the state did not have 800 homes destroyed or severely damaged.