Un-Installed FEMA TRAILERS In Storage Yard in Purvis Mississippi Photo Gallery by Paul Kalich at pbase.com

Un-Installed FEMA TRAILERS In Storage Yard in Purvis Mississippi

OK Folks, this should really make you madder than a wet hen. FEMA has 3 storage yards, this one in Purvis with over 18,000 trailers, one in Hope Arkansas with 10,500+ trailers and a third yard in Mississippi with around 3,500 trailers (numbers given to me by a source that I wish not to disclose but after seeing the Purvis yard I believe him completly and he is mad about it too). Between the three yards there are several HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS OF TRAILERS JUST SETTING THERE WAITING TO BE DISPATCHED AND INSTALLED. THEY ARE FULLY EQUIPPED, down to Coffee Makers/TV Sets some have DVD Players,Microwaves, all have Bedding, Cookware, Furniture etc for people to walk into with clothes and food to set up their house after a disaster (description of what was in the trailers given to me by various people in the area who either had gotten a trailer themselves or had friends/family get a trailer).

SO WHY ARE THEY SETTING THERE AND NOT BEING GIVEN TO PEOPLE TO LIVE IN?

I was in some areas where Shrimper and Fish boat operators lived and their homes were wiped out to the bare piers (see some of the Bay St Lious and St Bernards Parrish photos) and the people are living in the cabins of their SHRIMP BOATS! I kept seeing cabins with curtains in them and at first it didn't make sense why would a SHRIMP BOAT have curtains in all the windows and then it hit me that people were living in them and they are maybe 10-14 ft wide, 7 ft high and maybe 10 ft deep on the bigger boats and FAMILIES ARE BEING FORCED TO LIVE IN THEM BECAUSE FEMA WOULD NOT SUPPLY TRAILERS THAT WERE LESS THAN 60 MILES OR SO AWAY. Purvis is just west of I-59 south of Hattiesburg.

Oh you say, FEMA says that they don't have all of these trailers! Well here is their little trick! They have contracted with a company to install them and when the trailers were delivered they transferred ownership of the trailers to this other company but this company can't install them until FEMA SAYS WHERE TO PLACE THEM. When I took this pictures in Feb that company had people installing trailers DAILY STILL which was 535 DAYS AFTER THE STORM, these crews were working past 10PM doing installations but I do not know how many crews are operating.

Also the way the FEMA CONTRACTS WERE WRITTEN people in most cases will have to turn their trailers back to FEMA after either 18 or 24 months after the trailers were delivered, so crews that were installing units will be removing them since the disconnection of electrical and plumbing and site tear down is a complex also. Well looking at the conditions of much of the area the homes have not been repaired to a state where people can move back since roofing, and other crews have not made a large dent in the damages doneby Katrina so these people are facing a ticking clock that is at it's last minutes now. There are NO APARTMENTS FOR THE PEOPLE TO MOVE INTO unless you want to pay $700 a month or more for a unit that was under $450 before the storm if you can even find one! Some apartment rents more than doubled! We are talking about rates that a person/couple working for under $10 an hour can afford which is what most jobs in the area were paying before Katrina. Even the people who are working in the refineries who made substantially more are still living in Katrina Villages because they have not been able to get their homes repaired. So FEMA SAYS YOU CAN'T HAVE A TRAILER because they don't have them but here is proof that they have almost 30,000 trailers in three yards (I have a witness who has seen the HOPE storage yard).

SO WHY HAS CONGRESS LET THIS CRAP GO ON?

THESE TRAILERS RUN ON AVERAGE OVER $30,000 x 30,000= NINE HUNDRED MILLION OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS BEING THROWN AWAY! IN FACT FEMA HAS BEEN PUTTING OUT FALSE RUMOURS THAT THE TRAILERS HAVE BEEN STRIPPED OF COPPER PIPING-never had copper in them it is all butalene and PVC, that their wiring has been stripped-same thing aluminum wiring in the majority of the units- that they are rotting- do they look rotting in the pictures? SEE FEMA WANTS TO DESTROY ALL OF THEM ON SITE SO THAT WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT THERE SCREW UP! IF THEY SOLD THEM ON THE MARKET, which the old govt disaster agency used to do after reclaiming them- THEY WOULD FLOOD THE MARKET and get all sorts of people attention!

THIS SHOULD GET YOU ON YOUR PHONE ASKING YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND SENATORS TO LOOK INTO THIS BOONDOGGLE!

I will be doing further digging into the subject when I return to the area in a few weeks time.

I would like to add that Yes the Govt should have some staging areas with trailers ready to be taken to new disaster victims but the main point that I am trying to put across is that the GOVT did not and is not helping the victims of KATRINA the way that they should.

Some of the trailers that have been returned are being sold out of the Hope Arkansas location at the site
http://search.gsaauctions.gov go to the trailer/truck section and currently the Hope trailers are listed towards the end.
Nov 2009 Update, I don't know if these trailers are still there now or not nor how many of the returned ones are still up for sale. I've heard that the New Orleans Times Picayune and the Ne York Times has had a few stories over the last few months about about some crooked dealings about these trailers and where large sums of money (hundreds of millions) were skimmed from the taxpayers pockets because of graft and other illegal actions involving these trailers. This is a bigger mess than most even thought it was back two years ago and the layers are being peeled back to show how crooked it was and still is. (ie where some handicapped veterans were given some contracts but the veteran was just a front person who then was paid off and the contracts actually went to companies that would have had to have bid less for the contracts that they worked on-see the handicap veterans didn't have to got through the low bid process that normal contracts went through.)
On 11-25-09 these newer FEMA trailers (look more like houses on wheels than fifth wheels) are being sold from a lot in east texas
http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucindx/
Turns out that FEMA is selling off 470 of these trailers in one lot this week (11-30-09) so all that money went to waste since they will most likely go for nothing per unit.

3-10-10 UPDAte!!!!!!

I BELIEVE FEMA HAS SOLD ALL OF THE TRAILERS OFF OF THE LOT AT AUCTION AT THE END OF 2009!!!!!!!!

Approaching Purvis Mississippi FEMA Storage Yard next to I-59	Approaching Purvis Mississippi FEMA Storage Yard next to I-59	Approaching Purvis Mississippi FEMA Storage Yard next to I-59	Approaching Purvis Mississippi FEMA Storage Yard next to I-59	Approaching Purvis Mississippi FEMA Storage Yard next to I-59
Approaching Purvis Mississippi FEMA Storage Yard next to I-59	Storage Yard Entrance-Notice 6 ft barbwire topped security fence	On the west side of the storage yard-most trailers were to the east and south	Trailers going down the hills to the right area is about 1/2 by 1/2 miles in size	More
FEMA Travel Trailer Delivery Here- not travel trailers at all but housing for Katrina Victims	Close up of FEMA sign	Distance shot-see trailers down the hills to the far right of the photo	Showing the relationship of the FEMA sign and driveway to the Offices in front of the storage yard	GP3Q9748CROPPED.jpg
FEMA Trailers Just Waiting in a Storage Yard to be distributed to Katrina Vicitims	The tower can be seen in other pictures to get a perspective	OVER 18,000 TRAILERS SETTING IN THIS ONE FEMA STORAGE YARD	Trailers just waiting-FEDERAL DOLLARS BEING WASTED!	GP3Q9753.jpg
GP3Q9754.jpg	GP3Q9755.jpg	GP3Q9756.jpg	GP3Q9757.jpg	GP3Q9758.jpg
GP3Q9759.jpg	GP3Q9760.jpg	GP3Q9761.jpg	GP3Q9762.jpg	GP3Q9763.jpg
GP3Q9764.jpg	FEMA through the GSA is selling these trailers now!

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Ty		06-Oct-2011 19:35
This is funny about how much information is not correct. The lot in Purvis had only 2711 units that were all sold at public auction in January 2010 to one buyer. It is true that many of the trailers were missing the elecltricalpower cords for them, but they are an easy repair. approximately $25 for a new power cord. These units do contain approx. 70lbs of copper in each one of them. Some of them had coffee makers, and dvd players but none of them had TV's. FEMA paid between $9000 and $25000 for each one of these from both manufacturers and dealers after Katrina. The "Not to be used for housing" stickers on each trailer is not due to formaldehyde but due to the fact that RV's do not meet HUD specifications for permanent dwellings. The amount of formaldehyde contained in these trailers is no different than the amount of any other trailer on the market, but it is true that formaldehyde exposure can make your eyes burn, and feel sick to your stomach. When a trailer is first built the levels of formaldehyde are at their highest and the trailer should be ventilated when this is the case. The problem was that there were so many people in need of housing after Katrina that people were put into these immediately after construction, and at that time the weather was hot so people were staying inside with the windows closed and subsequently getting exposed to the fumes. By law any government owned property like FEMA trailers, or seized assetts, or anything like that has to be offered to taxpayers in the form of an auction. This is why the government could not simply give, or sell these to the individuals that were living in them. Privatising them and offering them for sale in big lots has actually made it more affordable for individuals to buy them. For example, i tried to buy a trailer recently from the GSA auction site and the price of it went for over $4000. I was able to buy the same trailer from the dealer who bought the Purvis lot for $2500, and it was actually in nicer shape. I found them on-line at www.rvmallofms.com

Paul Kalich PPA member		04-May-2011 04:29
This topic is getting out of date but to let people know that the trailers that had some of the worste problems with excess chemicals in them were coming from the RV makers and even when they were sold off en-mass about a year ago most had notices on them that they were not fit for long term habitation because the chemical content in them exceeded limits that would allow that but FEMA did sell them for short term living or office type use. (IE hunting shacks-construction project offices-etc) This was after the units had been in storage for several YEARS since FEMA overbought the units after Katrina and accepted units that should not have been approved. (have yet heard a good investigative story as to why they allowed such sloppy work to be accepted). Most of the units that were installed and used by the people after the storm were not resold by FEMA but were quitely disposted of (ie crushed) since they did not hold up well at all and many people that did live in them did have various chemically relatted illnesses. Just look at New Orleans Newspapers

Michle		20-Apr-2011 22:28
WhileI agree that this was and is such awaster of our taxpayer dollars, we need to remember that only those trailers contracted by FEMA to be built toFEMA codes are the oes ith higher formaldihyde levels. The travel trailers that FEMA bought from the RV manufacturers are and were ade to the RV industry standards. We need to also remember that almost everything we use today has some chemical in it not good for us. Our housing industry is riddled with formadahyde, do we condemn them?

Guest		29-Mar-2011 19:34
Have a daughter with young child looking for her some thing small for the two and a FEMA trailer would be great any information would greatly be needed jo_heard@yahoo.com Thanks

ron ross		28-Aug-2010 01:56
I see people that has info for good deal's on trailers?? how do we get in touch???

Debbie		24-May-2010 17:33
FEMA will not sell me the travel trailer sitting in my yard since post Katrina. They will let Henderson Auctions buy it for $560.00. In Jan. 2010, Henderson Auctions in Livingston, La. bought 21,0000 FEMA trailers for $560.00 (each) and is reselling them for $2000. - $7000. each. After an exhausting effort to purchase my trailer, I think I am giving in the towel. FEMA has used threats, strong arm tactics and whatever else they can come up with to deny us the ability to buy the trailer. CNN & Fox news needs to get involved with this scandal.

kc		15-Apr-2010 15:27
I would like to purchase a fema T.T. how might I do that?

CF		15-Apr-2010 13:57
The fema trailers are now all sold. My husband transports them to the new buyers. Alot of them have never been lived in. They are very nice trailers along with some are completely destroied by the people who lived in them. So much for the thanks of the free housing they recived after such of a disaster of loosing their homes. We have contacts to get good deals on the trailers if anypne is interested in buying them. But remember you want to ask for class A or B when inquiring about them. They are the better ones. Anyway back to the government, yeah Bush tried thats all i can say about him. But who ever complains about when we try to help people should stop and think about the time they may need some help. Count your bessings and and remember to love thy neighbor.

BDUB		31-Mar-2010 12:42
I came along this blog and thought is was outdated - aparently not since people are still commenting. FEMA trailers cannot be used as dwellings due to unsafe levels of formaldehyde, which causes cancer. According to reports that you can find via a simle Google search, victims of Katrina living in them are getting sick. If you are up on current events, Hati DOESN"T WANT THEM. So if you want to cry about waste, cry about why the goverment would allow such a toxic substance to be used in the manufacture of products. Oh yea - the components containing the formaldehyde were most likely made in China where goods are cheap and standards are non-existant - but stupid americans are willing to buy them in order to save a buck. Thank you Walmart!!! So quit complaining and support America by supporting your countryman and insist on products made in this country. China can poison your children with lead paint on toys and you still buy prodicts made there. Oh but you can't afford anythign else because the goverment is doing this or that... Your government ubder the great G Bush believed in trickle down economics - research that. They allowed the banking industry to engage in risky lending practices and sent this country to war on pure lies! No you say? Where are the WMD's? They were none - but there is a whole lot of oil. That my friends are what your sons and daughters are dying for. But I digress - wnat to buy a used FEMA trailer for 10 bucks?

Harvey		30-Mar-2010 22:56
OK, as of today, virtually all of the FEMA campers in Purvis, MS, have been sold. The remaining are selling today, these are "scrap" trailers. From what I understand, most of the FEMA campers have been bought by dealers who will resale them. How many individuals could buy 200-10,000 campers at one time? Dealers are also buying the scrap trailers, for parts or in hopes of titling and reselling them contrary to FEMA contract. Fema call line stated, erroneously, none were being sold to the public. . . .

BREN		17-Mar-2010 15:49
I just drove by and there are Hundreds of trailers along the road, I actually looked on the internet to see what it was and found your website, WHAT A WASTE.

Neill		07-Mar-2010 16:34
Update: The trailers are not in the Google satellite images, however, if you use the "Street View" option they can bee seen along I59. An earlier comment as to why the government/FEMA will not sell the trailers? (1)The camper trailer lobby is formidable and very influential and (2) they will want future multi million dollar contracts with FEMA for the next disaster.

Neill		07-Mar-2010 16:27
I also have seen, and photographed, the FEMA tailors along I59, though interestingly cannot find them in the aerial photos on Google Maps or Bing. I wonder if the photos have been scrubbed.

Neill		07-Mar-2010 16:24
I also have seen, and photographed, the FEMA tailors along I59, though interestingly cannot find them in the aerial photos on Google Maps or Bing. I wonder if the photos have been scrubbed.

j		20-Feb-2010 02:24
i agree wiyh u 100% marey e shirley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

j		20-Feb-2010 02:20
this is bull give them to people in our own country to use.and not the ones that does not work or freeload ether!give them to the hard working tax payers who works and barely can pay there bills .and to them thats loosing and to about loose everything they have worked for u bunch of dumb as.............!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eloi		06-Feb-2010 23:36
An amazing tale, one of so many. With the $100m a year it took to maintain storage for these trailers for several years, it would have been cheaper to just scrap these two years ago. Simply giving them away would have made for huge savings. More was spent to play this silly game than the original cost of the trailers.

Guest		30-Jan-2010 04:41
The entire site inventory sold tonight for $4,200,300.

Guest		29-Jan-2010 01:30
"TRAILER FOR HAITI" So you want to send non-hurricane proof housing to Haiti, which was hit by 4 hurricanes last year alone? 100% of these would be destroyed by storms in a year, and most of the occupants killed since unlike in the US the units wouldnt be evacuated. More proof of the old saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Richard Reardon		20-Jan-2010 16:51
What the hell. The obvious is before us. I have seen the trailers. I have seen the news. I have done some layman research on the costs of these trailers. It doesn't matter. What matters is what to do with the trailers. The ones with rotting tires and floors, sitting in fields and airport across the South. I have sent e-mails to my sen/cong. people advising them that the $3 billion we spent on these trailer, and the millions we are spending annually for storage, could all be justified by backing up the cargo ships, loading the trailers with supplies, loading onto the cargo ships, with 25 Dodge Dually trucks, and sending them to Haiti. They deserve them. Hot & cold running water, stoves, beds and cable ready. We don't need them. send them to some who will appreciate them. We can't. TRAILER FOR HAITI - TRAILERS FOR HAITI Thats my cause. Get'r done people!!!! Richard Reardon Slidell, la.

MARY E SHIRLEY		25-Nov-2009 20:49
I DO THINK THAT THIS IS A SIN,SIN,SIN,SIN THAT IT IS SO MANY PEOPLE THAT NEED A PLACE TO LAY THERE HEAD AT NIGHT THE TRAILERS ARE SITTING DOWN IN PURVIS . MY SON IS ONE OF THE ONES THAT NEED A PLACE TO LAY HIS HEAD AND SO MANY OTHER SONS DAUGHTERS. I WOULD LIKE TO BUY ONE IF I COULD AFFORD IT FOR MY SON. AGAIN I SAY OUR SYSTEM STICKS!!!!!! MARY EVELYN SHIRLEY

Barbara		05-Jul-2009 15:32
I was also amazed last year when I was in Purvis visiting and took a lot of pictures of the FEMA trailers.I have been in that little area many times over the last fifteen years and am so sad to see that many people still have tarps on their homes and land that was once so dense with trees you couldn't see through them is not being used for the many trailers to house the uncountable numbers of homeless now in that area. This is a poor and depressed area anyway and most of the people work hard and drive long distances to a job that may only pay minimum wage. The one factory close to the area will only hire through a temp agency. It's true that the FEMA trailers sit empty in Purvis when they could be put to good use. I ask why also. Who knows the answer and does our President know that these trailers are sitting there? The people who used them had a limited time they were allowed to stay in them and I don't understand that either. I do want you to know that many people took advantage of this free living situation, did nothing to better their situation while living free and took advantage of any and all financial availability that they could. Many of these trailers were returned filthy, full of smoke residue on the walls, filthy floors and all of the peoples possessions (even pictures, household items and personal documents). I found this interesting that the government didn't keep better watch to see who was worthy of keeping the trailer they were living in because they were trying to better themselves with jobs and keeping their temporary homes clean enough to live in (many were not). Our government really dropped the ball all the way around on Katrina. Rather than give the clean up to local people so they would be paid the government hired it out to big out of state companies(probably some FEMA brother or cousin). What about the people looking for work to support their families that were willing to work? Many are still homeless and jobless or have had to change professions just to get by while working for minimum wage. What about those people? Thanks for making this issue public. As you can tell it is near and dear to my heart (by three little people and a single mom that hasn't been able to find a job and doesn't even have decent transportation to get to a job if she had one). Thanks again!!

blood of isis		22-Apr-2009 05:48
You ask WHY does congress, and the Senate let this happen? i'll tell you why.. because FEMA has the rights to basically do what ever they want.. Here's a list of some of their rights as being FEMA FEDERAL ORDER NUMBER 10990 Allows the government to take control over all modes of transportation, highways, and seaports. 10995 Allows the government to seize and control the communication media. 10997 Allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels, and minerals. 10998 Allows the government to take over all food resources and farms. 11000 Allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision. 11001 Allows the government to take over all health, education, and welfare functions. 11002 Designates the Postmaster General to operate national registration of all persons. 11003 Allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft. 11004 Allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations. 11005 Allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities. 11051 Specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis. 11310 Grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President. 11049 Assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period. 11921 Allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and flow of money in the U.S.A. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months. more information below President Regan signed Presidential Director Number 54 in April of 1984 that allowed FEMA to activate a secret national readiness exercise. This exercise was given the code name REX 84. The purpose of the exercise was to test FEMA's ability to assume military authority. REX 84 was so highly guarded that special metal doors were installed on the fifth floor of the FEMA building in Washington, D.C. The only people that were allowed to enter the premises were ones who had a red Christian cross on their shirt. The exercise required the following..... * Suspension of the Constitution of the United States * Turning control of the government over to FEMA * Appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments * Declaration of Martial Law So how much money goes into an organization like this? Well it has been discovered that FEMA has a quasi-billion dollar budget. However, about 6% of that budget goes into the relief effort. So why is it that they need so much money? Ever wonder where the President goes when it's said he is in a "secure location"? Well most of the time that location is a secret government complex built into a mountain. It is called Mt. Weather.

ML		20-Apr-2009 21:41
It just kills me to know that these trailers are simply sitting, just getting weather beaten, in Purvis. Everytime I ride from Picayune to Hattiesburg, it's a huge, unavoidable reminder of wasteful government spending. Seems like a waiver could be attached to dismiss the manufacturer from any claims related to formaldehyde (no different from regular sized mobile homes) in connection with the temporary granting of these trailers for residential use or otherwise. Many people would actually be willing to purchase one of these trailers simply for recreational use which would at least be some return of taxpayer funds. But, of course, I'm sure the price was inflated 200% at time of purchase or at least as soon as it was known that the US taxpayer was footing the bill. Then, as further insult to injury, add to that the monthly rental charges for storage associated with these thousands of trailers. Talk about pork barrell spending! And people have the nerve to wonder why us commoners are suspicious of government. What a rip-off!

stanley r		12-Jan-2009 22:17
the residents of the pat harrison waterway parks have been evicted as the contract with fema was not renewed, they have been scattered in groups. One group was sent to a commercail trailor park behind the lowes store on upper highway 98 in hattiesburg, some were able to have their trailor moved to family land or were able to find reasonable rent rates on the outskirts of the cities where there respective park was located.at little black creek the remaining resdents(30adults/8children/1baby)were opptamistic untll the last 2 months. One eldely woman through hard work(sweat equity)was able to get a renovated home in hattiesburg through Habbitat for Humanity, her story can be read and veiwed at CNBC.COM by using the sity search engine and entering GIGI BROWN .Some resident were moved to a trailor park about 4-5 miles futher of highway 98 behind the same lowes store(the place was a mud slab, you really needed boots to walk to your your car) some when they got after a while became so frustrated about the conditions and lack of basic security they basically laid down and rolled over and left theit trailors, which was probaly the main idea for using this disgraceful location. Some people have told me that some of them are homeless and staying with family ,friends and aquiatances(renting a room)There were only about 18 occupied trailers in 112 site park, where was the harm in allowing them to stay?

stanley ribet		18-Nov-2008 18:55
stanley r has changed his email address to ribet@att.net and is still looking to hear from fema trailer residents who lived in the "PAT HARRISON" waterway system: LITTLE BLACK CREEK WATERPARK ,PAUL B JOHNSON, FLINT CREEK, BIG CREEK, BIG BEAR,ETC.

stanley r		27-Oct-2007 22:35
i attempted to get one of these phantom trailers from fema when i was sharing a trailer in little black creek waterpark,5 miles outside of purvis, and was turned down because of a 21 year old part time worker for fema who relied on her cousins opinion of me who was also in the park with me, this cousin was addicted to pain killers and was loaded more often than not(which was conveintly over looked),gee i wonder if being black and being from new orleans had anything to do with this(haha-of course it did)this part time worker lasted a few months and then was gone, meanwhile i suffered the repracussions of this personal opinion for over a year before we left the park,one fema agent on the phone told me that know its come down to a cost thing, the trailers in lbc waterpark once they became vacent were hauled of to the stoage site in purvis,amazingly the process began as early as november which was mere months after the storm(WOW)WHEN THERE WAS STILL A SEVERE NEED FOR TRAILERS THAT WERE HOOKED UP,shame on you PAT HARRISON WATERWAY, and FEMA you know what u did at little blackcreek waterpark. i have a ton to say but that all for now because typing this makes me mad. if anyone out there who had a trailer in one of Pat HARRISON WATERWAY park has gone through this please contact me at gribet@earthlink.net for the real low down.

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