The FEMA City Episode Sept. 14, 2006 - Indiantown, Florida, USA - Heritage Park residents Denise Jones, center, and neighbors Sarah Chandler, right, and ChandlerÕs daughter Deluxious Chandler, 20, left, all live in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers. They have to move out of their trailers and are unsure where to live. When the government opened the gates of this sprawling trailer city in 2004, victims of Hurricane Charley came streaming in. What was supposed to be temporary housing by law federal emergency housing is supposed to last only 18 months quickly turned into a full-fledged city with all the troubles of city life. Drug use and domestic violence were common. In three days, the government says it will end its commitment to this troubled place that 109 people still call home. The 90-acre trailer park, at one time the largest emergency trailer site in the country, is all but certain to remain open even after FEMA has withdrawn its support. Today, the park is finally peaceful, but desolate. ItÕs silent but for the sounds of cars buzzing down nearby Interstate 75, and the stray dogs barking into the night. People rarely leave their trailers or talk with each other.
Picture © David Spencer/The Palm Beach Post/ZUMA