We’re already into the third week of June and there are still people in the Cayman Islands living in trailers.
No, we’re not talking about mobile homes, which aren’t allowed in the Cayman Islands.
We’re talking about the trailers brought in from the United States’ Federal Emergency Management Agency in January 2005 to be used as temporary housing for folks who lost their homes in Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Government made an exception to its no mobile homes rule and adopted an exit plan promising the people of the Cayman Islands the FEMA trailers would be gone within 24 months.
The exit plan was dismissed in June 2006 because people were living in the homes as an alternative to affordable housing.
There are 83 of the trailers.
When the FEMA trailers were brought in they were touted for their ability to withstand winds up to 75 miles an hour.
Those of us who were here during Hurricane Ivan know winds were between 145 to 165 miles an hour and it is widely accepted that winds were stronger.
There is a reason mobile homes are not allowed in the Cayman Islands.
They’re not safe.
Sure, the people living in them can evacuate to shelters, but shelter space this hurricane season is lacking.
There are 36,000 FEMA trailers that are occupied in the Gulf Coastal states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida in the United States. Those folks are being told they’ll be the first to be evacuated in the threat of a storm.
But they’re also told to make an inventory of their personal belongings in the trailers because emergency management officials know the trailers will be wiped off the map in a big storm.
The thing about living in the Gulf Coastal states is that you can get in a vehicle and drive north to a safe place of refuge when a storm threatens.
You don’t have that luxury on an island.
We know there are a lot of agencies involved with the people who live in the trailers in the Cayman Islands and with the trailers themselves.
But someone has to come up with a solution to get those people out of those tin cans before a big storm comes.
Trailers can become airborne missiles in a strong hurricane, damaging property, or worse, killing people.
Related Videos
