WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A judge has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to keep paying hotel bills for thousands of hurricane evacuees until Feb. 27.
That gives those displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita up to three extra weeks to find permanent shelter, The New York Times says.
The ruling requires FEMA also to continue paying those bills for evacuees in New Orleans and its suburbs for two additional days, through Mardi Gras.
The order comes as some New Orleans hotels have told evacuees to make way for tourists who long ago booked rooms for the annual Mardi Gras celebration.
Meanwhile, FEMA increased its count of people displaced from the Gulf Coast to about 2 million, an increase of nearly one-third, The Washington Post said.
FEMA says it is paying rental assistance to 685,635 families whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the Aug. 29 and Sept. 24 storms, an increase of 167,000, or 32 percent, over a month ago.
