Officials question FEMA trailer numbers

MIAMI, May 21 (UPI) -- Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives have questioned whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough new housing trailers.

U.S. Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., have questioned FEMA official Phil May's assertion the federal agency has an adequate number of new FEMA trailers for emergency situations, The Miami Herald said Wednesday.

''We have sufficient travel trailers in place to meet the need if sites are available," May said of the trailers set to be ready for service by the June 1 start of hurricane season.

Norton said in a May 1 hearing of a congressional subcommittee oversees FEMA she wanted an official count of new trailers within a 30-day period.

Diaz-Balart has also questioned if the FEMA trailers would represent adequate housing services for those impacted by natural disasters such as a hurricane.

''I don't think we are where we need to be in a lot of areas, including housing,'' Diaz-Balart told the Herald. "I'm not at this stage confident that we have enough.''

"There is a stockpile. The question is, is it enough for a big storm in a populated place such as South Florida?''