Katrina Claims Shows Pattern of Questionable Payments

'It was Christmas'

With hundreds of thousands forced from homes battered by Hurricane Katrina, the federal government cut red tape to rush $2,000 checks and debit cards to help victims pay for clothes, food, transportation and a place to live.

The Federal Emergency Man agement Agency intended the aid for displaced Gulf Coast families and limited it to one payment per household. But in three Louisiana parishes, FEMA issued more checks than there are households, at a cost to taxpayers of at least $70 million, a South Florida Sun-Sentinel investigation has found.

Read full story (free registration required).

Tension: 50
Gravity: 100

Topics: News, Gulf Coast, Mobile Alabama, Hurricane, Katrina