Two-year ordeal is over for residents of flooded-out house

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Two-year ordeal is over for residents of flooded-out house

Ten groups will rebuild family home

By KAREN NELSON

Klnelson@...

http://www.sunherald.com/201/story/157303.html

MOSS POINT --

Dora Langham and her brother watched Thursday as crews demolished their family

home on Mayo Street. A collection of 10 recovery groups has pledged to help them

rebuild.

Two years after Katrina flooded the house, with them in it, Langham, 63, and her

brother Big Langham, 53, will move out. Big is mentally handicapped,

so it will be a stretch for him to make such a dramatic change, but they

couldn't live there any longer.

Langham said she had been trying since Katrina to find help. She and her brother

were rejected for a FEMA trailer and homeowner grants because the house is

co-owned by members of the family. So they aired it out and moved back in with

the damaged roof covered, the shifted floor, the bathroom separated from its

plumbing, the mold and the wet carpet.

The smell had gotten so bad that they just greeted visitors on the porch, she

said. " When people came, I didn't invite them in. "

Then in February, Langham went to the neighborhood United Methodist church,

applied to the Disaster Response team, and " God sent me an angel. "

Vickie White took on Langham's case. She took it to Rebuild County, the

long-term recovery agency for the county which in turn shopped it around to the

various volunteer and disaster response options.

The result, says with Rebuild, was the collection of help that

will have the house reconstructed, hopefully by early next year.

" It's a shame that we have a sign that shows 10 organizations to get the job

done, " said Thursday, pointing to a sign in the yard. One agency will

provide the labor and another some of the supplies.

But she said that a new campaign called " Finish The Job " could make it easier to

coordinate recovery for homeowners like Langham.

It's a national effort coordinated by the state to collect $1 per American and

make it easier to bring recovery to Katrina victims like Langham who have

quietly been overlooked.

Langham, sitting on an ice chest in her front yard and watching as the large

piece of machinery brought down the roof, said it was sad to see the family home

of 40 years demolished.

" She made the best of it, " said. " Even though the house was the way it

was, it was still home. "

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