HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) -- Sandra Distefano is living in a shelter six days before her baby girl is due to be born. Like thousands of people in South Florida, Distefano's apartment was damaged by Hurricane Wilma, then ruined by heavy rains that followed.
"I don't know what I'm going to do when the baby comes. The hospital won't let me stay forever," said Distefano, 30, who is living with about 600 people in a shelter in a school gymnasium and auditorium. "I just have to wait."
Distefano and hundreds of others, many of them poor, are in disaster limbo, waiting for temporary housing and other aid from federal officials to arrive. More than 3,500 homes, apartments and condominiums in Broward County were destroyed or deemed unsafe in the aftermath of the Oct. 24 hurricane, officials said.
Broward County Mayor Kristin Jacobs said in an interview Friday that the situation is "frustrating" because the Federal Emergency Management Agency's policy is to provide aid on a case-by-case basis instead of dispatching large numbers of mobile homes immediately or allowing the county to lease apartment space.
"We know there are people who are going to need them," Jacobs said. "Our attitude is, 'just send them down here."'
Jacobs said that as of Friday morning, 25 of Broward County's 31 cities had found locations for temporary mobile home housing. She said FEMA officials told the county there are about 200 mobile units ready to send to Florida, with another 200 nearly ready.
FEMA officials defended the agency's performance, noting that as of Friday about $15.5 million had been approved in Florida for temporary housing, repairs and other needs such as generators, clothing and medical costs. The agency has received about 370,000 aid applications from Wilma, with more help on the way, spokeswoman Frances Marine said.
Marine said mobile home units, like financial assistance, are provided to individuals, not counties or cities. FEMA has been criticized after past storms for lax standards on approving aid and its inspectors must assess each individual's need before approving housing or a check.
"Everyone here is interested in making sure that people have a safe place to stay and that people find long-term housing solutions," Marine said.
A bipartisan group of Florida's congressional delegation thanked FEMA for its actions so far in what they called "this dire situation." But they also urged FEMA Acting Director R. David Paulison in a letter Friday to use county and local inspectors to speed up the review of damage at homes.
Gov. Jeb Bush asked his brother, President Bush, in a letter Friday to order that the federal government pick up a greater share of the costs of hurricane recovery in light of the pummeling Florida has taken in the last 15 months with strikes by eight hurricanes and three tropical storms.
Among the numerous problems facing the state, Gov. Bush wrote, is that "available and affordable housing for our disaster victims is virtually non-existent."
Assistance from whatever source can't come soon enough for people like Rose Taylor, 46, who was living at the schoolhouse shelter Friday with seven energetic grandchildren. With Broward County's schools set to reopen on Monday, four shelters were consolidated into one at this Hollywood school, where classes are out for three more weeks.
Taylor's apartment in Fort Lauderdale suffered roof damage when Wilma tore through and then was heavily damaged by subsequent rains.
"It got flooded like it was Niagara Falls. Everything got ruined," Taylor said while sitting on a cot next to one sleeping child. "This place is a madhouse. It's crazy here. I haven't gotten a night's sleep."
Keeping the growing numbers of children occupied was a challenge for parents, the Red Cross and other volunteers. One school counselor, 60-year-old Mary Taylor, took a day off Friday to bring a boxload of activities -- construction paper, crayons, glue, stickers and the like -- for about two dozen children at the shelter.
"I work with kids all the time. My thought was, in the shelters, what in the world will they be doing?" she said. "They get bored easily. This gives them something to do."
While the children glued and snipped away with scissors, their parents and many others waited to fill out forms at tables manned by officials from FEMA and elsewhere. Medical personnel from the Red Cross and U.S. Public Health Service were giving health screenings and helping people fill prescriptions; meals and hot showers were available.
"The Red Cross? No complaints," said shelter resident Vincent Augeri, 52.
People kept arriving Friday at the shelter, children in tow and their belongings in plastic bags, rolling suitcases or cardboard boxes.
Two new shelter arrivals were Desmond and Annette Forrester of Sunrise, who were forced out of their flooded apartment. They went straight to the FEMA table to fill out a form describing what happened to their home and where they were living now.
One question asked: How long do you plan on staying at this location?
"Uncertain," the Forresters wrote.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
