A little more than a month before the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Recovery Authority says less than half of federal rebuilding money has made its way to where it's needed.

WWL-TV

Of the nearly $7 billion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved, or obligated for Louisiana rebuilding projects, $3.5 billion has been paid to local governments.

Nearly three years after the flood in Plaquemines Parish, fire engines cower in the battered Port Sulphur fire station.

"It's kinda disappointing, but what are you gonna do," said Plaquemines Parish resident Amy Do.

The fire station remains unsecured; in fact, the equipment sits in piles on the floor. One wall is shattered and barely standing, but Port Sulphur volunteer firefighters said they're lucky. The fire station in Buras still doesn't even exist.

“We have asked for temporary shelters for the fire equipment and that's through the process,” said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, “We were fast tracking that. Now that Gov. Jindal got in, we're asking for that and it's moving along.”

Nungesser said unsecured equipment and crumbling fire stations are the result of federal rebuilding funds taking three years to make their way down to local governments.

“That's obviously why we're not further along as a whole region as we should be,” he said, continuing, “That's the frustrating thing.”

According to the Louisiana Recovery Authority, FEMA has approved $482 million worth of rebuilding projects in Plaquemines Parish. But because of bureaucratic delays, funding shortages and disagreements about the real cost of rebuilding, so far, Plaquemines has only gotten reimbursed $127 million. That’s just 26 percent of available funds.

“We're working to get additional folks out into the field to work with Orleans and St. Bernard and Plaquemines and Cameron and St. Tammany to help them work through these issues. So, we're staffing up. It's something we should've done two years ago,” said Paul Rainwater, Executive Director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Upon taking office, Governor Bobby Jindal put the state's gatekeepers of FEMA rebuilding funds under the LRA’s control, taking the process out from under the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security.

“I think one of the problems that you had in the past was that there were no clear-cut rules (in how to apply for the funds),” Rainwater said.

He said, in many cases, the process has taken so long that they're having to redo damage assessments on many buildings because construction costs have risen so much over the past three years.

Rainwater also said he's trying to streamline the process because Plaquemines Parish isn't alone in having delays getting FEMA Public Assistance Funding.

Orleans Parish has only been reimbursed 41 percent of available FEMA funds; St. Bernard, 52 percent; Jefferson Parish, 58 percent; and St. Tammany has been reimbursed for 67 percent of available funds.

As frustrating as the problem is, Nungesser said his parish is making progress with storm debris removal completed, and crews are driving pilings for one fire station.

He said he hopes to start construction on Port Sulphur's fire station before the end of the year.