Councilman Finds Loophole to Rebuild East Biloxi Mississippi
COOPER: And we're in New Orleans tonight near the new floodgates along the 17th street canal. They're being built literally behind me as we speak all night long. You're going to recall that Katrina also hit Biloxi, Mississippi, all along the gulf coast where it destroyed or damaged nearly every building in Biloxi. So you might expect Biloxi residents to welcome some new FEMA guidelines -- guidelines that will revise how high the homes need to be built in order to qualify for flood insurance. Well you can forget that. Some folks are looking for loopholes, and Randi Kaye met a man who has found one.</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's a one-man, rule-busting wrecking ball crew on a mission, rebuild East Biloxi, Mississippi, before FEMA orders new housing elevations.</s>BILL STALLWORTH, COUNCILMAN, EAST BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI: I'm really frustrated, and I'm panicking. I am literally panicking because I've got to get these people back in their homes. There's no if, ands or buts. We've got to do it.</s>KAYE: Councilman Bill Stallworth is up against the clock. FEMA has reassessed flood risk and drawn up new flood insurance maps. Thousands here assumed the only way to qualify for federal flood insurance now was to rebuild based on the new elevations. That was until Stallworth found a loophole.</s>STALLWORTH: These are advisory elevations. We already have adopted elevations. There is no law that says I have to act on an advisory elevation.</s>KAYE: FEMA expects to finalize the new elevation maps by year's end. Stallworth is racing FEMA to the finish line because existing structures are grandfathered in. So even if the homes he rebuilds don't meet the new height requirement, 22 feet above sea level, the homeowner will still qualify for federal flood insurance. This is how high FEMA would like them to be.</s>STALLWORTH: It's going way overboard. It's going to the point of just being stupid.</s>KAYE: Stallworth relies on grants. Fixing a home, he says, costs about $20,000. But if people wait for the new elevation standards, it could cost another $50,000 to elevate the home.</s>STALLWORTH: 40 percent of the people in this community right now make under $15,000 a year. Typically, 65 percent of them make under $35,000. So you can kind of do the math.</s>KAYE: FEMA's Todd Davison's says Stallworth's actions, while noble, are risky.</s>TODD DAVISON, FEMA: The science bears out that the flood risk has increased significantly since the last time we did these maps. And all we're saying is to allow that better risk information to guide reconstruction.</s>KAYE: FEMA says the way that you're choosing to rebuild the homes isn't safe. Do you agree with that?</s>STALLWORTH: No, I don't agree with that at all. These homes have been here for years. They have been safe, and I know that they can be safe again. I would never put anybody in harm's way.</s>KAYE: 93-year-old Frances Burney's home was rebuilt. Your home is on the ground level. Do you feel safe not having it raised high up?</s>FRANCES BURNEY, EAST BILOXI RESIDENT: There's nothing I can do about it. And that worrying is not going to help you any.</s>KAYE: The only thing that would help Bill Stallworth, time. With 4,000 homes needing repair, he sure could use it.</s>STALLWORTH: We're going to do it. I don't know how, but I'm putting faith in God, we're going to do it.</s>COOPER: So Randi, how much time does this guy really have to get all these homes rebuilt?</s>KAYE: He has some time. Actually, December is when the final maps should be out. And then once those come out, there's a 90-day appeals process. And then the community actually has another six months before they have to adopt the new regulations. So we're talking about well into next year, the fall of next year. Sounds like a lot of time, but Bill Stallworth is actually looking at repairing and rebuilding 4,000 homes. It's really not a lot of time to do it.</s>COOPER: And I hear you ate at Mary Mahoney's in Biloxi.</s>KAYE: It was excellent. They send their best to you.</s>COOPER: It's a great restaurant. Glad to see they're back up and running. In our next hour on the eve of hurricane season, we're going to take you through 24 hours in the life of this great city. As part of that, we'll but on you Bourbon Street which could use a bit of the vibe in tonight's "On the Rise." Here's Erica Hill.</s>ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Female guitarists like Joan Jett are few and far between in the male-dominated rock world, but one woman hopes to level the playing field. Musician Tish Ciravolo founded the original girl guitar company six years ago.</s>TISH CIRAVOLO, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, DAISY ROCK GUITARS: The easiest way to explain what a girl guitar is -- is that it has a slimmer neck profile. Meaning that when a girl puts her hand around the neck it's easier for her to push the strings down because it fits her hand better. It's</s>HILL: Today, artists like Heart's Nancy Wilson and Lindsay Lohan strum Daisy Rock Guitars and revenues rocked the house at more than $2 million last year.</s>CIRAVOLO: My ultimate rock fantasy is to see a girl getting a Grammy and to say I did this because of Daisy Rock Guitars because I found a guitar that I could play.</s>COOPER: Well, nine months ago it became an emblem of everything that went wrong after Katrina. The convention center that turned into a hellish nightmare for thousands of Katrina evacuees. We'll introduce you to the doctor who saw the worst of it. We'll look back at the report I filed last year and see where the convention center is today. Also, 24 hours in New Orleans. Our reporters spread out across the city to take its pulse. Nine months after that catastrophe struck and hours away from the next hurricane season. All that ahead on 360.