Atlanta ? Hurricane evacuees from Louisiana told federal and state officials at forums across the South on Saturday that what they want most when their state is rebuilt are affordable housing, better schools and stronger levees.

Some evacuees at the “Louisiana Speaks” forums also worried that officials have no real plans to restore certain areas, such as New Orleans’ impoverished Lower 9th Ward.

Most of the 30 forums – sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Louisiana Recovery Authority – were held in Louisiana. Six were held in Atlanta, Houston and four other cities where tens of thousands of Louisiana residents fled.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated South Louisiana, destroying about 217,000 homes and 18,000 businesses and causing $25 billion in insured losses.

The state expects roughly $10 billion in federal funding for rebuilding, and Saturday’s forums are part of a planning process in figuring out how to best use that money, state officials said.

Input from Saturday’s meetings is to be incorporated in a long-term regional plan for rebuilding South Louisiana.

But some were not yet ready to talk about the future.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, who was at the Atlanta forum, talked to evacuees, who talked about immediate needs like rental assistance and help with mental anguish. “We have to do a combination of all of that. We have to take care of the immediate needs now and we have to work for the future. And that has to be done simultaneously,” Blanco said.