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Sep 25, 2009 3:54 pm US/Central
Lawmakers: Help For Hurricane Victims Can Improve
JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer
GALVESTON (AP) ―
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Lawrence Puccetti mops up mud from his restaurant that was damaged from Hurricane Ike on Sept. 24, 2008, in Galveston, Texas.
Dave Einsel/Getty Images
Galveston homes and businesses rebuilt in the year since they were battered by Hurricane Ike are examples of how quickly communities can bounce back after being hit hard by storms, lawmakers said Friday after touring the Texas island city.
But officials still need to do a better job, said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, noting the high number of homes in need of repair, empty lots and residents selling their properties after deciding not to come back.
"You know we still have a long way to go," the Texas lawmaker said Friday after touring the island with other federal lawmakers and officials.
Hutchison, who is challenging Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican gubernatorial primary, and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. and other officials were given a tour of the island city by Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas. It came ahead of a joint meeting of two Senate panels that oversee small businesses and disaster recovery aid. Landrieu leads both committees.
During Friday's hearing, a joint meeting of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Disaster Recovery Subcommittee, Galveston business owners along with city, state and federal officials were expected to talk about lessons learned and progress made since Ike.
Ike, which made landfall just outside Galveston on Sept. 13, 2008, caused billions of dollars in damage along the southeast Texas coast. It damaged 75 percent of Galveston's homes and washed away about 3,600 structures on neighboring Bolivar Peninsula.
It was the costliest natural disaster in Texas history.
Landrieu said cities like Galveston need to be given more flexibility in how they can spend federal disaster assistance and must develop partnerships with local businesses, especially banks, to more quickly recover from hurricanes.
The tour stopped at a popular Italian restaurant that recently reopened after being flooded during the hurricane. Landrieu and Hutchison also visited the warehouse of a local metal distributor and talked with its owners about problems they had reopening, including flood insurance that wasn't enough to cover millions of dollars in damage.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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