It has been seven years since Hurricane Ike washed over Galveston, Texas, and in the intervening time, the city has spent millions in federal funds on repairing or rebuilding homes hit by Ike’s monster storm surge. Now, officials say, they’ve run out of houses to repair — all that is left are buildings that need to be torn down.
The Houston Chronicle has a report (see: “Galveston taking down homes damaged from Hurricane Ike“). “John Simsen, the city’s disaster recovery director, said $1.5 million in federal disaster recovery money will be used to tear down up to 120 storm-damaged homes now that no other homes appear to remain eligible for rehabilitation under the program,” the paper reports. “This would have gone into more rehabs and reconstructions, but the pool of applicants was exhausted,” Simsen said. “There were no more eligible applicants that could meet the income guidelines.”
