Hurricane Harvey Funds Continue To Flow Into Texas

The final amount of hazard-mitigation funds is based on 15 percent of the total amount of individual assistance, plus public assistance, that FEMA gives to Texas…

Congress recently approved $89 billion in federal disaster funds for Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico for hurricane recovery and to California for wildfire relief. Texas will qualify for more than $1 billion or even more in hazard-mitigation once the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) finalizes funding in late August.

The final amount of hazard-mitigation funds is based on 15 percent of the total amount of individual assistance, plus public assistance, that FEMA gives to Texas. Around $500 million is ready to be disbursed right now.

Gov. Greg Abbott said he expects $5 billion in community development block grant funding to be available for Texas cities by the end of March. The $5 billion is coming from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Texas General Land Office is responsible for administering those funds and is working on how the state will spend it.

The money can be applied towards projects like additional flood mitigation, disaster relief, infrastructure, housing and economic revitalization.

Abbott said that Congress has earmarked $3.2 billion of the disaster relief funding for the coastal spine, but he did not give any specifics about the project.

The coastal spine project, sometimes referred to as the “Ike Dike”, is a proposal from Texas A&M University at Galveston that seeks to add surge gates to the Galveston seawall and extend protection to the entire Houston-Galveston region during hurricanes.

The proposal includes:

• Sand-covered dunes with hardened cores to be constructed on the Galveston island’s west end and on the Bolivar Peninsula.

• Surge gates that will close during storm surge events, but will not otherwise impede access to Galveston Bay.

• Raised coastal highways to prevent loss of access and provide further protection during a storm surge.