A set of 4 new FEMA disaster recovery centers opened yesterday, sprinkled around the north and west sides of Houston hit hardest by the Tax Day flooding. The locations include a Greenspoint office building right across Greens Bayou from some of the apartment complexes evacuated during the flooding (including Arbor Court). The other centers opened Monday in Meyerland, Cypress, and Spring, and additional temporary help centers might get set up elsewhere around town.
As of yesterday night, FEMA had already received nearly 12,000 applications for post-flood assistance. Harris County reported last week that more than twice as many homes were damaged by the April floods as reported during last year’s Memorial Day flooding. Farmers Insurance agent Peter Zografos told the Houston Press last week that many of the same houses have filed claims a second time: “Some of these homeowners may have to be insured directly with the National Flood Insurance Program due to repetitive claims, [and] basically will be charged more for too many flood claims.â€
- Disaster Recovery Centers Open in Harris County [Houston Office of Emergency Management]
- Another Flooding Pain-in-the-Rump: More Expensive Insurance [Houston Press]
- Previously on Swamplot: Videos: What S. Braeswood Looks Like Fully Submerged, and Other Aquatified Aerial Houston Scenes; Where Houston Flooded and Where It Didn’t on Memorial Day
Map of FEMA disaster recovery centers: City of Houston
Some repetitive claims will not be able to rebuild depending on the scale of the damages….
This is the great shame of Annise Parker’s administration. She was a terrible enemy of homeowners who saw inadequate flooding infrastructure. She literally stonewalled and abused homeowner groups for her entire 6 years in office. It is tragic to see mayor Turner keeping Andy Ichen as city chief development officer and Steve Costello (rebuild Houston) and developers and pro-developer engineering firms so close to his administration. Turner has a chance to do real good by requiring adequate storm water detention on new construction and giving TIRZ money to drainage projects as opposed to giving millions in subsidies to his campaign contributors. Time will tell.
Living in a 200-yr zone, my flood insurance from Wright went up 4.6%. But this year the bill included a notice of a ‘private’ alternative, amounting to a about a 40% discount. I thought Wright was subsidized? More here than meets the eye, further study required.