Amid Finger-Pointing Hurricane Relief Lags

In an article written March 9, 2012 by Becca Aaronson from the Texas Tribune, Texas is not only plagued by tornadoes and drought but it is entering hurricane season, and although forecasters are expecting fewer hurricanes this year it is still a concern, especially for those living in coastal areas.  According to the Houston Chronicle hurricane forecasters are expecting fewer storms than normal this year. Although predicting exactly where storms will make landfall in the U.S. is difficult.

Changes in weather patterns determine how many hurricanes will form and how strong the storms are.  When storms hit areas of Texas a disaster relief fund helps those in need of assistance. Once a disaster strikes the local governments are aided by HB 1998, which provides temporary housing and emergency shelters.  Not only does the state and local government step in, but often times the community joins together to provide help for each other. A timeline cannot be laid out because each disaster is different and will require different agencies for different situations. Texas Governor said that Texas has developed one of the most effective and efficient emergency response teams in the nation, and recently, the team was put to the test again when a severe storm system, hailing 17 tornados, ripped through North Texas and damaged more than 650 homes.

Unfortunately the aid meant to help those in need comes too slow to help them rebuild.  Hurricanes Ike and Dolly made landfall in 2008 and none of the 4,000 plus homes expected to be rebuilt with the federal money allotted in Houston were completed.  Texas has only spent 10 percent of the money designated for the recovery process. Texas was “the worst-performing state in the country on expenditure of funds and disaster money,” said Mercedes Márquez, the assistant secretary at HUD, which administers the program on the federal level. She said the way the money was managed was a mistake. http://www.texastribune.org/texas-local-news/hurricane-ike/amid-finger-pointing-hurricane-relief-lags/.  She blamed the states micromanaging of the recovery efforts. 

Citizens of Texas are told they will have state and federal aid whenever a natural disaster arises.  It is up to the state to comply with the federal governments regulations so that the individual can receive the aid without problems.  Governor Perry has assured residents that the states role in overseeing the process would have worked if the local governments had complied with the federal requirements. According to the Texas Tribune “As HUD noted in monitoring reports, the state did not enact standard procedures for how local governments should process applications and write contracts for projects — the result was bureaucratic chaos.  Perry’s office blamed HUD.”