More than a year after Hurricane Ike, the city of Galveston received the $160 million federal housing grant it asked for, but 20 percent of the 57,000 residents have never returned and much of the city remains a ghost town.

On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston, Texas with a 16 foot storm surge, flooding half the island, and damaging or destroying three quarters of the buildings on the island. Twenty people perished in the hurricane, but the city ended up losing a fifth of its residents who could not afford to rebuild their homes.

Many that did rebuild did so by elevating their new homes on stilts, hoping to prevent having to rebuild yet again, should another flood come, but leaving once attractive neighborhoods  looking a bit strange with new stilted homes juxtaposed with low standing ones. Also compounding the blight, is the loss of the island’s trees. Galveston was home to some 10,000 trees, very few of which survived the saltwater flooding.

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“There is just a new normal,” Galveston architect Brax Easterwood told the Houston Chronicle.

The result of all of this has left one of Texas’ oldest cities in a state of disrepair, with many wrecked and abandoned homes blighting what was once picturesque town. City spokeswoman Alicia Cahill said that the city conducted a survey of the damaged properties and said the numbers were in the hundreds.  On one street, she said, 14 homes were abandoned. She said the abandoned homes attracted stray animals, homeless people, and were disastrous for property values.

“They invite mischief,” she said.

Cahill admitted that getting funds from the federal government was a long process, but said there was the nothing the city could do to hurry the process. For those that have been able to hold out this long, the money will go toward helping them rebuild. For those that had the means to borrow, and already did their rebuilding, the federal money will not be available for reimbursement.

Chula Sanchez, a member of the city recovery committee, went door to door to tell the residents about the funding, and said the reception was dour. “The comment was, ‘It's too little, too late,'” she said.
 

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