According to a news statement from the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will award a total of $382 million to Houston and Harris County for disaster resilience and Hurricane Beryl recovery operations.
The funding comes from a $12 billion community development block grant program for recently disaster-affected regions across the United States.
According to reputable firms’ preliminary recovery cost estimates, Hurricane Beryl’s damages from last year ranged from $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion. CenterPoint Energy informed investors after the fatal storm that it had anticipated its own repair costs for the May hurricane and derecho windstorm to be at least $1.6 billion.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement on Tuesday that “our community went through so much last year, from the flooding in April to the derecho in May to Hurricane Beryl in July.” I’ve known that the federal government will consistently provide vital assistance that is assisting in our recovery and reconstruction during all of the calamities we’ve experienced.
The federal disaster award gave Houston almost $314 million. The State of Texas received $555 million, while Harris County received almost $67 million.
How Houston and Harris County will divide the millions of dollars in disaster funding is still up in the air.
According to Hidalgo, the direct budget transfer will help the county become more resilient to future calamities in addition to aiding in its recovery from previous ones.
Adrianne Todman, the head of HUD, said in a statement, “Too many communities have been affected by devastating disasters over the last two years, damaging homes, destroying infrastructure, and stretching local capacity to recover.” “The $12 billion in disaster discovery funding will be used to repair roads, schools, water treatment facilities, and other vital infrastructure, as well as to help rebuild houses, provide affordable housing, and support affected small businesses. These funding’ effects will be seen for years to come, particularly by communities in the most affected areas and disaster survivors.”
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