Harris County Community Services Awarded Grant to Better Insure Public Safety in Future Storms

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Public Information Officer – Cindy Gabriel – 713-578-2215

Harris County Commissioner’s Court today took a step toward improving the County’s ability to respond in future storms. Commissioners approved a request by the Harris County Community Services Department to move forward with a HUD Disaster Recovery Supplemental Grant that would remove impediments to the public safety that arose as a result of Hurricane Ike on September 13, 2008.

“Most of the County’s community centers, schools, fire stations and police departments lost electrical power for several days, greatly impeding their ability to function. We also had flooding due to the inadequate drainage infrastructure. While these improvements will take a couple of years to complete, in the long term, this will get us way ahead of where we were when Ike struck,” Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia said.

Work will begin in the coming weeks on the following:

• A Generator for the El Lago Police Department
• Generators for multiple Community Service Centers, one High School Facility, the Harris County Children Adult Protective Facility (CPS) and the Harris County Hazardous Material Response Team Atascocita Road facility
• Renovations to Community Centers that sustained damage during Hurricane Ike
• Flood and Drainage Improvements for Taylor Lake Village
• Flood and Drainage Improvements at Harris County Cypress Creek
• Reimbursement for a study to assess damages and define long term drainage solutions

The HUD Community Development Block Grant, totaling $6,621,537.00 for infrastructure projects was awarded to Harris County by the Texas Department of Rural Affairs. This is the first infrastructure allocation out of a total of $26 million which is anticipated to be received over the next few months.

Meanwhile, repair of Ike damaged homes will be getting underway in just a few months. In fact, repairs to the first 39 houses should commence within the next 90 days.