Galveston continues its clean-up efforts after Hurricane Ike hit the city in September 2008. The city, with assistance from Beck Disaster Recovery of Orlando, has removed 2 million cu yds of debris, spending about $60 million on the effort. DRC Emergency Services of Mobile, Ala., removed another 1.6 million cu yds of debris from the island. DRC has started new debris removal work in Chambers County, says spokeswoman Paula Pendarvis. In addition, the Texas General Land Office removed 100,000 cu yds of debris from the beach, and the Texas Department of Transportation picked up 400,000 cu yds of it from state roads.
The city has several public assistance projects related to the storm. Its 1970s-era, 10-million-gallon-per-day wastewater treatment plant was inundated with stormwater, solids floated out and trees were jammed into the facility. The city will use U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant funds to pay for most of the $70-million reconstruction.