It’s the largest government funded buy-out in Texas and involves 759 structures on Bolivar Peninsula that are in the
100-year flood plain. FEMA will pay over $100 million, or 75-percent of the cost to buy-out property owners. Galveston County and the state will pitch-in more than $30 million. This is FEMA’s Ray Perez.
“This is to mitigate future disaster loses. That’s what the whole program is about. It’s to put in in perpetuity, public land, that way the folks who own that property will get their money and they can go build elsewhere or move elsewhere. It will never again be the in the eye of the storm, so to speak.”
Bolivar Peninsula was nearly wiped clean during Ike and many homeowners still haven’t started the rebuilding process more than a year after the storm. FEMA says removing damaged structures reduces health and safety risks and could be a boost to the area’s continued recovery.