Houston is starting to dry out but there is a massive, multi-year cleanup process ahead for the city and surrounding locations that remain under flood water, Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday.
"As the waters recede in Houston, of course, they're still rising in Beaumont, so we are having to first of all deal with the aftermath of the rising waters in Houston while also dealing with the emergency of rescuing people in the Beaumont, Texas area," Abbott told ABC's "Good Morning America" program.
The scope of the effort will be far larger than that involved after Hurricane Katrina, Abbott said, as the geographic area is much larger, and "people need to understand this is not going to be a short-term project. This is going to be a multi-year project for Texas to be able to dig out of this catastrophe."
In addition, most people living in the hardest-hit areas of Houston don't have flood insurance, but they can still expect help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Abbott.
"FEMA has been very aggressive in making sure we'll have a close collaboration and swift activation, to make sure we will be able to get these people from the evacuation facilities to temporary facilities to permanent facilities," said Abbott. "This has been the most impressive response to a catastrophe we've seen, and people can expect us to continue that very swift effort."
Abbott later told Fox News "Fox and Friends" he believes he's worked with "every single cabinet member, almost all of them" for ways to help.
"There are a multitude of different strategies for people to get up and going," said Abbott, urging Texans who have been affected to register as soon as they can with FEMA, at www.disasterassistance.gov.
"We have already had hundreds of thousands of people register with FEMA, and already begin to get reimbursement, so this is happening very fast," said Abbott.
Homeowners also should be careful not to start rebuilding too soon, as there can be complications that could reduce their claims if they remove parts of their property too early.
"There are claim adjusters who are waiting for the floodwaters to recede and get in there as quickly as possible," said Abbott. "They will adjust those claims so they will be able to evaluate how much the homeowners are entitled to receive."
Schools will be starting to reopen within weeks as well, and Abbott told ABC that is "one of the most important things."
"Once people start returning to school, people will feel that sense of normalcy," said Abbott. "We've received waivers from the U.S. Department of Education and the state of Texas has triggered those to make sure that process will be more seamless and more easily achieved."
Abbott reminded Fox News he has declared Sept. 3 as a "day of prayer" in Texas.
"It doesn't matter what faith or religion or belief that you have, this is a time for Texans and Americans to unite and pray for thanksgiving, for those who have risked their lives, the first responders and volunteers who have supported our fellow Texans, but also pray for the victims of this horrific storm, and we want to unite as one state and one nation," said Abbott.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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