With Hurricane Harvey of two thousand and seventeen tying with Hurricane Katrina of two thousand and five as the most costly tropical storm on record, Harvey used catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding in the Houston metropolitan area and Southeast Texas which ended up causing twenty five billion United States dollars in damage. Hurricane Harvey was also the first catastrophic hurricane to make landfall in the united states since hurricane Wilma of two thousand and five which also ended a record of a twelve year span in which no hurricanes made landfall at the throughout the country.
In a four day period, many areas received more than forty inches of rain which is one thousand millimeters of rain as the system slowly meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters, causing unprecedented flooding. With peak accumulations of sixty point fifty eight inches, in Nederland, Texas, hurricane Harvey was the wettest tropical storm in the record books in the United States. The resulting floods destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, which discombobulated more than thirty thousand people and prompted more than seventeen thousand rescues. As Harvey stormed the U.S. plenty of places were destroyed but some places believe it or not did not receive the same damage as other areas, this brought about the question did the government only help a certain demographic of people.
Hurricane Harvey was a devastating time for all citizens of Texas; it was a Category four storm that hit Texas on August twenty fifth of twenty eighteen. When hurricane Harvey stormed the United States it raised the question, did the government only help a certain demographic of people? Everyone knows that the state government has responsibilities to take care of but what were they doing in order to make the community a safer place for all of its citizens. I believe that the state government of Texas are only helping and protecting families that are wealthy and leaving those who are not as finically stable as those who live in a better area of Texas to fend for themselves.
According to the “National Hurricane Center” (FEMA, 2017) data statistics chart, Hurricane Harvey caused one hundred and twenty five billion United States dollars in damage while affecting thirteen million people from Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee. As a result of the death of eighty-eight people President Donald trump signed the federal aid package bill on September eighth of twenty seventeen which approved the spending of fifteen point twenty five billion United States dollars in storm aid.
As a result Houston received ninety one million dollars while Harris County received forty four million to pay for cleanup. The signing of the federal aid package bill implemented a power of the national government. Texas`s spending of this money that was earned from by Donald trump is still skeptical where did this money go to and who did it go to is another question that is raised by many people.
When Donald trump signed the federal aid package bill, he exercised a power of the president which falls under the category of national government. According to “the balance” (Amadeo, 2018) the national government is “responsible for maintaining internal and external security and stability.” (Amadeo, 2018) This means they are responsible for establishing and enforcing national laws, raising and training a military, and setting the international policies. The Texas government did divided the money which they received for hurricane Harvey in Texas and spent it to what they seem best benefit the people of Texas. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (2018) the federal government sent.
The areas of Rosenberg, cypress, Pearland, spring were all offered twenty one thousand federal staff employees to Texas and Louisiana on September first of twenty seventeen to support the less fortunate. In Texas more than one million nine hundred thousand meals were sent to the one million nine hundred and sixty thousand liters of water, four thousand seven hundred blankets and one thousand four hundred cots were provided. (FEMA, 2017)
This quote shows that the areas of Rosenberg, cypress, Pearland, spring were offered help after Harvey. According to the article titled proximity one “The following graphic shows patterns of economic prosperity for the Houston area based on median household income (MHI) by census tract.”(2018)
When taking a look at this demographic map of Houston the areas of Rosenberg, cypress, Pearland, spring are all areas that have a median household income of at least eighty thousand or more. This shows that the state government was only helping a certain demographic of people after Harvey. According to the article titled “What Are the Duties of State Government” (Harvey, 2018) written by Sara Harvey (2018), a writer for classroomsynonym.com,
The state government are charged with the duty to make sure the roads under their care are well maintained, and safe to use and State governments are responsible for the education of their residents. States have freedom in administering the nation’s public education system, which receives the lion’s share of state and local money. (Harvey, 2018)
From this quote, we can tell that the state government has a responsibility to make roads that are safe to use by the citizens and make schools that are used to educate the residents. According to the article titled “Hurricane Harvey Facts, Damage and Costs What Made Harvey So Devastating” (Amadeo, 2018) by Kimberly Amadeo (2018), a writer for the balance, “Pearland Independent school district and Friendswood Independent School District said seventy five of their two hundred and seventy five schools combined were destroyed due to flood damage.” (Amadeo, 2018) Hurricane Harvey destroyed tons schools in Houston last year but apparently only forced the state government to remake schools in Pearland and Friendswood independent school district.
Looking at the demographics map of Houston above, we can see that those both school districts are occupied by citizens that have a median household income of at least eighty thousand or more.
According to the article titled “Texas officials see long road from Harvey for state transportation network” (Ibrahim, 2017), by Ala’a Ibrahim (2017), a reporter for the Texas Tribune Hurricane Harvey destroyed over a hundred roads in Houston. “Alongside thousands of Texas homes and businesses impacted by Hurricane Harvey, floodwaters also damaged hundreds of roads and highways across the outskirts of Houston, forcing the government to pay two billion in repairs.” (Ibrahim, 2017) The state government paid two-billion in order to remake the roads and install new flood prevention systems in the outskirts of Houston so that if a hurricane like this ever happens again citizens on the outskirts of Houston will be prepared. Looking at the demographics map above, we can see that the outskirts of Houston are the areas of Rosenberg, cypress, Pearland, spring.
Williamson Richard (Richard, 2007), a reporter and writer, wrote the news article titled “Houston Mayor Seeks twenty one million dollars of Debt For Anti-Flood Storm Drainage Work” (Richard, 2007), in order to report on how the Houston mayor is seeking two hundred and eleven million united states dollars proposal for flood repairs made by now former mayor of Houston Mayor Bill White. Bill White made this proposal to finance a new storm drainage project in metropolitan area of Houston, Texas which is known to be a flood prone city. The proposal comes the year before hurricane Harvey, which left the city of Houston in bad shape. Bill white wants to use twenty one million dollars to help the city of downtown Houston prepares for a flood that may occur.
Debt service on the bonds would cost the city about nine million per year, as the Public Works Department would have to demolish the work done in order to refund the twenty one million dollars so that the mayor may use it for repairs. However, a twenty five million annual increase in revenue would only be used to support areas affected by Harvey in which the mayor deems fit.
From this quote we can see that the mayor wants to stop the proposal made my former mayor bill white in order to be refunded twenty one million dollars back so that he may use the twenty one million to make repairs to areas affected by hurricane Harvey. Now the question asked is why the mayor would stop flood plain projects that support the idea of a less flood proof city. The answer is very simple the mayor wants the money added back to his revenue so that he may use it to repair areas where most of his revenue comes from; areas where families with a higher income live. Looking at the demographic map above we can see that the areas in which the mayor wants to spend most of repairs on are the areas of Rosenberg, Cypress, Pearland, and spring due to the fact that they have more money.
Following a new analysis that examined the damage and flood impacts of Hurricane Harvey, Houston’s Dept. of Public Works is recommending that all new structures no less than twenty miles from the city of Houston be elevated to two ft above the five hundred year flood elevation to avoid such damage in the future. If approved, the new regulations would go into effect Sept. 1.
The Houston dept. of public works is recommending that all new floodplains project no less than twenty miles from the city of Houston be moved up two feet higher. Due to this demand and the results of hurricane Harvey the state government passed this flood prevention project which happened to put in place the Houston dept. of public works recommendation in action, when looking at a map of the city of Houston and a demographics map of Houston (such as the one above) one can see the distance from the city of Houston to each of the of the areas marked in blue is no less than twenty miles. This shows that the state government put in a plan that only benefits a certain demographic of people that earn eighty thousand or more.
The article titled “Weathering the Storm: The Impact of Hurricane Harvey on Texas.”(Ray, 2017) written by Perryman, M. Ray, (2017) an Economic consultant in Waco and author, writes this article in order to examine the effect of hurricane Harvey on the state of Texas and the problems that Texas will face while moving forward. In the article Perryman, M. Ray (2017) reports the local estimates of personal property damage from hurricane Harvey and discusses insurance problems including payment and timing of funding. Ray also tackles the challenges that are uninsured losses from hurricane Harvey, damage to public property, damage to businesses such as loss of productivity and forced closure, and impact of hurricane Harvey on the state’s overall economic activity.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that payouts to homeowners with flood coverage could reach eleven billion, in addition to windstorm claims of three billion and vehicle insurance claims of nearly five billion, according to the Insurance Council of Texas. These payments will place a huge stress on insurance providers, particularly the already debt-ridden National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which will likely need Congress to authorize more money to make payouts, especially with subsequent storms that have occurred since Harvey. (Ray, 2017)
Ray (2017) also then says “…if the government was to issue at least seventy five thousand dollars to those in need then I have no fear that things will go back to normal.” (Ray, 2017) By saying this ray is proposing that the state government spend money to help with this problem. The only thing is that the state government spends its money on those who are wealthy and do not have to worry about being debt ridden.
Hurricane Harvey destroyed plenty of places and left plenty of families to suffer but the real damage was not done until the government only helped those who were wealthy and in need Due to all the facts listed one can see that the state government of Texas are only helping and protecting families that are wealthy and leaving those who are not as finically stable as those who live in a better area of Texas to fend for themselves..
