Texas addresses disaster
response

HOUSTON (AP/KXAN) - Gov. Rick Perry is forming a commission to oversee coastal rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Ike. The agency also would develop recommendations for responding to future storms.

Perry's also expected to ask the Texas Department of Transportation to help finish removing tons of debris left behind when Ike struck the Southeast Texas coast two months ago.

The governor's office said preliminary estimates from Ike and hurricanes Gustav and Dolly is at $29.4 billion and likely to grow. Those storms struck the Texas Gulf Coast within a period of two months this summer.

Perry has said Texas wants the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover all of the debris removal costs for the next 18 months or risk bankrupting the state's hard-hit coastal communities. Yet, FEMA officials said no decision has been made on whether to extend the full coverage, which expired late last month, and they do not know when to expect an answer.

Without full coverage, FEMA pays 75 percent of the state's estimated $2 billion cleanup and local governments pay 25 percent.
 

Hurricane Ike

• Ike was the third most destructive hurricane to ever hit the United States.
• It has been blamed for 164 deaths. In the United States, 82 people were killed, and 202 are still missing.
• Damages from Ike in US coastal areas are estimated at $27 billion, with additional damage of up to $4 billion in Cuba, amounting to a total of $31.5 billion in damages for the United States and Cuba alone.
• Ike was the third costliest U.S. hurricane of all time, behind Hurricane Andrew of 1992 and Hurricane Katrina of 2005

Hurricane Gustav

• Gustav caused serious damage and casualties in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Cuba and the United States.
• Gustav caused $18 billion in damages.

Hurricane Dolly

• It was the first U.S. landfalling hurricane of the 2008 season.
• The storm caused no deaths in Texas, though three were injured.
• It caused an estimated $1.2 billion dollars in damage.