Mayor Sylvester Turner said city staff will interview the nearly 350 residents who stayed in one of five local shelters overnight to determine how best to help them recover their possessions and their lives after Monday’s widespread flooding.
Turner also asked residents whose homes or businesses flooded to report the damage to the Houston 311 help line at 713-837-0311. That information will help officials submit the formal report needed to qualify for federal disaster assistance.
The mayor said he expects to submit information to the governor’s office today as part of that effort, noting there are 20 city team inspection teams in the field surveying damage to single-family homes — at least 183 homeowners have reported damage but that figure is expected to rise, Turner said — while additional building inspectors gauge whether the large Greenspoint-area apartments and other flooded structures are habitable.
Monday garbage collection was delayed to Tuesday, Tuesday’s collections are delayed until Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday schedules are unaffected.
The city is asking flooded residents to drag water-damaged items — furniture, rugs, bedding, drywall, carpeting — and drag it to the curb. Officials have not yet set the schedule on which city trucks will collect storm debris, but Turner said neighborhood waste depositories will be open seven days a week.
“What I don’t want is a lot of debris building up in front of people’s homes,” the mayor said. “We want to move as quickly and efficiently as possible to clean up the area.”
Nonprofit organizations looking to assist in the recovery effort should call the city housing department at 832-394-6282. Individuals hoping to join in should affiliate themselves with one of these organizations throughwww.volunteerhouston.org. Those looking to donate money rather than time to the flood victims can do so atwww.houstonfloodrecovery.org.
Turner said the first informational meeting for flood victims will be held Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Harvest Time Church, 17770 Imperial Valley Drive, in Greenspoint area. A Meyerland meeting will follow, he said.
The Red Cross is prepared to operate its shelters for at least another five days, Turner said, but he wants a plan for each affected resident by the end of the day. Housing officials, through the Houston Housing Authority, the Greenspoint District, the Houston Apartment Association and the city housing department to find temporary units for flood victims.
Following an expected federal disaster declaration, Turner said, FEMA will be able to make temporary housing vouchers available for those who cannot afford the deposit and first month’s rent on a new unit. Many of the units affected in the Greenspoint area accepted federal housing vouchers.
Severely damaged buildings in the floodplain may need to rebuild at a higher elevation to meet modern floodplain rules.
The Houston Permitting Center is open to answer home and business owners’ questions, and the city also plans to open satellite permitting offices near affected neighborhoods.