The Galveston County Daily News

TEXAS CITY — The Federal Emergency Management Agency has allocated $5 million for repairs to the Texas City Dike, which was damaged by Hurricane Ike more than a year ago.

Now the city and the county must figure out how to stretch those dollars for a repair job that’s estimated at $11.3 million.

Brad Craine, a spokesman for FEMA, said the agency awarded $4.5 million to repair the 5-mile-long road and the road’s side embankment. While the city owns the dike, the road is the responsibility of the county.

FEMA also agreed to pay to rebuild the First Lady Pavilion, which was at the entrance of the dike, and to replace trash barrels and safety bollards, Craine said. Bollards are posts placed along the beach to separate parking and swimming areas.

Also, some funds have been set aside for repairs to the dike’s five boat ramps, including the Sansom-Yarbrough ramp. According to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department survey, that ramp accounted for 7 percent of all the boats launched in Galveston Bay, making it the busiest boat ramp on the Texas Coast before Ike.

Anticipating an official letter from FEMA, Texas City Mayor Matt Doyle said the city commission on Wednesday would discuss a contract with an engineering firm to start work on rebuilding the dike.

That work will begin, even though the money for the project is awarded to the state, which then funnels the funds to the local authorities, Craine said.

Even if the city started the preparation to rebuild the dike next week, it would be year’s end — at the earliest — before construction started, Doyle said.

Only repairs to the road, beach, pavilion and parking are planned. The repairs won’t include amenities such as fishing piers or bait camps.

While Doyle said he hoped to have the dike reopened for the Tackle Time fishing tournament in June, it’s likely the pier won’t return until fall 2010.

FEMA officials said that if the city comes come up short, the agency might make more money available, Doyle said.

“FEMA says this is enough to cover the costs,” he said. “We don’t believe that.”

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FEMA funds for dike

Road resurfacing: $1.3 million

Road embankment: $3.2 million

Rebuild First Lady Pavilion: $29,980

Replace trash barrels: $27,959

Install safety bollards: $29,064

Source: FEMA

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Online

See video of how the Texas City Dike looks more than one year after Hurricane Ike, plus links to photos of the extensive damage in the Between the Lines blog at galvnews.com.