It Figures
$135.4 Million
Texas plans to spend an estimated $135.4 million to mitigate beach erosion along the Texas Gulf Coast from South Padre Island to McFaddin Beach. According to Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who announced the project, funding for the project will come from state and federal sources. In the 2009 legislative session state lawmakers appropriated $25 million to the state’s Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act; federal matching funds will help pay for the remainder of the costs. Patterson presented a list of 26 projects. The largest single project on the list will target a six-mile stretch of beach west of the end of the Galveston Seawall. The $5,914,307 in state money devoted to the project leveraged an additional $40,500,724 for a total project budget of $46,415,031.
$5 Million
Louisiana is creating a $5 million program to help homeowners rehabilitate and repair property with Chinese drywall problems. The Louisiana Recovery Authority has been directed to devise the program. The money will come in part from federal hurricane recovery block grant funds. People rebuilding their south Louisiana homes after Hurricane Katrina claim imported Chinese drywall emits sulfur, methane and other chemical compounds that have ruined homes and harmed residents’ health.
10%
The Arkansas Insurance Department said foul weather and poor financial markets in 2008 and 2009 are to blame for an expected 10 percent average increase in homeowners insurance premiums in that state. The Associated Press reported that more than 100 companies writing homeowner policies in Arkansas in 2008 paid out $774 million in claims, $206 million more than they took in. The payout in 2007 was $253 million. Premiums jumped an estimated 6 percent last year.
$150 Million
Insured losses from a Sept. 16 hailstorm that raked parts of El Paso, Texas, are estimated at more than $150 million, the Insurance Council of Texas reports. An estimated 10,000 homes and 20,000 automobiles were damaged. Damage to El Paso homes averaged $6,500; automobiles received an average of $4,000 in damage.