Illinois To Receive Federal Funds For Damage From Hurricane Ike
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- Some Illinois municipalities will soon get their share of federal money to help them recover from the damage done by the storm system that produced Hurricane Ike.
The state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced 48 million federal dollars have been released to help 85 communities recover from natural disasters in 2008, one of which was Hurricane Ike – the third costliest hurricane to make landfall in the United States, behind 2005's Katrina and 1992's Andrew.
Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston, Texas, and did its most severe damage to areas far south of Illinois. But flooding on several Illinois rivers was blamed on storms from the system that produced the hurricane.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Alex Degman reports
Podcast
Department spokeswoman Marcelyn Love says most parts of the state were affected by some type of natural disaster in 2008.
"There are counties not only in west central Illinois, but also southeast Illinois was severely impacted by those storms," says Love. "I believe also part of the Chicagoland area was also included."
The money is designed to help prevent future damage from disasters, such as levee restoration, water and sewer line repairs and culvert replacement among other projects.
A full list of projects and grant money awarded can be found here.
