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| Hare to Gulfport Residents: "I Won't Forget About You" |
POSTED: 3:00pm 6/1/09 A local congressman says he's fulfilling a promise made to the residents of one Henderson County community devastated by the flooding of almost one year ago.
17th District Democrat Phil Hare joined officials from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity at a meeting in Gulfport Monday, where he announced that officials from FEMA plan to tour the city at a date to be determined.
Hare says he wants to also put together a group of his colleagues to keep tabs on flooding concerns. "We want to put together in Congress, an Upper Mississippi Valley River Caucus," Hare said, "It may happen to somebody else when you have a break in a levy. It may happen to me, but it may happen to (Iowa Congressman) Bruce Braley...so we're going to put that together, so that there's strength in numbers as you know."
State Emergency Management Director Andrew Velasquez was also on hand; he says Henderson County has already received $2 million in federal disaster aid, with another million dollars in grants coming.
And even though many residents were clearly frustrated with issues like levy build-up, the lack, in some cases, of loans available for rebuilding homes along the river, and other things, the one big message Hare and state officials had was, "we won't forget about you."
(Congressman Phil Hare meets with Gulfport residents before starting a town hall meeting Monday.)
(Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Andrew Velasquez , toward the right dressed in a suit, meets with Gulfport residents Monday.)
(Henderson County Board Chairman Marty Lafary, standing, speaks at a town hall meeting Monday in Gulfport.)
(Gulfport residents met at the city's police and fire station Monday to talk with Congressman Phil Hare and state officials on hand. WGIL News Story and Photos by Will Stevenson in Gulfport.) |
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| 06 01 09 by Newsroom |
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