On Sunday, the Nashua Telegraph featured in their Living section a nice write-up about the recovery effort going on for the residents of Galveston. While there is still a lot of work to be done, it appears that the heart and desire is there for locals to completely rebuild the area after the devastation left by Hurricane Ike:
Despite these and a handful of other shuttered buildings, Galveston has reopened for business just in time for the spring tourism season.
The Flagship is one of only four of the island’s 40 hotels that remain closed since the Category 2 storm tore through town.
Across town, the island’s most popular theme park, Moody Gardens, reopened its storm-damaged rain forest and aquarium exhibits in March. Also last month, crews at the nearby Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark reopened its 70,000-square-foot indoor recreation area after a six-month cleanup. Among the features added during the overhaul were free wireless Internet, a large palapa structure and a wireless wristband debit system that allows visitors to buy food without carrying cash or a credit card.
A week after the reopening, park spokesman Jeffrey Siebert said attendance had kept pace with previous years.
While the news can be marred in the dark and depressing stories that develop from hurricanes and tropical storms, as well as the hardships that come in the wake of such tragedies, it is also important to see write-ups about things getting better. Galveston appears to be on the road to recovery and that’s a wonderful thing to read and see. The article does mention that “many residents are still struggling to rebuild homes and wrestling with insurance claims and contractors,” which is a shame but a reality after any devastation like that of Hurricane Ike. Receiving legal assistance when these delays occur should be a number one priority for anyone who has the will and desire to rebuild and return to a normal life but is finding the technicalities, bureaucracy or bullying of insurance claims to be getting in their way.