From a Bobby Schilling (R-IL) press release:
Schilling Tours Henderson County With Gulfport Mayor Rich MyersTechnorati tags:
Gulfport, IL – Congressman Bobby Schilling toured the village of Gulfport and Henderson County today with Mayor Rich Myers to examine the ongoing recovery and lasting damage from the 2008 flood that devastated the area. The levee that gave way on June 17, 2008 essentially washed away the village of Gulfport and inundated 28,000 acres of Henderson County with floodwater that sat stagnant for months. Natural disasters like the flood have had a massive impact on the community, devastating homes, places of business, and local farmland.
"Almost three years later, there is still much work to be done," Schilling said. "So much was damaged when the levee broke – Gulfport alone lost around 130 homes. The impact of the flood on the folks of Henderson County in terms of their day-to-day lives and the community’s economy has been felt immensely over the last few years."
Schilling feels that the federal government did not respond to the flood as promptly and aggressively as it should have. It was declared a federal disaster a full week after the levee broke, and the first visit to Gulfport by a federal official took place eight months after the fact. Schilling plans to look into ways to improve the federal response while ensuring that communities like Gulfport remain a priority.
"I want to thank Mayor Myers for taking the time to show me around Henderson County and see the area myself," Schilling said. "My staff will continue looking into ways to be of assistance to the folks here in Henderson County, and I plan on reaching out to the appropriate people at the federal level to see what we can do. We need to modernize and streamline federal processes to allow towns like Gulfport to appropriately plan for and efficiently recover from disasters like this."
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