FEMA Residential Substantial Damage Assessments in San Leon After Hurricane Ike

Following Hurricane Ike on September 13, 2008, Huitt-Zollars was called upon by Galveston County (County) to assist them in their emergency response efforts.  Within 24 hours of notice to proceed from the County, Huitt-Zollars mobilized six two-man emergency response teams to conduct flood damage assessments of residential areas within the San Leon area of Galveston County.  San Leon is located on the west side of the Galveston Bay and incurred considerable damage from storm surge and hurricane force winds.  During a three week period, our teams inspected nearly 1,200 flood-damaged residences using the requirements of FEMA’s Residential Substantial Damage Estimator (RSDE), documented the damage to the structures and electronically prepared the data for submission to the County and FEMA.  Upon request by the County, Huitt-Zollars then mobilized five two-man assessment teams to Bolivar Peninsula to conduct over 300 RSDE assessments.  The Bolivar Peninsula was nearly wiped out from the storm surge and winds from Hurricane Ike with few residences of the original 6,000 remaining to be assessed.