East Texas counties awarded money to repair Hurricane Ike

EAST TEXAS - Smith County will receive $507,365 in disaster relief funds to help with damages sustained during Hurricane Ike, the East Texas Council of Governments (ETCOG) announced Thursday.

The funding is part of $9,224,832 the Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) allowed ETCOG to allocate to eligible entities affected by Hurricane Ike. Other counties eligible for these grant funds include Anderson, Cherokee, Gregg, Harrison, Marion, Panola, Rusk and Upshur.

Of the $9,224,832 in disaster relief funds, $8,809,706 of it will be allocated for infrastructure repair as follows:

· ANDERSON $445,995
· CHEROKEE $3,145,570
· GREGG $2,592,290
· HARRISON $874,781
· MARION $121,283
· PANOLA $238,825
· RUSK $549,523
· SMITH $507,365
· UPSHUR $334,074
· TOTAL $8,809,706.

ORCA will distribute the remaining $415,117 as housing funds to Smith, Cherokee, Gregg, Rusk and Harrison Counties. These funds must be used to repair civilian houses damaged during Ike and will be distributed as follows:

· CHEROKEE $218,570
· GREGG $40,933
· HARRISON $72,523
· RUSK $68,802
· SMITH $14,289
· TOTAL $415,117.