Published: April 08, 2009 01:43 pm      

Big Red: Knocked down but fighting back

About 2,000 FEMA trailers now in Bridge City

BRIDGE CITY — One of the hardest hit communities by Hurricane Ike had to be Bridge City.

Surrounded by water, this town of more than 8,000 people was literally flooded by Ike’s storm surge as nearly every area of the city experienced a few inches of standing water to several feet of standing water. Some homes had seven to nine feet of standing water in them at one point.

Despite this massive blow to the community, Bridge City is steadily making progress and trying to return as it was prior to Hurricane Ike.

Nearly all of the approximately 3,500 homes in Bridge City sustained some form of water damage because of the most recent hurricane. At last count only 14 houses did not have water damage.

At last report, approximately 2,000 FEMA trailers were in the Bridge City area, but that number has started to decline.

“We are actually having some FEMA trailers be deactivated,” said Kirk Roccaforte, Bridge City mayor. “That means people are getting back into their houses, and that’s a good thing.”

As far as city facilities, Roccaforte said most have been repaired and reopened, but a few do remain in need of work.

“We are hoping to finally start working on the Community Center in April,” Roccaforte added. “It has been occupied by the Church of Christ group which came in to help our community after the storm, and they are leaving soon. It needs to be totally remodeled.”

Roccaforte said he believes the city’s population figure might be less than what it was prior to Hurricane Ike, but he does not believe it is much different.

“Honestly, it’s hard to tell at this point,” he said. “I think we might lose some people, but we have a lot of new people buying up houses and fixing them and moving into them, so I think our population will remain about the same.”

Roccaforte credits an excellent school system in Bridge City and a warm citizenry which make Bridge City an attractive place to live, despite Ike’s damage.

Ike’s storm surge dealt setbacks to the business community as well in Bridge City.

Most businesses were closed, with a few exceptions, but reopened as repairs were made.

“We have several restaurants which have finally reopened or new ones which are taking the places of those that we lost,” Roccaforte said. “I would say 90 percent of them are back up. And we have some others which are interested in coming to Bridge City, but no contracts have been signed.”

Depending on which neighborhoods you drive through, the damage and repair work is still clearly visible. Yet, progress is being made, albeit slow and steady.

“Bridge City will get back to normal, but it will probably be two to three years before we get back to what might be considered normal,” Roccaforte said.