HOUSTON – A family is still trying to rebuild after Hurricane Ike damaged their home, which burned to the ground about a month later.
During Hurricane Ike, it was the storm surge that got them.
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The Ellis family had lived in the same home for decades, and suddenly it was submerged in 4 feet of water.
"I think it's an experience we can look back later and say, 'Wow, we made it through this,'" Elvin Ellis said in September 2008.
Three years later, 69-year-old Ellis and his wife, Erline, are still trying to make it through. About a month after KPRC Local 2 talked to them, the family's home burned to the ground. An electrical short was the culprit.
It has been a heartbreaking road of disappointments ever since. The couple lives in a cramped camper next to their destroyed home. A tent outside houses clothes and their refrigerator.
The Ellis family was under insured, but thought they had found a lifeline with something called the Harris County Disaster Recovery Program.
"The program was put in place to help homeowners that had Hurricane Ike damage repair or rebuild their homes," Agency Director Daphne Lemelle said.
In theory, the local program using federal funds was a godsend for more than 600 Harris County families down on their luck. But the reality of it is more stark.
Local 2 investigates has learned that years after the storm and the program's creation, 70 percent of approved homeowners have not yet had a single nail hammered on their behalf.
"I believe that this has taken a little longer than we expected," Lemelle said.
Lemelle told Local 2 investigator Joel Eisenbaum the delays can largely be traced back to shifting federal guidelines and funding issues. But Lemelle said things are about to change in a big way, particularly for the Ellis family.
"This is really it, Joel. I can sit and say they will be in construction within the next 30 to 45 days, if not sooner," Lemelle said.
"You know, I want hope that way, but I have a lot of trepidation just because we have been put off so many times," Erline Ellis said.
