HOUSTON – Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Hurricane Harvey flood victims on Thursday described the federal and state funding needed for housing and recovery after the natural disaster in August.
The news conference was held at City Hall at 2:30 p.m.
The group discussed the need to repair and replace damaged homes.
"Almost 6 feet of water in my house,” said Deborah Williams.
Williams is one of the tens of thousands of the victims of Hurricane Harvey. Williams, as well as 5,000 other Houstonians, still stay in hotels.
"I don't know how long I'll be able to stay there because they don't do it for free," Williams said.
Williams and others affected and devastated by Harvey joined Turner to ask for help from the federal government.
Congress is debating spending bills that may include flood relief funding. The results are expected later Thursday.
Turner agreed that Texas needs $61 billion in help.
Turner said the $81 billion being considered in Washington to assist Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico is a start. He said he wants to quickly rebuild and to prevent catastrophic flooding.
He also said lawmakers need to take action now.
"It is urgent. And literally, there are thousands of people living in homes that need to be remediated," Turner said.
Turner also announced a new website to track aid for Houston.
You can find it at www.postharvey.org.
He also said he asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for a $200 million line of credit from the state to help speed up the rebuilding process.
Turner said as debris piles disappear and life appears to be normal for some, he did not want the faces of victims like Williams to be forgotten.
"Since almost four months have passed, (and) I'm homeless still," Williams said.