Alabama Gov. Riley Reports Great Progress in Recovery Efforts From Ivan

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley on Sunday said Alabama’s recovery efforts continue to make great progress in delivering water, ice and other assistance to victims of Hurricane Ivan. Riley also encouraged residents to follow up on all insurance matters so they can proceed with rebuilding and recovering from Ivan.

“The state is working closely with FEMA and our local officials to do everything we can as quickly as we can to help victims and restore a sense of normalcy to their lives,” the Governor said. “Critical needs such as water and ice are moving out to devastated areas around the clock, power is being restored and almost $2 million in grants to individuals have already been approved.”

“We will continue to work with the state of Alabama to address the immediate life-sustaining and recovery needs of Alabamians,” added Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response Michael Brown, who oversees FEMA. “We remain committed to the state’s long-term recovery for as long as it takes to help the people of Alabama and their hard-hit communities get back on their feet after Ivan’s devastating blow.”

As of 1:30 p.m. Sunday, power had been restored to more than 775,000 customers throughout the state. At peak outages, more than 1.1 million customers had lost power from Alabama Power Co., TVA and rural electric associations.

Alabamians are also reportedly responding to Gov. Riley’s reminders to register for disaster assistance. As of Sunday at 4 p.m., 22,987 Alabamians had called FEMA’s toll-free telephone number 1-800-621-FEMA to apply for help. These individuals have been approved for $1.9 million in federal disaster aid to repair homes, provide for temporary housing and assist with other vital needs.

The Alabama Department of Insurance also has a toll-free number for people to call with questions about insurance. That number is 1-800-433-3966.

On Saturday, Gov. Riley announced that all major state roads except those along the coast had been cleared of debris and are open. Within 48 hours, Alabama Department of Transportation crews were able to open more than 70 roads that had to be closed due to the hurricane.

Five shelters remained open on Sunday with 215 people in them. That’s down from the peak on Thursday when 144 shelters housed more than 14,000 people.