Drawn-Out Recovery From Hurricane Harvey Could Hurt Sylvester Turner In December Runoff

Turner’s challenger, Tony Buzbee, says the incumbent mayor hasn’t done enough to help Houstonians recover from the 2017 storm.

By Jill AmentDecember 4, 2019 12:46 pm, ,

Later this month, incumbent Sylvester Turner will face millionaire trial lawyer Tony Buzbee in a runoff election for mayor of Houston. Regardless of the outcome, it will likely be a defining moment in Turner’s political career; he’s been in politics since the 1980s, serving as a member of the Texas Legislature for over 25 years.

But Mike Morris, city hall reporter for the Houston Chronicle, says one event during Turner’s tenure could be the thing that determines his reelection: Hurricane Harvey.

“[It was] the largest rainstorm ever to hit the continental United States,” Morris says, “and there are thousands of Houstonians who are still trying to make repairs to their homes, and thousands more who hope that the city or county or someone will be able to put them less at risk the next time one of those storms rolls ashore.”

Morris says Buzbee claims Turner hasn’t done enough to help Houstonians recover from the storm.

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– How city officials say Houston is unprepared for flooding from future storms

– How the city has helped only a small fraction of people, so far, whose homes were damaged by Harvey

– Whether the Harvey recovery problems are mainly the fault of Turner and the city of Houston

– How likely it is that Turner will win

 

Written by Caroline Covington.