GALVESTON — Authors of the Hurricane Ike Impact Report, released Monday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, estimate the storm’s final damage tally could reach into the tens of billions of dollars.

Not long after it made landfall on Sept. 13, leaving a trail of destruction along the upper Texas coast, Ike was labeled the third costliest storm in U.S. history.

By the end of December, the federal government had paid out $300 million in housing assistance, $1.8 billion in public assistance to local governments and another $300 million for other individual needs, according to the report.

Those numbers will only grow as recovery efforts continue.

Federal officials describe the report, a first for the agency, as a “living document,” one that will change with time. It is designed to compile information for use in the state’s long-term recovery process, Federal Coordinating Officer Stephen M. DeBlasio Sr. wrote in his introduction to the document.

Ike left Texas property owners with about $3.4 billion in total housing damage. About 27 percent of the losses attributed to wind damage and about 61 percent of the losses attributed to flood damage were uninsured, the report says.

The state is likely to need about $2.4 billion for to repair infrastructure and erosion and to dredge waterways.

Damage to water and wastewater plants and other governmental buildings tops $1.7 billion.

And state officials estimate it will take another $131.8 million to repair damaged sections of the transportation system.

Twelve major hurricanes have hit the upper Texas coast in the last 119 years.

Recovery efforts should focus on mitigation, reducing damage during future storms, federal officials say.

The city’s long-term community recovery committee will meet for the first time Thursday.

The committee will make a list of priorities for the island’s recovery and identify specific projects that will meet the community’s goals in each area.

The plan and list of projects is supposed to be presented to the city council in late March.

© 2009 The Galveston County Daily News. All rights reserved.