GALVESTON, Texas (NBC NEWS) - Hurricane Ike washed away 75 percent of the homes on Galveston Island and shutdown businesses in the historic downtown "Strand" area.

While hotels and resorts are ready for the summer, most of the residents still aren't back in their homes yet and 400 FEMA representatives are still on the ground in the area - 8 months after the storm.

And now the slow and painful recovery must continue with the threat of a new hurricane season.

In this island town of resorts and restaurants the start of the summer tourist season, can't come fast enough.

But there's another season rapidly approaching that also has the attention of so many in Galveston, Texas.

On the eve of another hurricane season, there is still a lot of work. And a lot of worry for those struggling to recover after Ike.

"Everyone's on edge because you don't know. I mean. I guess, the first thing people think about is could it be as bad as it was before," said Ike survivor Mary Welch.

There are painful reminders everywhere, empty, buckled slabs, stripped trees rusted, and twisted metal.

All scars from Ike that now more than eight months later still haven't healed.

"There's definitely grieving that still goes on,” said Welch.

Across the bay on Bolivar Peninsula bulldozers finish the work that Ike began.

Cranes lift and toss "handfuls" of splintered homes.

Piles of debris dot the ravaged barren landscape for miles.

There are roadways still covered with sand, the cars that used to drive them, stacked in a makeshift graveyard.

Power crews string cable. There is still no phone service for many. Still there is hope, that echoes in the buzz of a saw.

But the sounds of recovery can't drown out the lingering fear of what would happen if the island takes another hit.

"It would devastate us. I mean it would. I don't think that I don't think that we'd ever bounce back if we had another one especially now," said Welch.

And so they work, watch and wait as the next storm season begins.

A new Mason-Dixon poll indicates a majority of residents along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts are not prepared for this hurricane season.

The poll shows 83 percent said they have not taken any steps to make their homes safer for the season.

Sixty-six percent don't have a hurricane survival kit and 55 percent don't have a family disaster plan.

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