Obama OKs disaster aid for 12 counties
Flooded homeowners can apply for grants up to $33,000 to rebuild
President Barack Obama on Saturday approved a request from Gov. Greg Abbott for federal aid to the Texas counties hardest hit by the latest run of storms that flooded thou- sands of homes.
Obama declared a major federal disaster in 12 counties, including Brazoria, Fort Bend and Montgomery, where powerful storms washed away cars, swamped houses and businesses and flooded roads.
“It’s needed. We’ve seen widespread devastation,” said Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta. “There’s going to be millions of dollars, and probably hundreds of millions of dollars, in damage.”
Sebesta said the process to determine which homes, businesses and roads are seriously damaged, and how much it will take to fix them, will take months.
The president already had declared disasters in many of the same places after flooding in April — an unfortunate fact that Abbott highlighted in his letter requesting another round of federal help.
“Texans have always risen to meet the challenges they face, and this time will be no different,” Abbott said Saturday in a statement. “With this latest development Texans can now begin the process of rebuilding their lives after experiencing some of the worst flooding in recent history.”
Other counties may be added to the request for assistance once they meet the threshold required by the federal government to request federal disaster aid, Abbott said.
With a presidential declaration, people whose homes were damaged or destroyed can apply for a grant up to $33,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The amount will depend on the severity of the damage.
In addition to repairs,
some money can be used for certain medical expenses, funeral costs and damage to clothing or household items, among other losses.
Abbott has declared a disaster state in 46 counties since June 1, but his request for federal aid covers only those with stormrelated damage “of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments.”
Abbott wrote that the most recent storms, which began May 26, dumped up to 20 inches of rain in parts of Southeast Texas that typically receive between 40 and 50 inches of rain a year.
Authorities estimated that the flooding destroyed or damaged more than 5,500 houses and nearly 300 businesses. The severe storms were blamed for at least 20 deaths.
In addition to the large counties around Houston, the other counties that will benefit are Austin, Brazos, Grimes, Hidalgo, Hood, San Jacinto, Travis, Waller and Washington. Harris County was not included in the request for federal dollars.