Governor Abbott Requests Federal Extension For Major Disaster Declaration Deadline For June Severe Weather
Governor Greg Abbott yesterday sent a letter requesting an extension of the deadline to submit a Major Disaster Declaration request from the federal government following a series of severe storms and deadly tornadoes that impacted communities across Texas last month.
“Our request to extend the initial declaration request period is due to the size of the impacted area, ongoing additional disasters in the impacted region, and the need to distinguish damages caused by the severe weather and tornadoes that repeatedly impacted the state for over a week,” reads the letter. “FEMA, the State of Texas, and local jurisdictions are working nonstop to ensure damage assessments are validated accurately and the full geographic scope of the disaster is realized.”
The Governor requested a 30-day extension from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which mandates that a request for a federal disaster declaration be submitted within 30 days of an incident.
Governor Abbott also encouraged local electric cooperatives to submit expenses for damage to electricity infrastructure to the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM).
Additionally, Governor Abbott urged Texans who sustained property damage to homes or businesses to continue reporting it using TDEM’s Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool (iSTAT). The information provided in the survey helps emergency management officials gain an understanding of damages that have occurred and determine if the state meets federal requirements for various forms of disaster assistance. The survey is available in both English and Spanish by visiting: damage.tdem.texas.gov.
Following the swift deployment of resources as severe weather impacted the northern half of the state in June, the Governor declared a state of disaster for 23 Texas counties: including Camp, Cass, Fisher, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Hopkins, Jones, Kent, Leon, Marion, Montgomery, Morris, Motley, Nolan, Ochiltree, Panola, Shelby, Smith, Stonewall, Titus, Upshur, and Wood.
This is the latest action in Texas' efforts to respond to severe storm impacts:
- Following damage caused by severe weather, tornadoes, damaging wind, large hail, and heavy rainfall, the Governor updated the state’s disaster declaration on June 23 to include additional Texas counties.
- On June 22, the Governor directed TDEM to request Joint Preliminary Damage Assessments with local, state, and federal partners.
- After severe storms caused damage to Matador and communities in the South Plains and Big Country regions, the Governor directed TDEM to mobilize additional response and recovery resources and updated the state’s disaster declaration on June 22 to include additional impacted communities.
- As Northeast Texas communities continued severe weather response and recovery efforts on June 21, the Governor deployed additional assets and added multiple counties to the state’s disaster declaration.
- Governor Abbott updated the state’s disaster declaration on June 19 to include additional Texas counties affected by severe storms and activated additional state response resources to Northeast Texas.
- On June 18, Governor Abbott provided an update on the state’s ongoing response and recovery assistance for local communities following severe weather moving through Texas.
- Governor Abbott held a briefing with state and local officials in Perryton on June 17 and provided an update on state response following the deadly tornado in the Panhandle.
- On June 16, the Governor issued a disaster declaration for Texas communities impacted by severe storms and tornadoes that caused significant damage to homes and businesses in Ochiltree and Cass counties.
- On June 15, Governor Abbott directed TDEM to deploy state emergency response assets to the town of Perryton immediately following a devastating tornado in Northwest Texas.