Governor Abbott Announces FEMA Approval Of Additional 18 Texas Counties For Major Disaster Declaration
Governor Greg Abbott today announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has added 18 more Texas counties to President Biden's Major Disaster Declaration for Individual Assistance. These 18 counties were included in a request submitted by the State of Texas yesterday for the addition of 54 counties to the declaration.
"Thank you to our federal partners at FEMA for granting approval for these 18 counties," said Governor Abbott. "I look forward to working with them to ensure the remaining counties in this request are approved, as well as other counties throughout our state who are in need of assistance."
The Governor originally requested Individual Assistance for all 254 Texas counties on February 18th. On February 20th, the White House partially approved Texas' request for a Major Disaster Declaration. The partial approval included Individual Assistance in 77 counties and for Public Assistance (Emergency Protective Measures Only) in all 254 counties. On Monday, the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) re-requested — and FEMA approved — an additional 31 counties to be added to the President's Major Disaster Declaration for Individual Assistance.
Additional counties will be re-requested as the State of Texas continues to receive information reported from individuals who have suffered damage from the winter storm. Texans are urged to fill out the TDEM's State of Texas Assessment Tool (iSTAT) to help the state identify damages across Texas and help emergency management officials gain an understanding of damages that occurred during the recent winter weather. FEMA has asked the state of Texas for additional information regarding the amount of damage in the counties that have yet to be declared, and TDEM will continue to present that information until all Texas counties that qualify for federal assistance receive the assistance they need.
The 18 counties include Atascosa, Bandera, Brooks, Duval, Eastland, Ector, Goliad, Howard, Jim Hogg, Karnes, Kleberg, Leon, Llano, Newton, Robertson, Trinity, Webb, and Willacy.