Name: Biden signs major disaster declaration for 77 Texas counties, plans to visit the state next week
Brand: dallasnews.com
SKU: dallasnews-com-365
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Biden signs major disaster declaration for 77 Texas counties, plans to visit the state next week

preview

10:45 AM on Feb 19, 2021 CST — Updated at 9:14 AM on Feb 20, 2021 CSTUpdated at 9 a.m. Saturday with Biden signing declarationAUSTIN — President Joe Biden has declared a major disaster for much of Texas, the White House said Saturday morning, as thousands continued without power.The declaration covers 77 counties that include most of the state’s population, including Dallas and its neighboring counties, and the counties that include Houston, San Antonio and Austin.Biden signed it late Friday, after telling reporters earlier in the day that he would do so as soon as the state’s request made its way to his desk. The declaration triggers individual assistance, public assistance and hazard mitigation, while also allowing eligible Texans to apply for assistance with broken pipes or property damage from the winter storms.Gov. Greg Abbott said during a press conference Friday that there are no longer any residential power outages due to the lack of power generation, though roughly 165,000 households remain without power caused by either downed power lines or the need for power companies to manually reconnect the residence to the power system.Abbott said Thursday that the state is continuing to deploy resources, but nearly 18,500 Austinites still sat without power as of Friday afternoon in a city also experiencing wide-spread water outages on top of a boil water notice.At the White House, Biden said Friday morning that he will sign a major disaster declaration for Texas, and plans to visit next week though he didn’t specify where.“We’re going to sign that declaration once it’s in front of me,” he told reporters in the East Room.Texans in Congress had written FEMA’s acting director asking for that declaration, expanding on an emergency declaration Biden signed on Sunday.“FEMA is already there and providing support – generators, diesel fuel, water, blankets, and other supplies,” Biden said, adding that he has directed the departments of housing, Health and Human Services, USDA and defense to identify resources that could help Texas.“I’m going to be a president for all of America,” he said.As for flying to the state, he said, “I had planned on being in Texas the middle of next week but what I don’t want to be is a burden. When the President lands in any city in America, it has a long tail.”Biden approved a Federal Emergency Declaration request Sunday, though the state took a nosedive the following night as temperatures plummeted into the single-digits and power outages swallowed the state. On Friday evening the White House said he expected to sign the major disaster declaration later in the day, once FEMA forwarded Abbott’s formal request to him.Tonight, I called Governor Greg Abbott to discuss the ongoing situation in Texas and identify ways we can support the state’s recovery from this storm. I made clear to the Governor that I’ll work relentlessly to get his state what they need. — President Biden (@POTUS)Biden said Thursday night that he called Abbott to discuss the ongoing situation, writing in a tweet, “I made clear to the Governor that I’ll work relentlessly to get his state what they need.”The declaration request comes as projections reveal that the winter storm could be the , as reported Thursday. With the winter freeze reaching all 254 Texas counties, insurance claims could top the $19 billion costs of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and even the $20.1 billion adjustment for inflation, according to Camille Garcia, the communications director for the Insurance Council of Texas, a trade group for Texas’ home, auto, renters and business insurance agents.While the costs are certainly vast, for thousands of Texans, the first priority is still finding warmth and access to clean water. Austin, just like half of Texas, is under a boil water notice, though some have been without running water since Tuesday or earlier.As of Friday morning, a map presented on the city website shows a significant portion of Austinites are experiencing a water outage.Austin Water finally has a map of outages. Guess what? Most of the city has no water. — Matt Largey (@mattlargey)Executive Director for Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), Toby Baker, said roughly 1,000 local public water systems that serve over 14 million Texans are currently affected by either frozen or broken pipes.Abbott nor Baker could not give a specific timeline for restoring water.“Part of the challenge with regard to the timing of it is really going to be up to the local level, because water supply is under total control of the local level,” Abbott said.He also added that broken pipes will be one of the biggest challenges throughout the next week.Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) Chief Nim Kidd said Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Abilene will all be receiving shipments of water by air Friday, and that water bottles will be delivered for “as long as it takes” until safe water is restored.“The reason we are using air is because the roads are still wet, the roads are still icy, and the place where water is right now is backed up with trucks waiting to be loaded so they can get on the road to make deliveries,” Kidd said.Abbott encourages homeowners and renters to get on the phone with their insurance providers as soon as possible to ensure that their providers are working to cover busted water pipes. If property damage is not covered, Abbott said the state is working with FEMA under the declaration to get funds to Texans as soon as possible.Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Austin Mayor Steve Adler joined the San Antonio, Fort Worth, Arlington and Houston mayors Friday in sending a request to the Secretary of Homeland Security for FEMA to extend its reimbursable expenses to damages experienced by property owners.“Residents deserve every bit of relief as we continue our recovery efforts,” San Antonio mayor Ron Nirenberg wrote in a tweet.I've initiated a request with mayors across Texas for to extend their reimbursable expenses to damages incurred by property owners as a result of this storm and the accompanying mandated blackouts.Residents deserve every bit of relief as we continue our recovery efforts. — Mayor Ron | Wear a mask! 😷 (@Ron_Nirenberg)Abbott also requested on Friday a USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) disaster designation for Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties along with others that are contiguous to a designated county. This would provide agricultural producers who have lost substantial production due to the winter storm with federal assistance such as emergency loans.Abbott will request that the USDA extend the disaster designation to other counties as additional losses are examined, according to a press release .“Texas agricultural producers continue to be greatly affected by the severe ice and freezing temperatures; these weather conditions have substantially affected producers and caused severe production losses,” Abbott said Friday in the letter to the USDA. “These producers are in need of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) assistance to return to normal operations.”Texas citrus has suffered roughly $305 million in losses to crops in the designated counties, according to estimates by Texas Citrus Mutual the letter said. Total damage has not been calculated at this time, though it is evident that daily production has been disrupted by several crises: COVID-19, power outages and freezing temperatures.As of 7 a.m. Friday morning, Oncor Electric Delivery reported 4,378 active outages and 102,019 affected customers with 11,594 of those affected residing in Dallas County and another 9,320 in Tarrant County. However, the good news is that Oncor believes a of customers who were still without power all week should expect to have it restored by Friday evening.ERCOT also announced Friday morning that rolling outages have come to an end as parts of Texas start to climb above freezing temperatures and power continues to get restored.Grid conditions are improving, and rotating outages are ending. Conservation is still critical. 09:07:00 190221— ERCOT (@ERCOT_ISO)Also falling in the rare good news category this week: The agency that oversees the state’s power grid, Electric Reliability Council of Texas, tweeted Friday morning that there were no additional outages overnight despite lingering sub-freezing temperatures.According to , there were roughly 127,000 Texans without power as of Friday evening.Washington Bureau Chief Todd J. Gillman contributed to this report.Receive the latest political news delivered every Tuesday and Thursday from reporters in Austin, Dallas and Washington.By signing up you agree to our

10:45 AM on Feb 19, 2021 CST — Updated at 9:14 AM on Feb 20, 2021 CSTUpdated at 9 a.m. Saturday with Biden signing declarationAUSTIN — President Joe Biden has declared a major disaster for much of Texas, the White House said Saturday morning, as thousands continued without power.The declaration covers 77 counties that include most of the state’s population, including Dallas and its neighboring counties, and the counties that include Houston, San Antonio and Austin.Biden signed it late Friday, after telling reporters earlier in the day that he would do so as soon as the state’s request made...

Biden signs major disaster declaration for 77 Texas counties, plans to visit the state next week

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS