Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a disaster declaration Tuesday for 23 counties as the region recovers from a storm that flooded roads, submerged cars, delayed flights, left at least one person dead and damaged more than 100 homes.
The state's declaration includes Dallas and Tarrant counties and the governor said additional counties may be added as the storm system makes its way through the state.
Abbott said the Dallas-Fort Worth area was the most impacted by rain and flooding this week and that residents need to report any damage to the Texas Division of Emergency Management by filling out an online survey as well as filing a claim with their insurance company.
According to Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd, in order to qualify for federal assistance, a state needs to recognize a little under $50 million in uninsured losses to public property, and damage to at least 800 uninsured homes. Abbott said Tuesday about 100 homes have been impacted so far.
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We asked the governor how confident he was in getting a federal disaster declaration.
"It just depends on what it adds up to and so we are gathering information as we speak right now. Obviously, the state disaster declaration was made today and we've got to add up all of the damages across the entire state to see if we qualify for the federal disaster declaration. I did have a very encouraging conversation with the new FEMA administrator and she really wants to work with Texas and help Texas," said Abbott.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson spoke during Tuesday's news conference and said the city will do everything it can to help those impacted by the storm.
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"Every single time our city has been tested we’ve proven our strength, our resilience, and of course our generosity,” said Johnson, who called the flooding a once-in-a-thousand-year weather event. “We’ve dealt with a series of unprecedented, so-called unprecedented disasters in the city. Whatever you want to call it, whatever time frame you want to put on it, we got hit pretty hard and we got hit in a historic way.”
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said some officers may have to double-up during patrols after the storms damaged police vehicles.
"Losing 28 patrol vehicles is not positive. But we are going to have to do what we can. Double up officers, two-person patrol and possibly more until help is on the way," said Garcia.
Local declarations were also made in Tarrant County and in Dallas County, which allows for state and federal officials to make recovery resources available.
