President Joe Biden declares disaster in Texas. Here’s how to get financial help
President Joe Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for Texas, making federal emergency funds available to individuals and business owners who sustained damages and losses due to the winter storm that battered the state over the last week, the White House announced Saturday.
The declaration makes funding available to residents in over 70 counties, including Tarrant, Dallas, Denton, Collin, Parker, Hood, Ellis, Kaufman, Johnson, Palo Pinto, Rockwall and Wise counties, the White House announced. Texans who have suffered damage to their homes or businesses such as broken pipes because of the weather can apply for financial assistance at www.disasterassistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362.
The funding, which comes through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is also available to state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations.
Biden partially approved Texas’ request for help as only 77 counties will receive direct assistance, Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. The governor wanted assistance for all 254 counties.
“I thank President Biden for his assistance as we respond to impacts of winter weather across our state,” said Abbott said. “While this partial approval is an important first step, Texas will continue to work with our federal partners to ensure all eligible Texans have access to the relief they need.”
The harsh winter weather began its deadly effects on Feb. 12 when six people died in a pileup of over 100 vehicles on I-35W in Fort Worth due to the icy road conditions. Then, millions were left without power in the days that following causing deaths, prompting boil water notices, and forcing people to seek shelter at warming centers.
It was not until Thursday, about four days after outages began, that Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Twitter that power outages weren’t due to the lack of generation because of the storm, but because of a downed power line or the need for the power company to manually reconnect.
As of Saturday morning, there were 79,963 outages across the state and 3,898 outages in Tarrant County — small numbers compared to the millions that braved freezing temperatures that prompted some to seek shelter away from their homes.
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 10:25 AM.
