Abbott issues disaster declaration, seeks fed help

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CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS 

Gov. Greg Abbot has issued a disaster declaration for Texas counties affected by the early February ice storm and is seeking a federal declaration as well for areas in Southeast Texas affected by rare January tornadoes. The ice storm caused considerable damage to property and power outages in the affected areas. The declaration for ice-storm damaged counties includes Denton, Hays, Henderson, Milam, Smith, Travis and Williamson counties.

“Through this disaster declaration, we will be able to provide additional assistance to Texans and communities who have experienced property damage and localized power outages from this ice storm,” Abbott said.

The ice storm brought tree limbs snapping and crashing onto power lines. More than 170,000 Austin households were without power for several days, with some going more than 10 days without power.

Abbott also requested a presidential disaster declaration for counties in Southeast Texas hit by tornadoes and severe storms in late January. That request includes Harris, Jefferson, Liberty and Orange counties. If that request is granted, residents and businesses in those counties would have access to federal loans and grants.

A wet January for parts of the state

January brought above-average rainfall for large swaths of East Texas while the rest of the state had below-average precipitation, hydrologist Mark Wentzel wrote in the Texas Water Development Board’s monthly report. Drought conditions expanded by five percentage points to include 54% of the state, while statewide storage in water supply reservoirs is at 72.5% of capacity, down about 10 percentage points from what is normal this time of year.

Drought conditions have been all but eliminated in the eastern portion of Texas, while much of the state is in moderate to severe drought conditions. The worst drought conditions now are in a circle of counties around Bexar County.

Wentzel predicted that except for northeast Texas, much of the state will see expanded drought conditions.

“However, with the anticipated breakup of La Niña conditions later this year, there is some hope that the rest of Texas may see at least some easing of drought conditions as early as May,” he wrote.

Final round of emergency SNAP benefits

This month brings the final allocation of emergency food benefits provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and distributed to eligible households by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The extra minimum of $95 per household began during the start of the COVID-10 pandemic and has provided nearly $10 billion in added food benefits since its inception. However, Congress recently passed legislation ending the emergency benefits, which go to about 1.6 million Texas households.

“We’re thankful that we’ve been able to help millions of Texans by providing more than $9.7 billion in additional benefits since the Families First Coronavirus Response Act was passed,” said Wayne Salter, HHSC deputy executive commissioner.