President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Texas as the state recovered from a severe winter storm that initially left millions of people without power amid extremely cold temperatures.
Biden’s action makes federal funds available to communities in 77 counties. Additional disaster assignments can be made after additional damage assessments.
On Saturday morning, Texas reported nearly 80,000 power outages across the state, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us.
Boiled water warnings remain in effect in 189 counties after more than 1,300 public water systems have reported service interruptions due to the weather, affecting more than 15.1 million people, the Texas Environmental Quality Commission said in a statement on Saturday in the morning.
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Federal aid includes subsidies for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover losses from uninsured property and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster, the White House said in a statement on Saturday in a statement. .
Biden’s declaration of major disaster also unlocks federal aid to eligible local government offices and certain private nonprofits on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protection measures and hazard mitigation measures across the state.
FEMA’s acting administrator, Robert Fenton, has appointed Jerry Thomas as federal coordinating officer for federal recovery operations in affected areas.
