County residents encouraged to file self-reporting damage survey following winter weather eventS

by Staff reports

The Texas Division of Emergency Management is encouraging residents of the 177 Texas counties – among them Cherokee, Anderson and Rusk counties – that were not included in President Joe Biden’s Feb. 20 Texas disaster declaration to fill a self-reporting survey that will help provide a better idea of the impact of the winter weather event spanning Feb. 21-27.

“We are providing @FEMA with damage totals so they can make a determination to provide assistance to these additional counties,” TDEM officials said. “The objective of this survey is to identify damages across Texas, to help emergency management officials across the state gain an understanding of damages that have occurred during the recent winter weather.

Report damages to damages by following links posted at https://tdem.texas.gov/warming-center/

The Feb. 20 disaster declaration states that “assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.”

Funding also will be available to state and eligible local governments, as well as certain private nonprofit organizations “on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures and hazard mitigation measures statewide,” it noted.