Barack Obama issues disaster declaration for October flooding
President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a disaster declaration for 15 counties in Texas for damage caused by the late October flooding. The move opens up financial assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to anyone whose home or business was damaged by “severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding” from Oct. 22 to Halloween.
Residents and business owners who register and are approved for the FEMA money will get help with short-term housing needs, emergency home repairs, clean-up costs and other expenses. Additionally, the federal Small Business Administration will provide low-interest loans to home and business owners for repairs related to the disaster. Affected people are asked to visit www.DisasterAssistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362 to sign up for aid.
Residents in southeastern Travis County have been desperate for help after the Halloween Eve flooding, which unexpectedly inundated neighborhoods that had little to no history of flooding, killing three in the area. Frank Garza, 44, lost his mother, Inez Garza, when Dry Creek overflowed and swept through the Thoroughbred Farms area, where his parents have lived for 37 years. The disaster left his father and two siblings without a home, and Garza has been hosting 8 to 10 family members each night since the flooding at his apartment in the Booker T. Washington Terraces, an Austin public housing complex.
The FEMA aid will help, Garza said, but it would have helped more three weeks ago.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/barack-obama-issues-disaster-declaration-for-octob/npWfX/
