Joe Biden Expands Texas Disaster Declaration After Severe Storms

President Joe Biden extended a presidential disaster declaration in place over seven counties in Texas that have been rocked by severe weather over the past month.

Following the Thursday announcement, the counties of Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity and Walker are now eligible for additional assistance under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) public assistance program.

Texas has been hit by a wave of extreme weather since late April, which has included powerful thunderstorms triggering flooding and tornadoes. Last week, thunderstorms including winds of 110 miles per hour tore through the Houston area, leaving at least four people dead, according to the city’s mayor.

Biden first partially approved Governor Greg Abbott’s request for a major disaster declaration for a number of the Texan counties worst hit since April 26 on May 17, then extended this further on May 23.

Abbott welcomed the extension in a post on X, commenting: “Today, the Presidential Disaster Declaration was amended to include additional disaster assistance for impacted Texas counties. Working together, we will ensure Texans have all the resources they need to recover and rebuild from severe storms.”

The Texas governor also posted a press release in which he said: “Today’s partial approval for FEMA assistance will help provide critical aid to communities across our state who have been impacted by recent severe storms.

“I thank our federal partners for continuing to work with us to ensure Texans have the resources needed to recover and rebuild.”

According to the statement, Biden’s amended disaster declaration “authorizes all categories of work under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance program for seven designated counties to utilize grand funding for emergency work and repair or replacement of disaster-damaged public infrastructure.”

It also states that a request from Abbott for FEMA’s public assistance program to be extended to a further 21 counties hit hard by bad weather is currently under review.

It concluded: “Governor Abbott continues to direct the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to work with local, state, and federal partners to ensure all other Texas counties that meet their federally-set Public Assistance thresholds are added to this federal declaration.”

Newsweek contacted the White House press office and Abbott by email outside of normal working hours.

According to the White House press release of May 17 announcing Biden had accepted Abbott’s request to declare a major disaster in Texas, FEMA’s Benjamin Abbott was appointed “to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.”

On Thursday, thousands of people across Texas were left without power as further thunderstorms hit the weather-battered state. According to PowerOutage.us around 46,000 people in Bell County were without power just before noon, along with nearly 2,000 in Coryell County.