Dallas County officials are pushing for a federal disaster declaration so that residents whose homes or businesses were damaged or destroyed can get individual assistance 鈥� and the money wouldn't have to be repaid.
But Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said two things are required before an area is deemed a 鈥渄isaster鈥� by the federal government: a recommendation from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and a signature from President Joe Biden.
鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 do that if only 30 homes are destroyed,鈥� Jenkins said. "They definitely do that if 400 homes are destroyed. And we鈥檙e talking about for the state of Texas.鈥�
Last week, parts of Dallas County received more than 15 inches of rain in less than a day. A 60-year-old woman died in her car; Jenkins said she was an Uber driver.
In a presentation billed as the 鈥淪tate of the County,鈥� Jenkins said people have submitted 677 damage reports in Dallas County, including 44 businesses. Over 250 of those were structures that were destroyed or sustained major damage.
his own disaster order last week for 23 counties in the state, saying officials needed to 鈥渁ggregate the damages across the entire region.鈥�
Residents are encouraged to as officials prepare a report on the damage. FEMA鈥檚 website says any request must come .
鈥淎 lot of people, for whatever reason, maybe because they don鈥檛 have good broadband, because they鈥檙e not tech savvy, they鈥檙e not doing it,鈥� Jenkins said of the new tool. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e going door to door helping neighborhoods with that.鈥�
According to Jenkins, the homes must be uninsured in order to qualify for federal aid. He said a request for a disaster declaration was because most of the damaged North Dallas homes had insurance.
Although he said he was confident that flood areas of Texas would be deemed a disaster, if the application is denied, it鈥檚 possible the Small Business Administration would issue individual loans to families to help them rebuild.
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