Flooding Prompts Disaster Declaration
Texas Press Association
Heavy rains through Texas last week caused flooding, particularly in the Dallas area, prompting Gov. Greg Abbott to issue a disaster declaration for 23 affected counties. Texans who were affected by the rain, which dumped more than 10 inches in Dallas, are encouraged to file insurance claims with their providers and to complete the voluntary Self Reporting Damage Survey issued by the Texas Department of Emergency Management by visiting damage.tdem.texas. gov. The survey helps the state identify damage across Texas to gain an understanding of what areas were affected during the recent severe weather.
Counties included in the disaster declaration are Camp, Culberson, Dallas, Duval, Ellis, El Paso, Henderson, Hopkins, Hudspeth, Kaufman, Kerr, Live Oak, Marion, Montague, Navarro, Pecos, Rains, Smith, Tarrant, Upshur, Van Zandt, Webb and Wood. Additional counties could be added as damage is assessed.
Burn Bans Lifted; Fire Danger Drops The heavy rains across a chunk of the state have reduced the wildfire risk, with the Texas A&M Forest Service for the first time in months not responding to any active wildfires. The number of counties with burn bans has dropped to 166. At its high point, 224 counties in the state were under burn bans.
The number of counties under extreme or exceptional drought has dropped as well. The percentage of Texas in the “exceptional drought” category dropped by more than half to 12.4%, according to kut.org.
Battleship Texas Headed to Galveston For Repairs The Battleship Texas will leave its home at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site on Aug. 31 and make its way to the Galveston Shipyard for repairs, weather and tides permitting. A livestream video of the departure will be available to the public on the Battleship Texas Foundation’s YouTube channel and Facebook group page. The former U.S. Navy battleship was launched on May 19, 1912, and saw action in World War I. It also escorted war convoys across the Atlantic during World War II, fought at Normandy on D-Day, and provided naval gunfire support in the Pacific during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The ship was decommissioned in 1948.
While in dry dock, the ship’s hull will be repaired or replaced from four feet above the waterline down to the bottom, thanks to $35 million in funding provided by the 2019 Texas Legislature. The grand reopening of Battleship Texas is expected to be sometime in 2024.