Governor Declares Disaster Areas Following Nicholas

Seventeen Southeast Texas counties have been declared disaster areas after Hurricane Nicholas came ashore, dumping more than a foot of rain and cutting off power to a half-million customers in Texas, according to poweroutage.us. That number had been reduced to about 4,200 as of Sunday.

Counties included in Gov. Greg Abbott’s declaration are Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Galveston, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Orange, Refugio, San Patricio, and Victoria.

The Texas Department of Insurance has a number of tips for those affected by the storm:

· Call your insurance company to report damage.

· Take pictures and video of the damage. Don’t throw anything away until your insurance adjuster tells you.

· Make temporary repairs to prevent more damage. Remove standing water. Cover broken windows and holes to keep rain out.

· Keep a list of the repairs and save receipts. Don’t make permanent repairs before the insurance adjuster sees the damage.

For more information from TDI, go to the website, www.tdi.texas.gov/consumer/storms/home-damaged-faq.html.

Haitians Refugees Prompt Bridge Closure

Thousands of Haitian refugees fleeing political unrest and a severe earthquake have flooded into Del Rio on the Texas-Mexico border, prompting the city’s mayor to declare an emergency and close the bridge with more than 15,000 migrants crowded beneath it.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz blamed the situation on President Joe Biden, reported the San Antonio Express-News.

Border agents are working to process those who crossed, while the Biden administration on Saturday accelerated flights to deport migrants back to Haiti. Abbott called it a “border crisis” and ordered Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and the Texas National Guard to maintain a presence around ports of entry in an attempt to deter additional entries.

Despite the influx of migrants at Del Rio, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said there were 2% fewer overall encounters of migrants along the border in August than July.

Abbott backtracked on an order to shut down entry points along the border, which the state does not have the legal power to do, unless granted permission by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to the Houston Chronicle. The federal government, not states, has ultimate authority over the country’s borders.

Cases Drop, Deaths Increase

The number of new COVID-19 cases in the state decreased about 7% from the previous week, with 111,565 reported by the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University. However, new deaths were up slightly, with 1,800 reported as of Sunday.

The number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas dropped slightly, with the Texas Department of State Health Services reporting 12,246 inpatients, down 7.8% from the previous week. However, with 3,618 of those hospitalized in intensivecare unit beds, the total number of available staffed adult ICU beds declined to just 277 statewide, with only 86 pediatric ICU beds available in the entire state.

The number of Texans who are fully vaccinated continues to creep upward, with 14.46 million reported in the state, according to DSHS. That is 49.6% of the state’s total population.

Lizard Making Comeback

A coalition of zoos and wildlife scientists has released into the wild 204 captive-raised hatchlings of the once ubiquitous Texas horned lizard, more commonly known as the horny toad. New evidence indicates that previously released lizards are successfully reproducing, according to a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department news release.

The horned lizard is one of 1,300 Texas species of concern, which are rare or declining and need special efforts to prevent being listed as endangered under state or federal regulations.