Bush declares 6 Texas counties disaster areas
Posted on 07/04/2002 8:02:00 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Bush declares 6 Texas counties disaster areas
07/04/2002
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas - President Bush declared six counties in Central and South Texas disaster areas Thursday, making federal aid available to a region pounded this week by rain that has killed at least seven people and caused extensive damage.
The declaration comes as hundreds of people were being evacuated from homes and campgrounds around Canyon Lake as water threatened to pour over a rain-swollen dam.
Bush's declaration makes federal funding available to people affected by the flooding in Bexar, Blanco, Comal, Hays, Kerr and Medina counties. Assistance can include disaster housing, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, grants and other programs to help individuals and businesses recover from the disaster.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency said damage surveys are continuing in other areas and additional assistance and counties may be added after assessments are completed, said David Passey, a FEMA spokesman. Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday declared a state disaster for 29 South and Central Texas counties.
Water from Canyon Dam, located about 30 miles northeast of San Antonio, was expected to begin to spill over Thursday afternoon, said New Braunfels Mayor Adam Cork. It would be the first time in the 45-year history of the dam, which is at 943 feet above sea level.
"It's just a little over a foot from happening. It will happen," said Tim Kolbe, a Comal County Sheriff's Office spokesman. "It's not an if, it's a when."
In San Antonio, officials discovered two bodies in a car in the Olmos Basin, bringing the death count to at least seven.
The Army Corps of Engineers began opening the dam's floodgates at 10:30 a.m. to lower the water level. The gates are designed to release a maximum of 5,000 cubic feet of water per second when fully open, said Judy Marsicano, a corps spokeswoman.
However, once the water begins to flow over the spillway, the gates will be gradually closed to reduce the amount of water flowing into the Guadalupe River at one time.
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Perry declares disaster, issues aid to South, Central Texas
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