Newsom working to qualify Hopkins for FEMA assistance
No one was spared from Winter Storm Uri as it swept across Hopkins County and rest of the Lone Star State, and Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom said the county suffered an estimated loss of $1.5 million during the storm.
Currently, Hopkins County is not one of the 126 counties approved for FEMA disaster assistance.
To further prove their case for FEMA relief, the county declared a local state of disaster Monday and implemented the emergency management plan. Newsom also urged residents to fill out a survey about individual damages because as of Wednesday, less than 10 in the county were reporting damages, according to an email from congressman Pat Fallon’s district director Dody Brigadier to Newsom.
“That [the survey] will help us into the mix,” Newsom said. “Yes, we are left out right now, but we expect to make it onto the list pretty quick.”
That survey can be found at damage. tdem.texas.gov.
“We need people to fill out that survey,” Newsom said. “It’s one of the ways we’ll receive the attention we need from the state and federal government.”
Being approved for FEMA disaster assistance opens a door for funds from different programs that the county could not previously apply for, Newsom said. Newsom also said local elected officials Fallon, Bryan Slaton and Bob Hall are working to ensure Northeast Texas is covered.
Of the $1.5 million in damages, the county estimated $500,000 in business losses, $940,000 in public assistance and $144,000 in agricultural losses. Newsom reported one livestock owner had to sell their entire herd due to health problems. Agricultural losses need to be reported through Hopkins County Extension Agent Mario Villarino, who can be contacted at mario.villarino@ag.tamu.edu.
“We’re over $1.5 million in estimated damages, but truthfully, when the evidence comes in, it may be even more,” Newsom said.
If the county qualifies for FEMA assistance, it may take months or years to work with the agency, Newsom said, harking back to the 2015 flooding disaster for which the county also received FEMA assistance.
“We had so much rain that it very badly damaged our roads,” Newsom said. “We just closed some of those programs. It took five years to get it all done under the federal guidelines.”
However, the Hopkins County community has pulled through the worst of the crisis and is picking up the pieces.
“Hopkins County has certainly experienced major losses through this catastrophe, but Hopkins County, as always, is resilient,” Newsom said.