Llano County officials are encouraging residents to report to the state any damage that occurred because of the winter storm that wreaked havoc last week.
“The February 2021 freeze was truly an historic event for Llano County,” said Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham, in a news release on Monday. “We declared a local disaster on Feb. 15, but individual damage reporting is needed.”
The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) created a “Self-Reporting Survey” to allow residents to report damage to their homes or businesses. The information also will be used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to determine the amount of aid for Llano County residents.
“(This) assists Llano County in more accurately tracking damage, which will be very useful for our county’s Disaster Summary Outline (DSO) and increasing the level of Federal Support for our community,” Cunningham said. “Due to the widespread nature of this incident residential damage could be just about anywhere within the county.”
Winter storm hurdles
The winter storm of 2021 will not soon be forgotten, especially by residents who lost electricity and water.
As of Monday, just over 100 addresses were still without power, according to the Llano County Sheriff’s Office.
“As far as Water goes, Buchanan Dam got water back up yesterday evening. Sunrise Beach has a few places where leaks have been found and are working to correct them. Horseshoe Bay got water back up and running last night as well,” according to the department, which posted frequently during the storm to keep folks updated.
The News asked PEC for the number of its customers in Llano County who lost power, or who were still in the dark after more than a week, but the utility company did not provide that information.
“Most of the outages that exist currently are in the western part of our service territory, especially the Junction area; crews are working on each of those at the moment and we hope to get those repairs completed later today,” said PEC spokesman Mike Viesca, on Monday. “During the peak of the storm, we simultaneously experienced outages due to equipment failure (wires downed by tree limbs, poles down, blown transformers, etc.) as well as the ERCOT-directed rolling outages. Our control center managed these outages and crews were dispatched accordingly. Hazardous conditions on the roadways also made it challenging for lineworkers to reach outage areas quickly.”
Reporting damages
Cunningham said that reporting damages to the TDEM is voluntary and is not a substitute for reporting damage to an insurance agency. It also does not guarantee disaster relief assistance.
“Even if you have insurance you are still encouraged to fill this survey out,” he said. “It reflects all the damages that Llano County had in the past weeks.”
The disaster relief process began even before the winter storm hit the Lone Star State.
On Feb. 12, Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in all 254 counties based on the threat of severe winter weather which posed an imminent threat of widespread and severe property damage, injury, and loss of life due to prolonged freezing temperatures, heavy snow and freezing rain.
On Feb. 14, the federal government issued a Federal Emergency Declaration for Texas, which triggered FEMA to provide emergency protective measures for mass care and sheltering and Direct Federal Assistance for all Texas counties.
“It is important for our residents to understand that the original response from FEMA only qualified Llano County for limited public assistance relief for mass care and sheltering during the storm,” Cunningham said. “Now, as our residents recover from this brutal weather, we need all residents and business owners’ assistance in ensuring Llano County qualifies for individual assistance, which will be provided by FEMA and made directly to eligible individuals and families who have sustained losses due to this disaster.”
That’s where the survey comes in.
To report damages, fill out the Texas Individual Assistance Reporting Tool, which is available at: www.TDEM.texas.gov/warm. A link to the survey also is available on the county’s website.
For people without internet, contact the Llano County Emergency Management office at 325-247-2039 for assistance.
For additional information regarding the Disaster Declaration, contact Emergency Management Coordinator Gilbert Bennett at 325-247-2039 or email at: [email protected].
