Williamson County changes gears, declares local flooding disaster [Austin American-Statesman]

Nov. 06--Update 3:45: Despite initial suggestions the county might not qualify for aid, Williamson County Judge Dan A. Gattis signed a disaster declaration on Wednesday requesting assistance with the costs incurred during the response and recovery operations of the Halloween floods.

Williamson County joins Austin and Hays County, which declared last week's floods a local disaster in the hopes of getting state and federal money to help pay for damage.

Earlier: Williamson County will likely not follow in the footsteps of its counterparts in Austin and Hays County, which declared last week's floods a local disaster in the hopes of getting state and federal money to help pay for damage, a county emergency management official said.

The heavy storms bypassed much of Williamson County, and so far, county and city officials have counted 20 homes that sustained water damage, compared with hundreds in Travis County.

The threshold to be considered for U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans is around 25 damaged households that don't have flood insurance or are underinsured, said Jarred Thomas, the county's emergency management coordinator, in an interview.

"We got really lucky compared to what we thought was going to happen," said Thomas, later explaining that the deluge could have looked similar to Tropical Storm Hermine, which devastated parts of Williamson County in 2010.

On average, the county saw about 10 inches of rain during the deluge, most of it in the Round Rock and Hutto areas, between Interstate 35 and Texas 130, Thomas said in a presentation to county commissioners this week.

If the state issues a disaster declaration, the county may issue one so that its damage counts toward Texas' total, Thomas said in an interview. The county could then get a cut of any aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

An assessment by Williamson County found that three homes on CR 123 sustained water damage, as well as one off CR 129. Two homes in Hutto have reported water damage, and 14 homes in the Round Rock area sustained damage from flooding, city officials said.

Thomas estimates that the cost of clean up and repairs throughout the county will be less than half a million dollars.

Williamson County will spend roughly $120,000 cleaning and repairing county roads damaged by the storm, according to a Road and Bridge Division report. About $20,000 will go toward the removal of brush, trees and other debris from county roads, and the rest of the money will cover the cost of repairing 14 county roads.

For most of those roads, a layer of asphalt known as a seal coat washed away during the deluge. CR 198 in the Hutto area collapsed at a culvert, and part of CR 343 in the Bartlett area washed away.

Round Rock will spend about $10,000 repairing Oxford Boulevard's asphalt, which was completely lifted up and removed from the material underneath during flooding, city spokesman Will Hampton said. The city plans to finish paving the road by the week's end, and is also fixing flood gate anchors at Lake Creek Park today, Hampton said. There's no overall estimate yet of how much clean up and repairs will cost the city, Hampton said.

The city of Hutto also doesn't have a total estimated cost because workers are still assessing damage, assistant city manager Micah Grau said.

Additional costs have popped up for repairs to damaged equipment, county and city officials said.

One fire engine from Emergency Services District No. 3, which serves Hutto, sucked up water into its engine when first responders drove it through water that flooded the intersection of Texas 130 and U.S. 79, Chief Scott Kerwood said.

"That area, we had never seen water in it," Kerwood said.

The cost of fixing the engine is undetermined, and Hutto has borrowed a reserve engine from Taylor, Kerwood said. Hutto's engine should be back in service by the end of the week, Kerwood said.

A Williamson County Sheriff's Office car was also flooded and repairs will cost about $300, Capt. Fred Thomas said.

Then there's the cost of paying employees on flood duty.

Round Rock estimates it will spend about $15,000 on equipment, personnel and other staffing costs related to flooding, Hampton said. The cost to Hutto of calling in additional staff came in just over $1,000, Grau said. Overtime pay for employees with the Williamson County Sheriff's Office has not been calculated yet, Thomas said.

Most roads and public areas that shut down last week because of flooding have opened up. Hutto Lake Park likely won't open until next week.

"We don't want the water draining out quickly and flooding the creek again," Grau said. "So we're waiting for that process to be done."

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