Williamson County declares flooding disaster, seeks aid [Austin American-Statesman]

Nov. 06--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 from last week's floods.

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

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 damaged homes include three on CR 123, one off CR 129, two homes in Hutto and 14 in Round Rock, officials said.

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.

--How to give and receive help for Central Texas flood victims

Still, the county's Office of Emergency Management called for the evacuation of 88 homes, and the disaster declaration says as much as 8 inches of rain fell in parts of Williamson County.

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, according to a Road and Bridge Division report. About $20,000 will go toward the removal of brush, trees and other debris, 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 the asphalt on Oxford Boulevard, which was completely lifted up and removed from the material underneath during flooding, city spokesman Will Hampton said. The city also estimates it will spend about $15,000 on equipment, personnel and other staffing costs related to flooding, Hampton 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.

------

If you have flood damage

Williamson County residents may report their damage at www.wilco.org/oem. Residents are encouraged to report their damage so the county can receive the proper level of assistance.

___

(c)2013 Austin American-Statesman, Texas

Visit Austin American-Statesman, Texas at www.statesman.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services