Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the U.S. Small Business Administration for a disaster declaration covering South-Central Texas communities damaged by severe storms in August, a step that would open federal disaster loans to Bexar County and its contiguous counties. The governor’s office announced the request in a Sept. 9 news release.
If the SBA approves the request, the agency would provide low-interest loans through its disaster programs to qualifying Texans whose homes and businesses sustained damage during the severe weather, including damage caused by tornadic activity, thunderstorms, hail and straight-line winds, according to the release.
“This request to the SBA will deliver critical resources to Texans whose homes and businesses took damage in the August storms,” Abbott said in the release. “With our federal partners, Texas will give qualified families and businesses the tools they need to rebuild. Texas will deliver every necessary resource to Bexar County.”
The request follows a damage analysis conducted by local, state and federal officials at the governor’s direction, the release said. That analysis verified that Bexar County meets the federally required thresholds for SBA assistance.
Officials also reviewed disaster damage details that Texans provided through the state’s self-reporting Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool, known as iSTAT, according to the governor’s office. Affected Texans can continue to report damage online at damage.tdem.texas.gov, the release said.
A federal declaration is the step that makes the SBA’s disaster loan programs available in a defined area, and the governor’s office said the request covers Bexar County along with the counties that border it.