Drought, Wildfire Threat Lead to Disaster Declaration in Texas

Saying exceptional drought conditions pose a wildfire threat in a large swath of West and Southwest Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration for counties in those areas of the state.

Abbott said drought conditions pose a threat of imminent disaster in Andrews, Bailey, Bandera, Bexar, Brewster, Briscoe, Brooks, Brown, Cameron, Castro, Cochran, Comal, Crane, Crosby, Culberson, Dawson, Deaf Smith, Dimmit, Duval, Ector, El Paso, Floyd, Frio, Gaines, Hale, Hidalgo, Hockley, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Kendall, Kenedy, Kinney, Lamb, La Salle, Loving, Lubbock, Lynn, Martin, Maverick, Medina, Midland, Parmer, Pecos, Presidio, Randall, Reeves, Starr, Swisher, Terrell, Terry, Upton, Uvalde, Ward, Webb, Wheeler, Winkler, Yoakum, Zapata, and Zavala counties.

The counties included in the disaster declaration have experienced significantly low rainfall and prolonged dry conditions that continue to increase the threat of wildfire across these portions of the state, the governor’s announcement said. “The drought conditions pose an imminent threat to public health, property and the economy,” according to the announcement.

The disaster declaration authorizes “the use of all available resources of state government and of political subdivisions that are reasonably necessary to cope with this disaster.”

Source: Texas Governor’s Office

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Texas Wildfire