Polk County is one of the 15 counties eligible for FEMA’s Individual Assistance Program which assists with with expenses such as temporary housing, emergency home repairs, uninsured and underinsured personal property losses, disaster legal services, disaster unemployment assistance, and medical, dental, and funeral expenses caused by Hurricane Beryl.
Acting Governor Dan Patrick announced Friday that FEMA amended the Major Disaster Declaration for Hurricane Beryl to include 15 Texas counties he requested for FEMA’s Individual Assistance program. For this request to be approved, Texas and FEMA had to assess damaged homes, as required by federal law, before making the request.
Qualifying Texans in the following counties are eligible for FEMA’s Individual Assistance program: Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto, Walker, and Wharton counties. Texans who live in these fifteen counties can apply for FEMA disaster assistance online at disasterassistance. gov or by calling 800-621-3362. Additional counties may be requested for federal assistance following completion of damage assessments required by federal law and regulations. Texans are encouraged to report damage caused by Hurricane Beryl using the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool (iSTAT) online survey by visiting damage. tdem.texas.gov. Reports can be voluntarily submitted in English and Spanish and are not a substitution for contacting your insurance company.
While the Polk County Judicial Center, Polk County Annex Building, County Judge’s Office and the Tax Office in Livingston are now open to the public, the Onalaska Sub-Courthouse and Corrigan Sub-Courthouse remain closed to the public.
With Polk County under a heat advisory this past week, cooling centers were established at the Polk County Commerce Center, the Onalaska Fire Station and the Corrigan City Hall. Additionally, the Texas State Guard was in town distributing water, ice and MREs at Pedigo Park. Supplies were limited and were rationed to ensure that everyone got what they needed.
FEMA has not yet set a date for the reopening of the FEMA Disaster Recovery Center located at the Livingston Municipal Library. Emergency Management will announce its reopening upon notification from the Texas Division of Emergency Management and FEMA.
Texas Health & Human Services received federal approval to allow SNAP recipients impacted by Hurricane Beryl to apply for replacement benefits for food lost or destroyed. Recipients in 121 counties listed in Acting Governor Dan Patrick’s disaster declarations can apply by dialing 2-1-1 and selecting Option 8. Those applying for replacement benefits have until August 8 to apply. For a list of affected counties and additional resources, visit: https://bit.ly/4bEzRyo
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