WOW at that video Shoshana. That one's been sending smoke signals over here to DFW.
It's about time on that federal major disaster declaration. Without getting into politics, I did some research for some perspective on the declaration:
All information is from here:
http://www.fema.gov/news/disasters.femaWe had one declaration signed on July 1st:
http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=14975It only applied to the fires we had back in April, and only covered a limited number of counties:
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/news/pda/1999.pdfNow we have this. It appears to only cover Bastrop County.
http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=15672Those are both "Major Disaster Declarations". What we HAVE had are lots of "Fire Management Assistance Declarations":
Number Date State Incident
2967 09/08 Texas Big Oak Fire
2966 09/08 Washington Monastery Fire Complex
2965 09/06 Texas Bear Creek Fire
2964 09/06 Texas Riley Road Fire
2963 09/06 Texas Moonglow Fire
2962 09/06 Texas Tamina Fire
2961 09/05 California Canyon Fire
2960 09/05 Texas Steiner Ranch Fire
2959 09/05 Texas Pedernales Bend Fire
2958 09/04 Texas Bastrop County Fire Complex
2957 09/04 Texas Hodde Fire
...And many more prior to that.
Now looking at some of the other major disaster declarations, they all seem to take about a week to get to the president's desk:
Major Disaster Declarations
Number Date State Incident Description Designated Counties
4029 09/09 Texas Wildfires Link to 4029 Declared Counties page
4028 09/03 Massachusetts Tropical Storm Irene Link to 4028 Declared Counties page
4027 09/03 Rhode Island Tropical Storm Irene Link to 4027 Declared Counties page
4026 09/03 New Hampshire Tropical Storm Irene Link to 4026 Declared Counties page
4025 09/03 Pennsylvania Hurricane Irene Link to 4025 Declared Counties page
4024 09/03 Virginia Hurricane Irene Link to 4024 Declared Counties page
4023 09/02 Connecticut Tropical Storm Irene Link to 4023 Declared Counties page
4022 09/01 Vermont Tropical Storm Irene Link to 4022 Declared Counties page
4021 08/31 New Jersey Hurricane Irene Link to 4021 Declared Counties page
4020 08/31 New York Hurricane Irene Link to 4020 Declared Counties page
4019 08/31 North Carolina Hurricane Irene Link to 4019 Declared Counties page
4018 08/30 Iowa Severe Storms and Flooding Link to 4018 Declared Counties page
4017 08/27 Puerto Rico Hurricane Irene Link to 4017 Declared Counties page
Irene hit Puerto Rico on August 22, North Carolina August 27, and New Jersey August 28. Well maybe it doesn't take a week in places that aren't Texas, but it certainly takes a few days. Tropical Storm Lee's massive floods haven't hit Obama's desk yet.
The July 1st disaster declaration was amended several times to add other counties (notably, Palo Pinto wasn't included until August 18th despite having the massive Possum Kingdom fire back in April), so hopefully other counties like Cass, Montgomery, Waller, Travis, Williamson, Bexar, Harris, Smith, Harrison, Palo Pinto again....the list goes on and on....will be added soon.