President Obama Swiftly Approves Governor's Request For Immediate Aid To Flood Victims [UPDATE]

AUSTIN, TX -- President Obama on Monday approved the Texas governor's request for so-called "Individual Assistance" grants for residents in flood-ravaged counties still reeling from last week's downpours.

Gov. Greg Abbott made the request for grants of up to $33,000 for affected residents in four counties, apart from his having declared several counties as disaster areas. Residents in the impacted areas of Texas are now eligible for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency by virtue of Abbott's previous disaster area declarations.

But on Sunday, Abbott took a step further to help residents of counties affected by the damage left in the wake of last week's severe storms. Harris County was especially hard hit, with 17 inches of rain in 24 hours.

The individual grants are a more immediate source of funds for affected residents. Obama quickly approved Abbott's request the day after receiving his 22-page letter outlining the need.

“I would like to thank the President and FEMA for quickly granting Texas’ request for Individual Assistance following last week’s severe weather,” Abbott said in a prepared statement. “The State of Texas will continue to work with our local and federal partners to aid Texans recovering and rebuilding from flood damages and ensure all those affected receive the assistance they need.”

The federal government granted Individual assistance for four counties following the governor’s April 22nd Disaster Declaration: Fayette, Grimes, Harris and Parker Counties.

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From April 24:

AUSTIN, TX -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday reached out to President Barack Obama in requesting "Individual Assistance" grants for residents affected by torrential downpours in four counties.

In a letter send to the president on Sunday, the governor asks for presidential endorsement to provide emergency grants for individuals in Harris, Fayette, Grimes and Parker counties. The request follows the governor's prior declaration of those and other counties as "disaster areas," which paves the way for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds eligibility for affected residents.

The latest request also stems from last week's severe storms that caused catastrophic flooding throughout the state. If the request is granted by President Obama, affected residents in the four counties would be eligible for individual grants of up to $33,000 from the federal government as well as low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

"If granted, and as further damage assessments are conducted in coordination with local officials, additional counties may be added as they meet federal requirements for assistance," a statement from the governor's office reads.

The governor's office provided a copy of the letter Abbott has written to the president, dated April 24. In a prepared statement, Abbott outlined his motivation for reaching out to the president to make his plea.

“As Texans recover from the severe flooding that inundated several areas of Texas, it is crucial they receive the financial assistance needed to restore their communities,” Abbott said in a statement. “In facing these challenges, Texans have displayed enormous courage – with more than 1,000 rescues from the rising waters.

"With much-needed financial assistance, I am confident Texans will continue to overcome the challenges before them as they begin to rebuild their lives.”

The letter to the president is not a one-pager, but 22 pages of correspondence richly detailing the flooding impacts at various counties from strong storms that began last Sunday, April 17. Colorful charts, maps and photos of flooding are included in the multi-page letter to illustrate the scope of damage.

The request for individual assistance is made under provisions of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act that require presidential approval. In the letter, Abbott lays out the scope of the affected area due to flooding -- a huge swath of Texas real estate comprising a collective population of 19.7 million people (72 percent of the total population of Texas.

"Of the 254 counties in Texas, 151 counties have been declared in one of these disasters," Abbott writes. "Of those 151 counties, 42 of them have been declared in two or more of these disasters."

Stated another way: "Those 19.7 million people living in a Texas county hit by disaster is greater than the populations of 48 states," Abbott says in conveying the need further.

Last week, the governor acted quickly in declaring nine Texas counties as disaster areas in the wake of flooding -- singling out Houston in Harris County as hardest hit, with 17 inches of rain falling in just 24 hours there. Days later, he added nine more counties to the list.

In declaring a region as a "disaster area," Abbott clears the way for affected residents to apply for financial assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Being in a disaster area during natural disasters is a requirement for FEMA aid eligibility.

Abbott's reaching out to Obama for help on behalf of residents is something of a departure on his past stances related to federal aid. In a standoff over Medicaid expansion in Texas that was tinged with political ideology, Abbott last year reiterated his opposition to amplified access to medical care.

Even as billions of federal dollars for hospitals were said to be in jeopardy if the state didn't expand its public health insurance program to cover more low-income Texans, Gov. Greg Abbott reiterated his opposition to Medicaid expansion — a plank of the president's health care law, as the Texas Tribune reported.

Valued at $29 billion, the Texas waiver that provided federal funding for hospitals was set to expire this year with the 2015 legislative session the last chance for lawmakers to negotiate a renewal before the expiration.

On April 19 of this year, Texas officials began the process of securing an emergency 15-month waiver from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services) that would extend financing for programs designed to cover the unpaid bills of Medicaid-eligible patients who haven't signed up for the program, reported the website Healthcare.

Texas is one of 19 states that haven't expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The state has the largest pool of uninsured people in the country.

But as it relates to flooding -- with millions of Texans still reeling from the impact of nature's wrath -- the specter of partisanship has evaporated: "It has been a challenging year," he writes Obama succinctly in seeking the presidential signature for federal grant assistance.

To read Abbott's entire letter to President Obama, click here.