Emergency Preparation is Critical to Natural Disaster Recovery
Last updated 2/8/2008 at Noon
Last updated 2/8/2008 at Noon
Some of the largest wildfires in Texas history caused 12 fatalities, burned 730 homes, destroyed nearly 10,000 head of cattle, scorched over 800,000 acres of land, and resulted in millions of dollars in lost crops.
These casualties heavily burdened many families, and Texas ’ agriculture industry was hit hard.
Drought and fires caused an estimated $4.1 billion in crop and livestock losses in nearly 200 Texas counties.
In the aftermath of the 2006 fires, I worked with my colleagues in Congress to secure funding to offset some of the monetary losses, particularly those incurred by Texas ’ vital agriculture industry.
I also worked with the USDA to ease guidelines for ranchers on the grazing and feed shortages that resulted from those fires.
Under this provision, should a catastrophic event take place, the USDA would be able to immediately tap this fund to hasten recovery efforts and come to the aid of impacted farmers and producers.
Texas producers wouldn’t have to wait for Congress to approve additional funding requests.
Texans who suffer loss of crops, livestock, or other produce would be eligible for benefits, up to 75 percent of what was lost in the disaster.
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