Tuesday, August 29, 2017 11:07 AM
Abbott Activates Entire TX National Guard; Most Uninsured; Harvey Set to Return; Trump to Corpus, Austin Today; SCOUTS Issues Stay.
I tried my best to eliminate all the superfluous information here but the way this website is set up there are triggers which when you try to delete certain parts, it automatically deletes the entire email so once again I am asking you to simply scroll down past everything UNTIL you reach the words “HURRICANE HARVEY”. There is an absolute wealth of information contained here for everyone but especially for those affected by Hurricane Harvey regarding what your insurance will and will not cover—what happens to the value of your property—what you can do—the IMPORTANCE of at least getting your claims started BEFORE this Friday because of new legislation in the pipeline and much much more. I advise taking the time to disseminate this information because it could have a huge impact. Please share this email with all those you know who are affected by this disaster. Blessings, Marge
Matt Mackowiak, Must Read Texas [mailto:matt=potomacstrategygrp.com@mail242.suw16.rsgsv.net]
Here’s what you need to know in Texas today.
View this email in your browser
MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak
TUESDAY – 08/29/17
GOOD MORNING
Good early Tuesday morning from Austin.
President Trump visits Corpus Christi (landing at 11am) to receive a briefing on relief efforts with Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders and relief groups. He will then visit Austin (arriving around 2pm) where he will tour the state’s Emergency Operations Center and receive a briefing with state leaders, departing Austin for Washington around 4pm.
If you want to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey,
text HARVEY to 90999 to give $10 to the Red Cross
. Or visit RedCross.org to give any other amount.
JJ Watt’s relief effort fundraising campaign has surpassed $1 million.
—
TODAY IN AUSTIN
IMPORTANT DATES
> Filing period closes: Monday, Dec. 11, 2018.
> Primary Election Day: Tuesday, March 6, 2018.
> Election Day: Tuesday, November 6, 2018.
DO US A FAVOR
mustreadtexas@gmail.com
or
@MustReadTexas
. Go forth and prosper!
NEW
: “Mack on Politics,” the
new national politics podcast
hosted by
Matt Mackowiak
from Austin, TX, produced in partnership with
The Washington Times
, has been up and running for three months and has now surpassed 45,000 downloads with no advertising and
54 five-star ratings
in the iTunes store.
We began by looking at the upcoming border wall funding battle and assess the potential for a government shutdown. Then we examined whether a realignment in American politics is underway.
Finally we talked about what it’s like covering the White House, how the media is doing today, and look ahead to the future of journalism.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/matt-mackowiaks-mack-on-politics/id1188095065?mt=2
HURRICANE HARVEY LATEST (4:15am)
: Per
AP
— The National Hurricane Center says heavy rain from Harvey is expected to worsen flooding in Southeast Texas and southwestern Louisiana.
The center says in its 4 a.m. CDT advisory that flooded roadways continue to make travel difficult and advises people to take shelter.
The storm center was marked 135 miles (217.25 kilometers) south-southwest of Port Arthur, Texas, and was moving east at 3 mph (6 kmh) with sustained winds of up to 45 mph (75 kmh).
The storm was expected to make a slow turn to the northeast on Tuesday, placing the center just off the middle and upper Texas Gulf coast through Tuesday night before moving inland. Harvey is expected to produce 10 to 20 additional inches or rain over the upper Texas coast and southwestern Louisiana through Thursday, with isolated storm totals maybe reaching 50 inches over the Houston-Galveston area and the upper Texas coast.
HURRICANE HARVEY LATEST (2:15am)
: Per
AP
— Crews overwhelmed by thousands of rescue calls during one of the heaviest downpours in U.S. history have had little time to search for other potential victims. But officials acknowledge the grim reality that fatalities linked to Harvey could soar once the devastating floodwaters recede.
Even worse, officials now worry that the worst may be yet to come.
More than three days after the storm ravaged the Texas coastline as a Category 4 hurricane, authorities worry that the tropical storm now parked over the Gulf Coast will return and deliver a knock-out blow to a Houston region already ravaged by devastating downpours generating an amount of rain normally seen only once in more than 1,000 years.
Some fear that may be more than the nation’s fourth-largest city could bear.
FROM TUESDAY: GOVERNOR ABBOTT ACTIVATES ENTIRE TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD IN RESPONSE TO HURRICANE HARVEY DEVASTATION
— Governor
Greg Abbott
today announced he has activated the entire Texas National Guard in response to Hurricane Harvey, bringing the total number of deployed guardsman to roughly 12,000. These National Guardsman will assist in the ongoing search and rescue effort for any Texans in immediate danger, and will be heavily involved in the extensive recovery effort in the aftermath of the storm.
“It is imperative that we do everything possible to protect the lives and safety of people across the state of Texas as we continue to face the aftermath of this storm,” said Governor Abbott. “The Texas National Guard is working closely with FEMA and federal troops to respond urgently to the growing needs of Texans who have fallen victim to Hurricane Harvey, and the activation of the entire Guard will assist in the efforts already underway. I would like to thank FEMA Administrator Brock Long, as well as all our brave first responders for their hard work in helping those impacted by this terrible storm.”
“While this is still a dangerous situation with a long response effort ahead, the state and people of Texas are resilient,” said FEMA Administrator
Brock Long
. “FEMA was here before the storm hit, and we will be here as long as needed, actively coordinating the full resources of the federal government, to support Gov. Abbott and the state.”
“The men and women of the Texas National Guard are working around the clock to support all relief efforts from Hurricane Harvey,” said Maj. Gen.
John F. Nichols
, Texas Adjutant General. “We will not rest until we have made every effort to rescue all those in harm’s way. We will remain here as long as we are needed. I want to thank Governor Abbott for his continued leadership and look forward to serving the great people of Texas.”
The Texas Guard currently has approximately 3,000 personnel activated and mobilized for operations relating to Hurricane Harvey rescue and recovery. This new mobilization by Governor Abbott send those who are physically able, not currently deployed, preparing to deploy or in a combat preparation cycle to answer the call for help and assist their fellow Texans in need. All Texas Military Department personnel should report to their respective units for further instructions.
Office of Governor Abbott
MOST HARVEY FLOOD VICTIMS UNINSURED, FACE BIG BILLS ALONE
:
AP’s
Bernard Condon
&
Ken Sweet
— Homeowners suffering flood damage from Harvey are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms — a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast.
Insurance experts say only a small fraction of homeowners in Harvey’s path of destruction have flood insurance. That means families with flooded basements, soaked furniture and water-damaged walls will have to dig deep into their pockets or take on more debt to fix up their homes. Some may be forced to sell, if they can, and leave their communities.
“All these people taken out in boats, they have a second problem: They have no insurance,” said
Robert Hunter
, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America.
Harvey made landfall in Texas late Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and has lingered off the coast, dropping heavy rain as a tropical storm. Hunter expects flood damage alone from the storm to cost at least $35 billion, about what Katrina cost. But in that 2005 hurricane about half of flooded homes were covered by flood insurance.
With Harvey, only two of 10 homeowners have coverage, Hunter estimates.
Homeowners insurance typically covers just damage from winds, not floods. For that, you need separate coverage from the federally run National Flood Insurance Program. The insurance must be bought by homeowners with federally-backed mortgages living in the most vulnerable areas, called Special Flood Hazard Zones.
People in those areas and near them have complained for years that the premiums are too high, though they would be much higher still if not subsidized by the federal government.
Much of the Houston area falls outside those most vulnerable zones and many homeowners who aren’t forced to have coverage have decided to do without. Now they are stuck because much of the damage in the nation’s fourth largest city won’t be covered by their homeowners insurance.
Unlike Corpus Christi and Rockport, much of the Houston area was damaged by flooding, not winds.”There’s going to be a huge uninsured economic loss here,” said
Pete Mills
, a senior vice president at the Mortgage Bankers Association.
About 1.2 million properties in the Houston-Sugarland-Baytown area are at high/moderate risk of flooding but are not in a designated flood zone requiring insurance, research firm CoreLogic estimates. That’s roughly half of all properties — residential and commercial — in that area.
Hunter of the CFA said that homeowners without flood insurance can possibly apply for federal disaster relief benefits, but those come in the form of low interest loans, a burden for those already struggling with too much debt.
“If you have $30,000 in damages, you can get maybe $25,000,” Hunter said. “But there will be interest, and then you have your mortgage. You’ll have two loans on your house.”
Homeowners with water damage can get paid through their homeowners insurance but only if wind blows out a window or sends a roof aloft first, allowing the water in. If the water rushes through the floorboard or walls, you’re not covered.
Harvey has dumped more than 30 inches of rain in some places, and rivers are swelling and expected to crest at record levels. The Cypress River, which runs through downtown Houston, is expected to rise four feet higher than the record 94.3 feet set in 1949, according to Air Worldwide, a risk modeling firm.
Hunter said that adjusters typically take about 30 days to visit your home and send a check, but the crucial distinction between wind damage and flood damage can be tricky and take longer. Fights in court with insurers over wind-versus-storm damage stretched out for years after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
S
andy resulted in $8.4 billion in payouts for flood damage from the federal insurance program, according to the Insurance Information Institute. After Katrina in 2005, the program paid $16 billion for flood damage.
The flood program is run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which owes the Treasury about $23 billion in funds borrowed to cover the cost of past disasters, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
For homeowners facing big bills, some banks may be willing to help. During a disaster like Harvey, they typically will institute a type of forbearance program on any borrowers who are in the disaster’s impacted counties.
Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, said Monday that it was suspending all negative reporting to credit bureaus, collection calls and foreclosure procedures against customers in the impacted communities at least through the end of September.
Customers who contact Wells Fargo can get disaster relief for 60 to 90 days, and can postpone payments. Further relief will be offered case-by-case, the bank said.
Loretta Worters
, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, said floods do have a least one positive effect: They convince people who had shrugged off the risk to their homes to buy policies.
But the memory quickly fades, she added, noting that despite the blows of Katrina and Sandy and other storms only 12 percent of homeowners nationwide had flood insurance last year.
“People buy coverage immediately after a storm, then it starts to drop,” Worters said. “Three or four years later, we’re back to where we started.”
AP
—
TOMLINSON: HARVEY’S FLOODS WILL SINK HOUSTON HOME VALUES
: Per
AP
— If the flood damage from Hurricane Harvey were not enough, homes that took in water for the first time will see their valuations drop, perhaps by as much as 60 percent.
Exactly how much appraised value a newly flooded home will lose depends on its location and how much damage was done. But
four separate academic studies following past flood events
show that values typically drop by at least 15 percent.
Texas law, by the way, requires a seller to disclose whether a home has ever been flooded.
Lost home value is bad news for tens of thousands of homeowners who saw flooding for the first time this weekend. For most Americans who own homes, that is where their wealth resides. The only bright spot is that flooded homes tend to regain their previous value within four years, on average.
For the moment, though, Greater Houston has lost billions, if not trillions, of dollars in asset value.
Homes that don’t flood, though, often rise in value as more people seek them out within the same community. This could offset the aggregate value lost to the community. Flooded homes that are rebuilt in a way that prevents future flooding can also show increased value.
The longer term issue for many Houstonians will be how flood maps are redrawn after Hurricane Harvey, the worst storm in the city’s history. That makes Harvey the new “flood of record” and will trigger new flood-plain maps.
Many residential areas once thought to be in the 500-year flood plain may soon find themselves in the 100-year flood plain, even if they didn’t take on any water. That will force them to buy flood insurance, which is quite expensive.
Homes in the 100-year flood plain generally sell at a discount because of the added long-term expense of flood insurance for the new buyer.
The question for the residents of Greater Houston is what they want to do about future flooding, and the future value of their property. Improvements to flood control systems can move property out of flood plains, and thereby boost values. But are property owners willing to pay for these projects with higher taxes?
In the short-term, though, many families will be revising their net worth downward because of Hurricane Harvey. That will have long-term implications for them and our region’s economy.
Houston Chronicle
BRACING FOR HARVEY’S RETURN, WORRY RENEWS: IS WORST TO COME?
:
AP’s
Michael Graczyk
&
David Phillip
— Crews overwhelmed by thousands of rescue calls during one of the heaviest downpours in U.S. history have had little time to search for other potential victims, but officials acknowledge the grim reality that fatalities linked to Harvey could soar once the devastating floodwaters recede from one of America’s most sprawling metropolitan centers.
More than three days after the storm ravaged the Texas coastline as a Category 4 hurricane, authorities had confirmed only three deaths — including a woman killed Monday when heavy rains dislodged a large oak tree onto her trailer home in the small town of Porter. But unconfirmed reports of others missing or presumed dead were growing.
“We know in these kind of events that, sadly, the death toll goes up historically,” Houston police Chief
Art Acevedo
told The Associated Press. “I’m really worried about how many bodies we’re going to find.”
One Houston woman said Monday that she presumes six members of a family, including four of her grandchildren, died after their van sank into Greens Bayou in East Houston, though Houston emergency officials couldn’t confirm the deaths.
Virginia Saldivar
told The Associated Press her brother-in-law was driving the van Sunday when a strong current took the vehicle over a bridge and into the bayou. The driver was able to get out and urged the children to escape through the back door, Saldivar said, but they could not.
“I’m just hoping we find the bodies,” Saldivar said.
And a spokeswoman for a Houston hotel says one of its employees disappeared while helping about 100 guests and workers evacuate the building amid rising floodwaters.
The disaster is unfolding on an epic scale, with the nation’s fourth-largest city mostly paralyzed by the storm that has parked itself over the Gulf Coast. With nearly 2 more feet (61 centimeters) of rain expected on top of the 30-plus inches (76 centimeters) in some places, authorities worried the worst might be yet to come.
The Houston metro area covers about 10,000 square miles (25,900 sq. kilometers), an area slightly bigger than New Jersey. It’s crisscrossed by about 1,700 miles (2735.76 kilometers) of channels, creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles (80.46 kilometers) to the southeast from downtown.
The storm is generating an amount of rain that would normally be seen only once in more than 1,000 years, said Edmond Russo, a deputy district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, which was concerned that floodwater would spill around a pair of 70-year-old reservoir dams that protect downtown Houston.
Rescuers meanwhile continued plucking people from inundated neighborhoods. Mayor
Sylvester Turner
put the number by police at more than 3,000. The Coast Guard said it also had rescued more than 3,000 by boat and air and was taking more than 1,000 calls per hour.
Chris Thorn
was among the many volunteers still helping with the mass evacuation that began Sunday. He drove with a buddy from the Dallas area with their flat-bottom hunting boat to pull strangers out of the water.
“I couldn’t sit at home and watch it on TV and do nothing since I have a boat and all the tools to help,” he said.
A mandatory evacuation was ordered for the low-lying Houston suburb of Dickinson, home to 20,000. Police cited the city’s fragile infrastructure in the floods, limited working utilities and concern about the weather forecast.
In Houston, questions continued to swirl about why the mayor did not issue a similar evacuation order.
Turner has repeatedly defended the decision and did so again Monday, insisting that a mass evacuation of millions of people by car was a greater risk than enduring the storm.
“Both the county judge and I sat down together and decided that we were not in direct path of the storm, of the hurricane, and the safest thing to do was for people to stay put, make the necessary preparations. I have no doubt that the decision we made was the right decision.”
He added, “Can you imagine if millions of people had left the city of Houston and then tried to come back in right now?”
By Monday night, 7,000 people had arrived at the city’s largest shelter set up inside the George R. Brown Convention Center — which originally had an estimated capacity of 5,000.
Red Cross spokesman
Lloyd Ziel
said that volunteers made more space inside the center, which also was used to house Hurricane Katrina refugees from New Orleans in 2005, in part by pushing some cots closer together. A shortage of cots means some people will have to sleep on chairs or the floor.
The center settled down at night, after an occasionally chaotic day that saw thousands of evacuees arrive in the pouring rain. Officers and volunteers at times rushed to attend to those with medical needs.
At the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, the Army Corps started releasing water Monday because water levels were climbing at a rate of more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) per hour, Corps spokesman Jay Townsend said.
The move was supposed to help shield the business district from floodwaters, but it also risked flooding thousands more homes in nearby subdivisions. Built after devastating floods in 1929 and 1935, the reservoirs were designed to hold water until it can be released downstream at a controlled rate.
In the Cypress Forest Estates neighborhood in northern Harris County, people called for help from inside homes as water from a nearby creek rose to their eaves. A steady procession of rescue boats floated into the area.
Harvey increased slightly in strength Monday as it drifted back over the warm Gulf, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Forecasters expect the system to stay over water with 45 mph (72 kph) winds for 36 hours and then head back inland east of Houston sometime Wednesday. The system will then head north and lose its tropical strength.
Before then, up to 20 more inches (51 centimeters) of rain could fall, National Weather Service Director
Louis Uccellini
said Monday.
That means the flooding will get worse in the days ahead and the floodwaters will be slow to recede once Harvey finally moves on, the weather service said.
Sometime Tuesday or early Wednesday, parts of the Houston region will probably break the nearly 40-year-old U.S. record for the biggest rainfall from a tropical system — 48 inches — set by Tropical Storm Amelia in 1978 in Texas, meteorologists said.
The amount of water in Houston was so unprecedented that the weather service on Wednesday had to update the color charts on its official rainfall maps to indicate the heavier totals.
In Louisiana, the images of the devastation in Houston stirred painful memories for many Hurricane Katrina survivors.
“It really evoked a lot of emotions and heartbreak for the people who are going through that now in Houston,”
Ray Gratia
said as he picked up sandbags for his New Orleans home, which flooded during the 2005 hurricane. …
Harvey was the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in 13 years and the strongest to strike Texas since 1961’s Hurricane Carla, the most powerful Texas hurricane on record.
AP
INSIDE HOUSTON SHELTER, A LOUD AND SOMETIMES CHAOTIC NIGHT:
AP’s
Nomaan Merchant
— The second night inside the George R. Brown Convention Center was louder, more crowded and at times, more chaotic.
People who escaped rising floodwaters and pouring rain spawned by Harvey arrived at the shelter Monday night by the busload and truckload even as the convention center exceeded its capacity of 5,000.
At one point, officers tended to two men lying unresponsive in front of an exit, pushing away onlookers. The men had taken drugs and would both recover within an hour.
Frustration grew in some places, more than three days after the storm ravaged the Texas coastline as a Category 4 hurricane before transforming into a tropical storm that currently sits parked over the Gulf of Mexico ahead of an expected return to shore. One person said she had only gotten one meal Monday while watching others take several helpings of food.
Another person,
Kevin Perkins
, described sleeping on the floor and feeling accosted by police officers inside.
“It’s hell,” Perkins said. He shook his head and walked away as Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, during a visit to the convention center Monday, approached near where he was standing.
“All my stuff damaged. I have no clothes, no shoes, no nothing,” he said.
The din inside eventually fell as thousands of people went to bed. Around 7,000 people had arrived before midnight, with more people still coming.
Harvey will drop more rain Tuesday on a city crippled by floodwaters that have swamped streets and neighborhoods. The demands on the convention center were expected to grow, even while a new shelter opened Monday night and city officials considered opening more.
With more guests than cots, some people slept on chairs or the floor. They relied on blankets and pillows provided by the American Red Cross. People hung towels and wet clothes on the base of the ceiling supports inside the convention hall. Police officers guarded several entrances. Outside, dozens of people still awake stood with their pets and traded cigarettes.
New volunteers arrived through the night.
David Brady
, CEO of the Red Cross’ Texas Gulf Coast chapter, said that the volunteers were critical to making sure evacuees “feel comfortable here, and that they’re willing and wanting to pull those cots together.”
“If we get our staff to be friendly and open and welcoming, hopefully that will create a culture with the folks who are staying in the shelter to do the same thing,” Brady said.
For Howard Thomas, the shelter was a place of last resort.
Thomas described himself as living on the streets. He had spent the three previous nights at a $55-a-night motel. But he ran out of money Monday morning.
He was picked up from the motel and taken to the convention center, where he waited to check in carrying just a blue tote bag with his belongings.
“I’m hoping I can get a place of my own, even if it’s just a one-room shack, just as long as I’m out of the elements, off the street,” he said.
AP
TRUMP PROMISES FEDERAL AID TO STORM-RAVAGED TEXAS
:
AP’s
Andrew Taylor
— President
Donald Trump
has promised federal assistance to storm-ravaged parts of Texas, insisting Congress will act swiftly on a multibillion-dollar Hurricane Harvey recovery package as the government signaled current funds will be exhausted in the next few weeks.
“I think it’ll happen very quickly,” Trump said Monday of an aid package that could rival those enacted after Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. “It’ll go very fast.”
The president said existing disaster balances of more than $3 billion are sufficient for the immediate emergency but promised his administration will send lawmakers a request for far more to help Texas rebuild from the record storm in which catastrophic flooding has hit Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city.
“The real number, which will be many billions of dollars, will go through Congress,” Trump said at a White House news conference.
House Speaker
Paul Ryan
, R-Wis., promised through a spokeswoman that “we will help those affected by this terrible disaster.”
The Republican-led Congress appears likely to add an immediate infusion of aid to a temporary spending bill to prevent a government shutdown Oct. 1, though congressional aides say the larger recovery package may take more time to develop. It’s way too early to guess how much will be required with floodwaters rising in Houston, people stranded in homes and the city essentially paralyzed.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster fund currently contains more than $3 billion, but FEMA on Monday said the response to Harvey is “quickly drawing down” disaster balances.
The upcoming disaster aid package is yet another item for a packed September agenda in Washington that includes preventing a government shutdown, making sure the government doesn’t default on its debt obligations, and laying the groundwork for overhauling the tax code.
Vice President
Mike Pence
told a Houston radio station Monday that given the “magnitude of the flooding” in the area that “it will be years coming back.” He said 22,000 people had already applied for federal aid but that as “many as a half-a-million people in Texas will be eligible for and applying for financial disaster assistance.”
“We remain very confident that with the reserves and with the support in the Congress, we’ll have the resources that we need,” Pence told KHOU radio.
Democrats promise they’ll help.
“Republicans must be ready to join Democrats in passing a timely relief bill that makes all necessary resources available,” said House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi
, D-Calif.
Last week, Trump threatened a government shutdown if he didn’t get his $1.6 billion request to begin building a U.S.-Mexico border wall. But the need for disaster funding could make a shutdown showdown in September less likely since Trump may want to avoid a battle that could make him look like he’s prioritizing wall funding over flood victims.
Asked if the natural disaster would make him reconsider a shutdown, Trump said: “I think it has nothing to do with it, really. I think this is separate.”
FEMA announced Monday that it is prioritizing the Harvey response and holding off on less-urgent payments for earlier disasters to husband its money to make sure there is enough for immediate Harvey-related needs such as debris removal and temporary shelter for tens of thousands of Texans displaced from their homes.
Congress stepped forward with enormous aid packages in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, though some GOP conservatives — including then-Indiana Rep. Pence — chafed at the price tag. And White House Budget Director
Mick Mulvaney
, who will be responsible for preparing any disaster request for Trump, opposed a 2013 Sandy aid package as a South Carolina congressman, offering a plan to cut elsewhere in the budget to pay for it.
Mulvaney’s May budget release also proposed eliminating community block grants that are likely to be sought by the powerful Texas delegation to help with rebuilding efforts.
Lawmakers provided $110 billion to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Katrina, thanks in part to dogged efforts by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman
Thad Cochran
, R-Miss. The Bush administration, politically scalded by criticism over its botched response to the tragedy, signed off on the aid.
But New York and New Jersey lawmakers seeking help over Superstorm Sandy encountered stiffer resistance. Many Republicans opposed the full $51 billion aid package, which included a $34 billion amendment by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., that included grants for housing and other repairs patterned after the Katrina response.
Some hard feelings linger on the part of New York and New Jersey Republicans, who had to battle to win help for their Democratic-leaning states in the bitter aftermath of the 2012 election.
“Despite my TX colleagues refusal to support aid in #SouthJersey time of need, I will support emergency disaster $$ for those impacted,” Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., wrote on Twitter on Monday.
Texas Republicans overwhelmingly voted against the final Sandy aid bill. The state’s two senators,
John Cornyn
and
Ted Cruz
, opposed the aid package along with more than 20 House Republicans representing Texas.
AP
NEW TEXAS LAW MEANS HARVEY VICTIMS HAVE GOOD REASON TO FILE CLAIMS BY FRIDAY
:
The Texas Tribune’s
Alana Rocha
— For many Texans ravaged by the rain and winds Hurricane Harvey carried ashore this past weekend, filing an insurance claim for the damage their property sustained is probably the farthest thing from their minds right now. But waiting to submit a claim past Friday could cost them big.
A new law set to take effect Friday aims to crack down on frivolous insurance lawsuits. But House Bill 1774 also reduces the penalty interest rate insurance companies face for late payments if the policyholder files a lawsuit.
If insurance companies are late in paying claims as a result of a lawsuit, they must pay an additional penalty to policyholders. Under current state law, that penalty comes in the form of a fee that totals 18 percent of the claim. For claims filed after Friday, that rate will be determined by a market-based formula that is capped at 20 percent. Currently, the rate would be 10 percent.
While people filing claims by Friday would benefit from the higher penalty payouts in lawsuits, those same cases would be subject to provisions in the new law. Those provisions would decrease the chances insurance companies will have to pay the plaintiff’s attorneys fees in full and protect agents from being personally sued.
Jeff Raizner
, a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, which opposed HB 1774, said the law is a mixed bag.
“I want to be completely fair, there were some bad actors,” said Raizner, a Houston trial lawyer who has worked on insurance cases for 25 years. He added that some of what the new law requires addresses that problem – like the strengthened rules on communications regarding claims issues and the structure for paying attorneys’ fees.
But he calls the penalty changes an overreach.
“Much of this new law is a money grab by the insurance industry,” Raizner said.
“The intent of the bill was to cut off this ‘cottage industry’ that was happening around hailstorms after Hurricane Ike; lawsuits that didn’t need to be filed,” said
Lucy Nashed
, a spokesman for Texans for Lawsuit Reform. TLR supported the bill and argues that because the bulk of Harvey insurance claims will be flood-related, nothing will change.
For one, most homeowners’ policies in Texas don’t cover flooding. And for those that do, the policies are often with the National Flood Insurance Program through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which aren’t subject to state regulations.
In a statement
posted to Facebook
Monday afternoon, HB 1774’s author, Rep.
Greg Bonnen
, R-Friendswood, cited the “false information” circulating on social media about the legislation. He wrote that the new law won’t change the claims process and that he filed the bill in response “to a growing trend around the state of lawsuits being filed without pre-suit notice, in some instances before an insurance claim had even been filed, and often without the property owner knowing they had even signed a contract with an attorney.”
The law requires an attorney notify an insurance company that if it doesn’t resolve the issues with a claim within 60 days, the company will be sued.
At least 29 lawmakers who represent areas hit particularly hard by Harvey voted for the bill.
Among those supporters was state Rep.
Briscoe Cain
, R-Deer Park.
“I believe that Texans have the strongest consumer protections in the nation against insurers” that don’t deliver on claims, Cain said.
He said people who are harmed by bad actors in the insurance industry will still have protections under this law.
“There’s a lot of misinformation and fearmongering going on right now” regarding the legislation, he said, adding that it’s “premature to speculate” how it would affect people filing claims related to Harvey.
Texas Tribune
“HOUSTON’S HOSPITALS TREAT STORM VICTIMS and Become Victims Themselves,”
The
New York Times’
Sheri Fink
and
Alan Blinder
— The response to Harvey, now a tropical storm but still wreaking havoc over the state, promises answers to whether health officials learned lessons from the catastrophe of Katrina when it comes to the medically vulnerable — in particular whether they did enough to prepare for the disaster and to move patients out of its path. …
As of Monday afternoon, 10 to 15 other hospitals and various nursing homes, some in rural communities, have also evacuated or begun evacuating since the storm made landfall … Most hospitals in Houston continued operating and they reported that they were doing well. But some, ringed by floodwater, were cut off from patients trying to reach them. Hospital staff members had trouble getting to work as well.
The New York Times
HARVEY SWAMPS TEXAS OIL INDUSTRY:
Politico’s
Ben Lefebvre
— As much as 10 percent of the U.S. oil refining capacity was shut down in advance of the powerful storm that roared ashore and dumped several feet of rain along the coast from Corpus Christi into Louisiana. Those plants are likely to take weeks to return to full operation as crews pore over them looking for damage. …
At least 10 Gulf Coast refineries have been affected, and reports are coming in of operators shutting down wells and taking pipelines offline in South Texas’ prolific Eagle Ford shale region, said
Ryan Sitton
, commissioner for the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees energy production in the state. … Those shutdowns drove gasoline prices up as much as 10 cents a gallon in the futures market, though much of the rally had faded by midafternoon, with prices holding gains of about 5 cents per gallon.
Politico
TOP NEWS
ANALYSIS: FOUR THINGS HOUSTON-AREA LEADERS MUST DO TO PREVENT FUTURE FLOODING DISASTERS
:
The Texas Tribune’s
Kiah Collier
&
Neena Satija
— An unprecedented amount of rain has fallen on the Houston area in the past few days, causing what’s likely the worst flooding event that the nation’s sixth-largest metropolitan area has ever experienced — even worse than 2001’s Tropical Storm Allison.
This may seem like a freak occurrence. But it’s the third catastrophic flooding event this region of 6.5 million people has experienced in three years. And scientists and other experts say that much of the devastation could have been prevented. While the Houston area’s history is punctuated by major flooding events, they argue that local officials — under political and legal pressure from developers — have dug themselves into a hole for decades by flouting smarter development policies. They say local officials need to account for more frequent and intense rains that are sure to come with climate change, rather than looking to what has happened in the past in their search for solutions.
Here’s what local leaders could have done to protect the region — and what they must do to prevent such disasters in the future.
Preserve and restore as much prairie land as possible
Much of northwest Houston used to be covered in prairie land, where tall grasses could absorb huge amounts of floodwater. But most of it has been paved over in the past two decades amid rapid development and a massive influx of people. Between 2000 and 2010, this part of Houston grew by nearly 70 percent to a population of 587,142 — equivalent to that of Milwaukee. Restoring or preserving prairie can’t prevent flooding altogether, but it can be a tremendous help in mitigating the damage.
Some local officials flat-out disagree with this conclusion; they believe you can erect public works projects to catch and manage runoff — essentially fighting water with concrete — and don’t need more green space.
But the vast majority of scientists believe the region needs to impose stricter regulations on those who want to develop prairie land.
Restrict development in floodplains and buy flood-prone homes
Buildings continue to go up in vulnerable floodplains all over Harris County. A few years ago the city of Houston tried to ban new development in the most flood-prone areas. But developers sued, and the policy was severely weakened by the city council. Although some have chosen to elevate their lots to protect homes and businesses from rising floodwaters, that strategy may only increase the flood risk for those around them.
Local officials also have pursued some buyouts — purchasing homes that have been badly damaged by floods or that are known to flood repeatedly. But Harris County hasn’t done enough. The county will need a lot more money to buy out more homes, and local owners will have to be willing to move.
Plan for climate change
In planning for flooding from future storms, local officials largely look to past rainfall totals and weather patterns. But climate change will heighten the risks that the region already faces. That’s particularly true because it sits so close to the Gulf of Mexico, where sea levels are rising and waters have been warming as the planet gets hotter. Warm water means more evaporation and more water vapor in the air — so when a storm comes along, there’s more water to pick up and dump on nearby land. This is exactly what’s happening with Tropical Storm Harvey.
“The exact same storm that comes along today has more rain associated with it than it would have 50 or 100 years ago,” renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe told The Texas Tribune last year. Hayhoe said Houston needs to plan for more frequent and intense rainstorms, just like many other cities in the country. But local county officials have previously said they have no intention of doing so.
Educate the public
Hundreds of thousands of people have moved to the Houston area in recent decades; it’s consistently ranked as one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities. But people who move to flood-prone areas are often unaware of the risks. They purchase homes in low-lying areas and assume that if they’re not in the 100-year floodplain, they won’t flood. But homes often flood outside floodplains in Houston — and realtors don’t always tell homebuyers that.
Some past efforts the city made to educate Houstonians have been met with pushback. A few years ago, government officials put up visible flood gauges in low-lying coastal areas meant to show how the high water could get during hurricanes, but real estate agents revolted and the signposts were removed. Local officials need to be willing to tell their constituents some hard truths.
Texas Tribune
2018 / 2020
U.S. SUPREME COURT TEMPORARILY BLOCKS RULING AGAINST TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL MAP:
The Texas Tribune’s
Alexa Ura
&
Jim Malewitz
— The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday put on hold a lower court ruling that invalidated two of Texas’ 36 congressional districts.
In an order signed by Justice
Samuel Alito
, the high court indicated it wanted to hear from the minority groups suing the state before the state’s appeal of that ruling moves forward. The high court ordered the state’s legal foes to file a response by Sept. 5 to the state’s efforts to keep congressional district boundaries intact for the 2018 elections.
Texas Attorney General
Ken Paxton
had asked the Supreme Court to block a three-judge panel’s unanimous finding that Congressional Districts 27 and 35 violate the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act. State leaders have said they have no immediate plans to call lawmakers back to Austin to redraw the congressional map. Instead, they looked to the high court to protect Texas from needing a new map ahead of the 2018 elections.
“Stall and delay is the favorite tactic used by Attorney General Paxton,” said state Rep.
Mary González
, vice chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, a plaintiff in the case. “We feel confident that once the Supreme Court has the opportunity to hear both sides that they will move forward to provide justice to all Texas voters.”
The AG’s office, meanwhile, said they were “encouraged” by Alito’s decision.
“We remain hopeful that the entire Court will allow Texas to continue to use the maps that were in place the last three election cycles,”
Marc Rylander
, the AG’s director of communications, said in a statement.
At issue in the two districts flagged by the San Antonio-based court is whether Hispanic voters in CD-27, represented by U.S. Rep.
Blake Farenthold
, R-Corpus Christi, were “intentionally deprived of their opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice” and whether CD-35 — a Central Texas district represented by Democrat
Lloyd Doggett
of Austin — is “an impermissible racial gerrymander” that was illegally drawn by lawmakers who used race as the predominant factor in drawing it.
Addressing those faults in the embattled map, which Texas used for the past three election cycles, would affect congressional races statewide because boundary changes in the two flagged districts would also reshape neighboring districts.
Texas and the minority rights groups suing the state were scheduled to return to court in San Antonio on Sept. 5 to fight over a new map. On Monday, the San Antonio three-judge panel advised that the Supreme Court’s order did not prohibit the state and minority groups from “voluntarily exchanging” proposed fixes. A clerk indicated the court would confirm on Tuesday whether the hearing would move forward.
Separately, Texas is defending its state House map, which the same San Antonio panel partially invalidated last week because of intentional discrimination behind the crafting of several legislative districts.
The court had indicated that lawmakers should be prepared to also meet on Sept. 6 to consider changes to the state House map. But Paxton also plans to appeal that ruling, which said nine districts must be redrawn.
Legal observers suggested not reading too much into the order beyond the court’s desire to give the state’s argument a full review.
An open question is whether the increasingly complicated legal battle will delay the March 2018 primary elections.
Texas Tribune
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