MILLS COUNTY, Texas — San Saba County Judge Jody Foley told Mills County commissioners Sept. 12 that damage assessments from a recent flood have identified about 97 homes with damage, and that after follow-up inspections officials now consider six of those homes to be "substantially damaged."

Foley described challenges working with federal and state programs, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Flood Insurance Program, and said the county’s floodplain-administrator processes have complicated assessments. "The biggest hole that we had was trying to get through the program through FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program," Foley said.

What "substantially damaged" means: Foley said a home is typically considered substantially damaged if the cost to repair it to its pre-flood condition exceeds 50% of the home’s fair-market value; homes classified as substantially damaged generally must be elevated, moved, or otherwise brought into compliance with base flood elevations.

Current status and next steps: Foley said teams have completed multiple rounds of inspections and that the number of homes classified as substantially damaged dropped to six after re-evaluation. He also said the county has submitted roughly 62 elevation-related requests or submissions for properties undergoing rebuilding or elevation work; the transcript language on that point was imprecise, and county officials may provide a more precise figure on follow-up.

Foley said the county has closed many cases to standard rebuilds and that recovery has "gone really well" in the past week, but that navigating permit and elevation requirements has been time-consuming. The update was provided during discussion of a separate interlocal dispatch agreement and did not result in a formal action in this meeting.