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Alice extends disaster declaration after severe storm; city assembles assistance centers and seeks SBA review
Summary
City officials briefed the council on a destructive May storm that prompted emergency operations, damage assessments and more than 400 resident damage reports; the council voted to extend the local disaster declaration while city staff pursue Small Business Administration review and set up an assistance center.
Alice city officials on Tuesday described emergency response and ongoing recovery efforts after a major storm in early May and the City Council voted to extend the mayor’s disaster declaration filed May 9 and May 16.
Emergency Management Coordinator Patrick Thomas told the council the city “stood up a quick EOC” and prioritized “life safety” as crews worked through the night and into the next morning to assess damage and clear streets. He said mutual-aid fire engines and county and state partners responded; there were no major injuries but extensive structural damage, downed trees and power lines in parts of the city and nearby rural areas.
The update matters because federal assistance, including Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster programs, depends on formal damage reporting and thresholds. Thomas told the council that as of the morning of the meeting there were “over 400 submissions” of damage reports and “45 of them were major or destroyed homes,” and the city is packaging those assessments for SBA review.
Thomas described the immediate response: after the storm’s peak — about 8 to 9 p.m. — first responders established an incident command at the fire station and worked until roughly 4:30 a.m. The city set up damage-assessment teams and opened an information center the following Monday for residents to report damage and seek help. City staff said an assistance center would open at the fairgrounds the day after the meeting and was available to residents of Alice and Jim Wells County and nearby counties.
Councilmembers and staff also discussed why outdoor warning sirens did not sound for this event. Thomas explained that the sirens are tied to tornado warnings from the National Weather Service and that “this storm was not a tornado. There was never [a] tornado warning issued.” He said wireless alert systems on phones often notify residents before sirens are activated.
On formal action, a council motion to extend the disaster declaration filed by Mayor Cynthia Carrasco was approved. The extension will remain in place until the governing body withdraws it, staff said, to ensure the declaration is available if state or federal partners require an active local declaration for assistance.
City staff emphasized that state and federal agencies — not the city — set monetary and structural thresholds for higher-level disaster declarations. Thomas said there are multiple thresholds: a county-level threshold the city believes it has met for some assistance, an SBA threshold (the city cited 25 majorly impacted homes as a trigger for SBA review), and a higher threshold for a federal disaster declaration that the city has not met.
City officials asked residents to document damage with photos and submit reports through the city’s online portal or at the assistance center. Thomas said staff can assist residents with the submission portal and can visit homes when needed to help file damage reports.
