MIDLAND, Texas — Remember how it looked like after the rain a few weeks ago in Midland county? That water has since been pumped out.
Now the county is trying to figure out how it is going to pay for all the flood damage.
Midland County Judge Terry Johnson set aside about $500,000 dollars last year for COVID-19.
The county did not tap into those funds. So on Monday, they voted to reallocate the money to help with flood damage.
“I can’t tell you when they have dealt with rain like this, like we just did," Johnson said. "It has been decades since anything like this hit Midland.”
With all that rain comes a lot of damage and an even bigger price tag.
“We saw all kinds of stuff," Johnson said. "Infrastructure destroyed in areas. Homes destroyed in areas. But we’re working hard to address it.”
"In order to help residents, the county paid a contractor to come and pump some of that water out, costing more than $50,000 dollars," Johnson said.
The county’s also paid to fix septic tanks, bring in porta-potties and clean up debris. But the biggest question: how much is this flood damage costing the county?
“Manpower, supplies, it will not surprise me if this costs $350,000 dollars or more,” Johnson said.
While the exact price tag on everything is still being ironed out, since the judge signed a declaration of disaster the flooding expenses will not be as drastic as they otherwise would.
“We’re hoping the state responds, we have a letter to the governor’s office, we want FEMA to come to the table." Johnson said. "Believe it or not, the flooding wasn’t extreme enough for FEMA to come in. But we’re still figuring out how the state can help us.”
The county is going to meet to finalize the exact flooding budget next week.