behalf of our state and local partners as well. and this is, this is the way it s supposed to work. we re a unified effort. we re a team. and we all depend on each other going forward. as the governor said of the 18 counties, it s incredibly important. i want to continue to push this message. the first step to do, if you reside in one of those 18 counties under the individual assistance disaster declaration that the president swiftly approved for the governor, start to register now online first. disasterassistance.gov. if that s not working, then again, as the senator suggested, 1-800-621-fema and start the process there. additionally, i have over 1300 staff members connected to the nfip, the national flood insurance program in the state. obviously, those people are starting to disperse through the state. we would also ask you, if you re an nfip holder, go ahead and contact your insurance agent to
disasterassistance.gov, some people may not have access to internet. because they do not have electricity. if they can make a phone call, they can call 1-800-621-fema. that is the first step they can do if they qualify. let me just close with this. thank you, governor, your tremendous leadership, and i know president trump and his entire cabinet has been very aggressive in their response. the only way we will get through this together as as a texas fay is if we aren t latched together at the state, city, and federal level. i can assure you that we are. as i have been saying,
2 million liters of water. tens of thousands of tarps to backfill the needs of the citizens. just north of here in rockport on the trucks are already arriving. we are pushing them out to the point of distributions on behalf of our state and local partners as well. and this is the way it is supposed to work. we are a unified effort. we are a team, and we all depend on each other. when forward. as the governor said, of the 18 counties, is incredibly important, and i want to push this message the first up to do if you reside in one of those 18 counties under the individual disaster declaration, start to register now online first. disasterassistance.gov. and as the governor suggested, 1-800-621-fema, and start the process there. i have 1300 staff members
processing and setting up case management to go forward there. to do that, if you have access to a website, go to disasterassistance.gov. if you do not have access to a website and you do have a phone, call 1-800-621-fema. again, i m asking for all citizens to get involved here. donate your money, figure out how you can get involved as we help texas find a new normal going forward after this devastating disaster. right now what i would like to do is also, i d like to push it over to the national weather service director. just to give a short update here on what s happening and what we expect over the next five days, the circulation of harvey has been drifting southeast toward the coast. it s currently located over
there s no doubt they re going to bounce back, but they need help. just like any of us would need help if we saw the kind of devastation that we re seeing here. we have about 1200 homes that have been completely destroyed, but we have 12,000 that have been damaged in one way or another. and that s a big piece of business along with the schools, we have a hospital that has been destroyed. it s going to take a long time for this community to rebuild. so i want to urge every american to step up. if i have got one message for folks here today, go online, donate to the american red cross. and if you re from the area and you need to register for disaster assistance, you can call 1-800-621-fema. that s 1-800-621-fema. or you can go to disasterassistance.gov. disasterassistance.gov. on the web.