West Fertilizer Co., West, TX Explosion-15 Dead, Over 200 Wounded

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kcentv.com/story/22261370/bryce-reeds-federal-court-appearance-cancelled
Bryce Reed's Federal Court Appearance Canceled
May 15, 2013

 
Bryce Reed was scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Manske in the Waco Federal Court at 2 p.m. today.

The hearing was canceled due to an agreement between the defense and prosecution earlier today.

Reed has deferred his right to a detention hearing at a later date. He has also waived his arraignment and will plead not guilty.

He remains in federal custody.

So far, there is no evidence connecting Reed to the explosion at the West Fertilizer Plant.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/bryce-reed-emt-bomb-making-materials_n_3280629.html?#slide=2352983
Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion

Slide Show with 30 images.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/texas/paramedic-at-deadly-blast-in-court-in-weapons-case/nXrZG/
Ex-EMT in Texas pleads not guilty to charges
May 15, 2013

WACO, Texas — A first responder who helped evacuate people ahead of a deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a charge he possessed bomb-making materials.
Bryce Reed was arrested last week and indicted Tuesday on a charge of possessing an unregistered firearm. Authorities have not announced any link between Reed and the April 17 blast in West, Texas, which killed 14 people.
Federal investigators allege Reed had materials for a pipe bomb that he gave to someone else. An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in a court filing that other investigators told him Reed admitted to having the bomb parts.
Reed's attorney, Jonathan Sibley, said that he agreed with prosecutors to postpone a previously scheduled detention hearing, but would not comment on why. Reed remains in custody.
 
Although Reed portrayed himself as a West EMT in the Baylor video and other public appearances after the explosion, he was in fact dismissed two days after the blast, records show.
Questions also have arisen about Bryce Reed's academic credentials and work history.
At least two of the educational institutions listed by Reed on his LinkedIn profile page — the University of Phoenix and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center — say they have no records of him being enrolled.
In an email to the Texas Department of State Health Services last Friday, Christine Reeves of the Heart of Texas Regional Advisory Council wrote that the West EMS administrator, Tom Marek, "asked that I contact you guys that Bryce Reed does not volunteer for West EMS" and was "let go" on April 19.
Marek declined to comment Wednesday. Reeves told the AP she wasn't informed of a reason for the dismissal.
Reed has been a licensed EMT since 2005 and has worked for at least one other agency, an air ambulance service, state records show. No complaints have been lodged against him, and no disciplinary action has been taken, the records show.
Carrie Williams, the spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said the agency initiated an investigation into Reed's license as a result of his arrest. Such investigations are standard procedure when the department learns that an EMT is charged with a felony, she said.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kvue.com/news/Paramedic-at-deadly-blast-in-court-in-weapons-case-207520611.html
Ex-EMT in Texas blast indicted on firearm charge
May 15, 2013

WACO, Texas -- A grand jury indicted Bryce Ashley Reed for possession of an unregistered firearm on Tuesday. A scheduled arraignment for him was canceled Wednesday afternoon.
Defense attorney Jonathan Sibley planned on asking the court to release 31-year-old Bryce Reed on bond Wednesday.
"I don't think there's any evidence to show he's a danger to the community. I think he served his community honorably," said Sibley.
But after meeting with prosecutors and reviewing statements and interviews Wednesday morning they decided to postpone the hearing instead.

"We reach agreements at the last second a lot of times. I can't really comment on the specific reasons why we decided to do it," Sibley told reporters outside of the federal courthouse in Waco. "It would have been great if we could have agreed to have him released. Obviously that would have been great but we reached some middle ground."
 
The day after Reed's arrest, investigators launched a criminal investigation into the deadly plant explosion in West where Reed responded as an EMS worker.

"There's been some speculation. I think it's unfair, there's no evidence linking him," Sibley said. "I think that's why all of y'all are here because of what happened on April 17th. Not what Mr. Reed is actually accused of in this case."

Investigators say they won't speculate on whether the two cases are related, even the McLennan County sheriff told KVUE News that people are jumping to conclusions.
The ATF is planning to release the results of the investigation regarding the cause of the blast tomorrow.

"These are the results they need to tell us today," Sibley said. "I think it's time for a clear statement that if they think he had something to do with it then say that and show us what you have. I think our community deserves that. At the same time, if they don't have any evidence they need to come out and say something as well."
Officials say Reed lost his job as an EMT in the days following the explosion and county authorities initially charged him with possession of an explosive device. Sibley says the allegations against Reed remain the same.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Findings-expected-in-explosion-probe-4519758.php
Findings expected in explosion probe
May 15, 2013

 
The State Fire Marshal's Office and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are set to release results of a joint investigation less than a week after the Texas Rangers announced a criminal investigation.

On Friday, federal officials arrested West paramedic Bryce Ashley Reed, who was charged with possessing bomb-making materials. The Rangers' investigation also was announced that day, stirring speculation that the blast, which killed 15 people, injured 200 and damaged or destroyed dozens of homes and buildings, may have been planned.

Authorities have not directly linked Reed to the explosion. His lawyer, Jonathan Sibley of Waco, said in a statement Saturday that Reed “had no involvement whatsoever” in the blast and would plead not guilty to the explosives charge. Reed, one of the few emergency personnel who spoke to the media immediately after the blast, was dismissed by West EMS on April 19.

He deferred his right to a detention hearing Wednesday in Waco but is expected to enter a not guilty plea, and he remains in federal custody, Daryl Fields, public affairs officer with the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Antonio, said in a statement.

The Dallas Morning News reported this week that Reed's wife and young daughter had begun staying with relatives April 23, two days before Reed eulogized one of the 12 fallen first responders at a memorial service in Waco attended by President Barack Obama. The Reeds had been staying at a hotel in West after their duplex was damaged in the blast.
 
Before Reed's arrest, the blast had been widely treated as the result of an industrial accident. But state and federal officials have not ruled out foul play.

The explosion also has put a spotlight on West Fertilizer Co., whose plant was left with a 93-foot-wide crater after the blast. In addition to inadequate security at the site, where more than 500,000 pounds of highly explosive fertilizer was stored, the investigation has revealed that the site lacked a fire-suppression sprinkler system.

[MuffyBee]

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2013/05/results-of-west-explosion-investigation-to-be-announced-on-thursday.html/
Results of West explosion investigation to be announced on Thursday
May 15, 2013

The Texas Department of Insurance says results of the joint investigation of the fire scene at the West Fertilizer Plant will be announced on Thursday at a 4 p.m. news conference  in the West High School parking lot.

The state fire marshal and ATF officials will attend.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.caller.com/news/2013/may/16/officials-give-west-texas-explosion-probe-results/
Officials to give West, Texas explosion probe results Thursday
May 16, 2013


PHOTO BY SMILEY N. POOL

In this aerial photo, law enforcement and rescue personnel search the damage to an apartment complex from the explosion of the West Fertilizer plant on Thursday, April 18, 2013, in West, Texas. A massive explosion at the plant killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool)

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/207651881.html
For The First Time Since Explosion, West ISD School Board Members Tour Damaged Campuses
May 16, 2013

WEST (May 15, 2013)--It’s been a month since the West explosion rocked three of West ISD’s four campuses.

Since the blast, the school district is making steady progress towards reconstruction. At the end of April, they hired Huckabee Associates Inc. as their architecture firm.

After surveying the damage done by the West explosion, reps from Huckabee recommended to school board members that West Intermediate and West High School be demolished and rebuilt.

As for West Middle School, Huckabee says the old high school building and the gym can be salvaged, but that the rest should be bulldozed.

School board members are following through with Huckabee’s consultations.

As plans for demolition and reconstruction take form, school board members were given a tour during Wednesday night’s school board meeting for the first time of the damaged middle school, intermediate school, and high school.

Rebuilding the damaged campuses could cost over 110 million dollars.
More...

Video at Link

[MuffyBee]

Folks faced the same problems with paying taxes on houses that were heavily damaged or destroyed by fires in Central Texas.  From what I understand, the taxes are set on the values as of Jan. 1.  It's difficult for folks that have lost so much, but then I don't know how the city will continue to operate without the income.  I hope there can be a solution.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/texas-fertilizer-explosion-victims-mood-pay-property-taxes/story?id=19176352
Texas Fertilizer Explosion Victims in No Mood to Pay Property Taxes
May 16, 2013

[MuffyBee]

http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05/16/4861096/officials-to-give-texas-explosion.html
AP Sources: Crime not ruled out in Texas blast
BY NOMAAN MERCHANT AND JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press
May 16, 2013

WEST, Texas — Investigators have not ruled out criminal activity as the cause of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant that killed at least 14 people and flattened part of a tiny Texas town, two officials familiar with the findings said Thursday.
 
But they have not yet been able to pinpoint the cause, the officials said.

One state official who's seen a report on the probe and a second law enforcement official briefed on the findings told The Associated Press investigators are focused on a golf cart on the premises that had been recalled by its manufacturer, an electrical problem or possible criminal activity.

The state official said investigators were "light on definitive information" into the cause of the blast. The official declined to give more details until after authorities held a news conference to announce their findings.

The law enforcement official said the golf cart in question was sometimes parked at the place where the fire began, but investigators said they could not confirm the cart was parked there on the night of the blast.

Investigators had ruled out other possible causes, including smoking or a weather-related fire, the law enforcement official said.

"Science just takes you so far in this," the law enforcement official said. "And that's all you can do."

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because briefings were ongoing and they did not want to speak publicly before a scheduled news conference by state and federal authorities.

Officials have determined that ammonium nitrate exploded, but they do not know what started the initial fire or caused the explosion.
 
The fire marshal's office had previously ruled out several possible causes for the initial fire, including another fertilizer stored on site, anhydrous ammonia; a rail car on the site that was carrying ammonium nitrate; and a fire within a storage bin of ammonium nitrate.

Daniel Keeney, a spokesman for Adair Grain Co., which owned and operated West Fertilizer, has said the company is cooperating with authorities, but declined to comment further.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05/16/4861096/officials-to-give-texas-explosion.html#storylink=cpy

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Investigators-List-3-Possible-Causes-Of-Deadly-West-Explosion-207728311.html
Investigators List 3 Possible Causes Of Deadly West Explosion
May 16, 2013

WEST (May 16, 2013)—The State Fire Marshal's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will announce the results of their weeks-long investigation of the deadly April 17 explosion at West Fertilizer Co. later Thursday, but an official confirmed to News 10 that they have identified three possible causes.

Investigators determined that the fire that led to the powerful explosion was caused either by a battery that combusted on a golf cart at the plant site, a 120-volt electrical line on the concrete floor of the fertilizer and seed building, or by an intentional criminal act, the official said.

Investigators will officially list the cause as undetermined, the official said.

Officials have scheduled a news conference for late Thursday afternoon in West to announce the results.

Earlier in the afternoon, they briefed West city officials and met with family members of the victims of the explosion.

Last week State Fire Marshal's Office spokeswoman Rachel Moreno said investigators had determined that ammonium nitrate stored at the plant is what exploded, but not what touched off the ammonium nitrate.
 
Moreno said a spot that is now a 90-foot-wide crater was where the ammonium nitrate was stored.

Investigators ruled out several possible causes of the initial fire at the plant that led to the explosion that killed 15, injured about 200, damaged or destroyed scores of homes and buildings including three of West's four schools and a nursing home.

"Weather, natural, anhydrous ammonium, the rail car containing ammonium nitrate, and a fire within the ammonium nitrate bin" all have been eliminated as possible causes, the Texas Department of Insurance said in a statement last week.

"Additionally, water used during firefighting activities did not contribute to the cause of the explosion," the department said.

"The investigation has revealed, to date, that the origin of the fire was in the fertilizer and seed building," the insurance department said.

Investigators are trying to pinpoint the exact location, the department said.
 
On Friday, the Department of Public Safety announced that DPS Director Steven McCraw had directed the Texas Rangers to join the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office in launching a criminal investigation of the blast.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-texas-explosion-investigation-20130516,0,6362599.story
Cause of Texas fertilizer plant blast unclear; inquiry continues
May 16, 2013

The cause of the fire that triggered the deadly explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, last month remains undetermined after a $1-million investigation, officials said Thursday. Although the probe continues, the cause of the disaster may never be known.

An estimated 28 to 34 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded in two stages, separated by a fraction of a second, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office. Debris flew up to 2 1/2 miles and the damage extended across a 37-block area.

Although the investigation eliminated some potential causes of the disaster, ATF agent Robert Champion said, several possibilities remain:

*A failure in the plant’s 120-volt electrical system.
*Arson.
*A battery-powered golf cart parked near the origin of the fire.

Officials refused to comment on whether a West paramedic who was arrested weeks after the conflagration on suspicion of possessing bomb-making materials had been cleared of involvement. But the blaze and the resulting explosion remain a criminal investigation, they said.

At a news conference in the parking lot of West’s now badly damaged high school, Champion said several possible causes had been eliminated:

*That a fire earlier in the day had reignited. Champion said there had not been an earlier fire.
*The plant’s 480-volt electrical system for heavy machinery.
*Smoking.
*The weather.

Kelly Kistler, lead investigator for the state fire marshal, said the conflagration raised the temperature of the ammonium nitrate, subjecting it to increased pressure, then some "impact" triggered the explosion.  A spokeswoman for the office said that impact remained under investigation, but it could have come from a structure that collapsed because of the fire.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/16/us/texas-explosion-probe/index.html
Cause of catastrophic Texas explosions remains mystery
May 16, 2013

(CNN) -- Investigators have not ruled out an intentional fire being behind explosions at a fertilizer plant in the small town of West that left 15 people dead, the Texas fire marshal said Thursday.
State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said investigators were unable to rule out three possible causes, including a spark from a golf cart, an electrical short or an intentionally set fire.
"The cause cannot be proven to an acceptable level," Connealy told reporters.
Investigators said the incident was actually two simultaneous blasts triggered by the fire. The blasts, which registered on seismographs as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake and was felt 50 miles away, caused damage to a 37-block area of the town.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/texas/results-expected-in-west-fertilizer-blast-inquiry
Cause of West blast undetermined
Investigators unable to pinpoint cause, they say
May 16, 2013

 

But they could not say with certainty what caused a fire on April 17 inside the seed and fertilizer building at West Fertilizer Co., in West, a tiny Texas town previously known for its Czech bakeries and heritage. Kelly Kistner, the Texas assistant state fire marshal, said the fire caused stored ammonium nitrate to change states, while also causing debris in the wooden building to begin to fall.

The blast was actually two explosions: a small one that occurred about 20 minutes after the fire was reported, followed by a larger one a split second later, Kistner said. About 28 to 34 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in the plant exploded. Another 20 to 30 tons stored on site, along with a rail car carrying 100 tons of ammonium nitrate, did not explode, officials said.

The power of the blast was equivalent to 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of TNT.

Among the dead were 10 first responders and two people who had joined into fight the fire. The blast registered as a small earthquake and left a crater 93 feet wide and 10 feet deep. It destroyed an apartment building, homes and parts of schools nearby.

"I don't recall a (similar) tragedy of recent times in Texas — certainly one of the worst in American history with first responders," said Chris Connealy, the state fire marshal, at a press conference in the parking lot of nearby West High School, which was severely damaged.

The golf cart was parked in the room where investigators believe the blast began, officials said. The golf cart's batteries hold a charge and when they fail, they can ignite the materials around them, officials said. They found two pieces of the cart: a brake pad and the axle.

As part of their site investigation, officials tried to reconstruct part of one building on the plant site with debris and as much of the power systems as they could. They were able to rule out a higher-voltage electrical system used at the plant.

Officials have ruled out the possibility that the blast was an act of terror, but not that it was a crime. They refused Thursday to take questions on the arrest of Bryce Reed, a West paramedic who responded to the blast but was arrested weeks later with what authorities said were materials for a pipe bomb. The Texas Rangers, a state investigative agency, and the local county sheriff's office opened their own criminal investigation after his arrest.
 
Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office, said the death toll had officially reached 15 with the determination by a local justice of the peace that an elderly man who died after being evacuated from the nursing home had been an explosion-related death. The nursing home's medical director previously had said the man died of his pre-existing ailments.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Dave-Matthews-Band-Donates-100000-to-West-Recovery-207589561.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_DFWBrand
Dave Matthews Band Donates $100,000 to West Recovery
May 15, 2013

The charitable arm of the Dave Matthews Band, Bama Works, has donated $100,000 to the West, Texas Disaster Relief Fund.
 
The Dave Matthews Band, who performs Saturday in Dallas, isn't the only musician to make a contribution to the devastated town.  On Tuesday, it was announced that Texan Willie Nelson donated $121,000 to recovery efforts -- $81,000 directly to the West Volunteer Fire Department and another $40,000 to his hometown of Abbott, which had a truck destroyed in the blast.

Additionally, country singer Tracey Lawrence will take part in concert this summer that will benefit volunteer fire departments, like the one in West, that are desperately in need of money.

The Waco Foundation's website said that, as of May 14, donations totaled $545,000, though that total did not include the donation made by Bama Works.

On May 1, the Waco Foundation's West Disaster Relief Efforts Fund was voted to be the designated recipient of all charitable donations. Anyone who would like to donate to the Waco Foundation West Disaster Relief Fund can do so here.
 

Link to Waco Foundation's West Disaster Relief Efforts Fund:
https://www.wacofoundation.org/tabid/174/default.aspx?tp=1000&fn=west%2c+texas+disaster+relief+efforts+fund

(Donors will have the ability to designate funds to the general fund, residents or firefighters.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.usfra.org/forum2/topics/u-s-chemical-safety-board-root-cause-investigation-of-west-explos?xg_source=activity
U.S. Chemical Safety Board Root-Cause Investigation of West Explosion Continues; Board to Examine Ammonium Nitrate Storage, Siting, Fire Protection, and Preparedness Issues
Posted by Lt. Traycee B. on May 17, 2013 at 2:04pm in US Chemical Safety Board

[MuffyBee]

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130516-analysis-west-fertilizer-report-details-sequence-of-a-catastrophe.ece
Analysis: West Fertilizer report details sequence of a catastrophe
May 16, 2013

[MuffyBee]

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130516-victims-families-west-residents-resigned-to-not-knowing-blasts-cause.ece
Victims’ families, West residents resigned to not knowing blast’s cause
May 16, 2013

WEST — Phil Calvin kept the news in perspective that the cause of the April 17 explosion at West Fertilizer Co. remains undetermined.
“My son and those other people are gone. Nothing’s going to bring them back,” he said Thursday. “We’ve all just got to move on, however that is.”
Perry Calvin, 37, was one of the 12 first responders among the 15 fatalities. Told that investigators had narrowed, but not determined, what caused the fire that triggered the blast, his father said he was disappointed but not shocked.
“I’m not surprised they couldn’t nail it down with all the devastation there,” said Calvin, chief of the Navarro Mills Volunteer Fire Department.
 
For now, he and his family will help Perry’s wife, Becky, and the couple’s two sons deal with the loss. They will help her with the birth and care of a third child due by year’s end.
 

A Sorry Situation

Perry’s identity was stolen after his death and used to establish cellphone service in the Houston area, his father said, a sorry situation that has added to his wife’s troubles.
Perry Calvin, who served with his dad in the Navarro Mills fire department, was in an emergency medical training class in West on April 17 when a fire alarm sounded. He and two classmates died after responding to the fire.
“He was a hell of a man to go in there and do what he did,” said his father. “He didn’t have family in the town.”
West volunteer firefighter Jimmy Matus also died while responding to the fire
Earlier this week, his mother, Lillian Matus, said, “We’re taking it a day at a time. We’ve got other children. We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”
Told on Thursday that a possible setting of the fire was still being investigators, she said she wasn’t surprised: “We’ve had so much mischief in West.”
And she wasn’t interested in saying anything else: “I just can’t take it anymore.”
The family of Cody Dragoo, a West firefighter who also worked at the plant, didn’t want to talk about the investigation report, said Daniel “Danny” Mynar, a cousin of Dragoo’s widow, Patty.
“Everybody is slowly healing,” he said. “They just want to get on with their lives. And be left alone.”
Doreen Strickland, president of the Abbott Volunteer Fire Department, said Thursday’s announcement confirmed that firefighters weren’t to blame for the tragedy.
 
Her department lost two firefighters in West and has been offered specialists to evaluate her eight remaining volunteers’ post-trauma stress and fitness for duty.
“Ours are doing pretty well,” she said. “We have a few who are shaken up, but they are working through it.”
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05/17/4866297/reunions-of-owners-pets-a-bright.html
Reunions of owners, pets a bright spot in Granbury tornado recovery
May 17, 2013

 
When the Hernandez family left their shattered house in the Rancho Brazos Estates subdivision in a panic Wednesday night, they were separated from 4-year-old Rambo, part Rottweiler, part blue heeler.

Friday, Amanda and Alfonso Hernandez and their three children went to the Hood County Animal Control facility. No Rambo.

They traveled across Granbury to a temporary animal shelter on Acton Circle. Shortly after 4 p.m., 2-year-old Steven Hernandez planted a kiss on Rambo’s wet nose.

“We’re relieved,” Amanda Hernandez said. “That’s one less thing we are going to have to worry about.”

The twister destroyed their home, and they are staying in a hotel with the help of their church.

Rambo was one of an estimated 100 animals the Humane Society of North Texas dealt with this week after the tornadoes, said Shelly Meeks, assistant shelter manager. Rescue workers found dogs, cats, goats, chickens, roosters, birds and guinea pigs. The animals were briefly moved to Fort Worth while the temporary shelter was organized, she said.

Late Friday afternoon, 35 animals were left at the shelter where Rambo was found, said Sgt. Kelly McNamb of Hood County Animal Control.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/greater_waco/west/west-isd-insurance-policy-would-cover-half-of-its-explosion/article_9f4d9915-37ca-59d5-bfd8-27b2238dbf7e.html
West ISD insurance policy would cover half of its explosion damage
May 19, 2013

The West school district’s maximum insurance benefit would 
only cover about half of the estimated $117.4 million long-term fix proposed to renovate or replace campuses and furnishings damaged in the April 17 West Fertilizer Co. 
explosion.
West has a $60 million policy through insurance provider Trident and its parent company, Argo Group.
West Independent School District Superintendent Marty Crawford said adjusters are working with engineers the school district hired, deciding what structures could be salvaged instead of torn down before determining the final settlement award.
West’s intermediate and high schools will have to be demolished and rebuilt, while some buildings at the middle school must be torn down, according to a recent report to the West ISD school board.
The district hopes to complete the work in two phases during the next two years and is looking for insurance help to kick-start the projects.
Possible FEMA aid
Crawford said the district is banking on aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the rest of the school construction costs. But to receive assistance, the district and city of West first have to prove they sustained $34 million in damage beyond what insurance covers.
Crawford said he hopes a settlement will be reached with insurance adjusters in the next week.
The district, city and McLennan County will submit a joint FEMA application for aid. Crawford said there’s not a set limit on how much the district could receive from FEMA, but an award decision is not expected for another four to seven 
months.
More...