KERRVILLE, Texas — The City of Kerrville says Mayor Bill Blackburn filed a Declaration of Disaster on Friday, Feb. 4, during the second day of the ice storm.
"Per the city's Emergency Management Plan, Disaster Declarations can be filed 'when an emergency situation has caused severe damage, injury, loss of life or it appears likely to do so,'" the city said.
They told KENS 5 that a local disaster declaration activates the recovery and rehabilitation aspects of this plan. A local disaster declaration is required to obtain state and federal disaster recovery assistance.
The Mayor reportedly filed the Disaster Declaration as a precaution while the city assessed damage from the storm.
"The city's public safety personnel spent extensive time working weather-related traffic issues on Interstate 10 during the ice storm. One fatality occurred during that time," they said.
RELATED: One person dies after icy conditions cause havoc on I-10 near Kerrville; backups now cleared
Some drivers slept overnight in their cars on the interstate, unable to move off for hours.
Beth Lorenz and her husband Dick said they hit traffic just before 9 p.m. Thursday night. They moved two miles in 15 hours.
"We are lucky because we have a motor home and we just happen to be in it, and so we personally even have a bathroom in our motor home," Beth Lorenz said. "There’s no bathrooms out here so people are having to make use of this side of the road, it’s just a sad situation."
Law enforcement gradually opened lanes Friday. Even with major wreckage off the highway, delays continued.
Dennis Nelson Keller, 60, died in a crash with a tractor trailer on Thursday night, according to Kerrville Police. Initially, police said he was in a Ford F-150 pickup, but they later said he was driving a Ford F-350.
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