Sixteen counties in North and East Texas have been declared a disaster area after severe weather on Oct. 20. Counties named in Gov. Greg Abbott’s declaration are: Cass, Cameron, Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Erath, Hunt, Kaufman, Lamar, Panola, Rains, Rockwall, Rusk, Tarrant, Van Zandt and Wood. “By issuing this declaration, Texas is providing local officials with the resources they need to quickly respond and recover from this storm,” Abbott said. In addition to providing access to state resources, the declaration waived certain regulations to make it easier for utility companies to bring in out-of-state resources to assist in restoring power. The storm brought high winds,