Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez issued a disaster declaration due to the ongoing drought that he called “a threat of imminent disaster,” according to a Tuesday news release.

The declaration goes into effect immediately and will last seven days, the release stated. The Hidalgo County Commissioners Court may vote to extend it in its next meeting on Tuesday, April 16.

The declaration allows Hidalgo County to begin to tap into statewide funding to mitigate any drought related problems, including an ongoing threat of wildfire, the release stated.

“We have been working diligently to assess the scope of the problem and how it is affecting the residents of Hidalgo County,” Judge Cortez stated in the release. “This declaration is the first step in securing statewide aid to help us through what is predicted to be another dry summer.”

The disaster declaration comes one month after Gov. Greg Abbott renewed his own disaster declaration for several counties throughout Texas. Abbott issued his initial disaster declaration in April 2018 and has renewed it every six months since then, the release added.

According to the release, the drought conditions “pose an imminent and continuous threat of widespread or severe damage, injury or loss of life or property and to public health, municipal water supplies and agricultural production.”