By Gary Borders

Seventeen Southeast Texas counties have been declared disaster areas after Hurricane Nicholas came ashore, dumping more than a foot of rain and cutting off power to a half-million customers in Texas, according to poweroutage.us. That number had been reduced to about 4,200 as of Sunday. 

Counties included in Gov. Greg Abbott’s declaration are Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Galveston, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Orange, Ref...