SHERMAN -- North Texas counties and cities are now eligible for public assistance from FEMA. It’s a big step for public entities looking to recover both structurally and monetarily from recent flooding.

Over the past month, FEMA officials have stressed that individuals and businesses affected by the floods of last month should apply with FEMA to get federal assistance. Now it’s time for city and county officials to do the same thing, that’s why they came to Kidd Key Auditorium this afternoon to get some information on the process.

County and city leaders across north Texas came to Sherman to speak with officials from FEMA and the Texas Department of Emergency Management. They were on hand to learn how to receive federal disaster relief to repair infrastructure damage like rebuilding roads and bridges washed out by the rising waters.

Earlier this week, FEMA announced that Grayson, Cooke, and Fannin counties would be eligible for public assistance.

That's a change from an earlier declaration stating that only individual home and business owners could receive federal money. County officials say it’s a big step towards a full recovery.

"Whenever a community is hit with a devastating flood or any other kind of natural disaster, it just gets incredibly expensive so it’s just great to see they were approved, and 75% of the bill will be picked up by FEMA," said FEMA official Brad Craine.

Again, the first thing for city and county officials is to fill out a public assistance form and then from that point on, it will take some time to fill out the necessary steps.

Watch the video for more on those steps.