ICYMI: A Year Later, Sandy Creek Flood Survivors Still Waiting On FEMA

TEXAS — New reporting from Texas Public Radio revealed today that nearly a year after a flood killed nine people and damaged roughly 200 homes along Sandy Creek, FEMA has provided little to no assistance to survivors still trying to rebuild. The flooding hit after midnight on July 5, the same storm system that devastated the Guadalupe River, but the recovery on the ground looks nothing alike. When reporters asked FEMA directly what assistance it has provided to Sandy Creek survivors, the agency did not respond at all.

Ashlee Willis is one of those survivors still waiting. She lives with her family on an herb farm split by the creek, where her house was lifted off its foundation and would have washed downstream had a hurricane strap not held. Weeks after the flood, she testified before the Texas House Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding that human remains had been found on her family's own property. Her family carried federal flood insurance and is still fighting over the size of the payout. FEMA disaster assistance has not come at all.

This is exactly the kind of failure SOS has been documenting as the FEMA Review Council pushes to hand off more disaster recovery responsibility to the states. A community that lost so much should not still be waiting a year later, and a family that followed every rule, carried insurance, and testified to lawmakers should not be left with nothing. FEMA needs to resolve outstanding flood insurance disputes on Sandy Creek, process the assistance claims still sitting untouched, and explain publicly why this community has been left behind.

Texas Public Radio: "A year after the Hill Country floods, two communities face different recoveries"

The struggle to recover has continued for months. Willis’ mother, Brandy Gerstner, summarized the family’s experience bluntly: “We got deserted.”

Four weeks after the disaster, Willis testified before the Texas House Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding. She told lawmakers that human remains had been discovered on her family’s property and questioned whether authorities were doing enough to recover all parts of those who died.

“I found a leg and a hip on my property,” she said.

Willis said her family has not received FEMA disaster assistance. Although they carried federal flood insurance, they remain in a dispute over the amount of the insurance payout.

NPR contacted FEMA seeking information about the assistance provided to Sandy Creek survivors and the broader rebuilding effort but did not receive a response.

With the insurance dispute unresolved, the family’s reconstruction remains on hold. Much of the support along Sandy Creek has instead come from volunteers.

Willis said she does not resent the attention and assistance directed toward communities along the Guadalupe River. She is glad those survivors are receiving help.

But, she said, the families who lost homes and loved ones along Sandy Creek also want their disaster — and their continuing recovery — to be remembered.

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