ICYMI: Republican Flood Safety Promises in Texas Ring Hollow as Bureaucratic Delays Leave Communities Vulnerable
As Trump dismantles FEMA, Republican Gov. Abbott abandons flood-ravaged communities, forcing local officials to shoulder disaster costs themselves
TEXAS — Months after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and state Republican leadership promised millions in state funding for flood warning systems that could prevent future tragedies, Kerr County officials confirm that bureaucratic delays mean the money still hasn’t reached a single local official. The promises came immediately after catastrophic flooding in July 2025 claimed 130 lives across the Texas Hill Country. Now, desperate local governments are being forced to drain their own reserves to meet summer camp safety deadlines. This latest failure comes as flood survivors call on Abbott to establish a permanent Texas Forever disaster recovery fund using the state’s $24 billion surplus, a request Abbott has also refused.
This is the pattern that’s sabotaging our safety: as federal and state officials fail to act, small rural communities are forced to shoulder disaster costs themselves. While Abbott and Republican lawmakers in Texas let bureaucracy delay life-saving infrastructure, the Trump administration has been systematically dismantling federal disaster response — eliminating FEMA’s flood protection program that provided $4.6 billion nationwide, slashing 20% of FEMA’s workforce, and proposing to eliminate FEMA entirely. Adding to the chaos, FEMA has cycled through two directors while grappling with internal conflicts. Trump’s own review board even raised concerns about his management of the agency.
See story below:
San Antonio Express-News: Kerr officials: We won’t wait for state to fund river warning system
In the months since the deadly Hill Country floods, Kerr County officials have repeatedly said they want a flood warning system — complete with sirens — ready to go by the time kids return to the summer camps along the Guadalupe River.
State officials promised to make that happen, with legislators allocating millions of dollars to support Texas counties in that effort.
But the wheels of state bureaucracy aren't turning fast enough to make that money available, local officials say – so they are considering dipping into their own budget to make the projects happen more quickly.
The Upper Guadalupe River Authority, which manages the river's watershed in Kerr County, agreed to move $1.5 million from its reserve fund to pay for flood prediction and control projects.
Bill Rector, president of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority's board, said recent meetings with state legislators indicated it would be "probably summer before funds would actually be flowing, and if we want our river to be safe this summer, we need to move faster than that."
As search and rescue teams combed the Guadalupe last July, searching for survivors and the bodies of victims, the lack of warning sirens in Kerr County immediately became a flash point.
In an interview on Fox News on July 7, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick vowed that the state would help ensure sirens were in place in less than a year. "The state needs to step up and pay for these. There should have been sirens here," Patrick said. "If the city can't afford it, then the state will step up and we need to have these in place by the next summer."
In a written statement, the Texas Water Development Board said that "the governor's office recently delegated the grant funding component to the TWDB, but details of the program are still in development."
The agency's three board members will be briefed on an "implementation plan and timeline" at the agency's December meeting, the statement said.
For some in Kerr County, that isn't moving fast enough. "My view is, we cannot wait for the water development board to come out with their guidance and their application process," UGRA board member Jonathan Letz said.
"The goal might have been of SB 3 to get this done before next summer, but because they did not allow for emergency rules to be implemented, the standard state rule process is going in place," he said. Letz said he doesn't see "any chance" that the agency would be ready for applications until late January or February, with money potentially available by May — at which point the authority could then start soliciting bids and begin the contracting process, which also takes time.
"I don't see that the funding from the water development board could take place until probably September, October of next year," Letz said, "and we can't wait that long."
In August, the board voted to allocate $1.5 million from its reserves to "flood prediction and control" in its 2026 budget, to be used for both an ongoing flood warning "viewer" system, and for "future data sensors and technology and potential future projects to improve flood control."
Full story is available here.
