TEXAS — As the floodwaters recede in the Texas Hill Country, officials are beginning the rebuilding phase.
In a press conference in Kerrville on Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott said this flood was more damaging to property and homes than last July’s, with river levels in some places beating their own 2025 records. Abbott said it was the lessons learned that kept the destruction to property, and not lives.
“Sirens and warnings, they worked,” Abbott said. “Early warning systems saved lives.”
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said the Guadalupe River was able to rise higher and further than before because of more rain, and the way 2025 floods changed the river.
“A lot of [the property damage] I attribute to the fact that the flood last year came roaring down that river valley and tore out all that growth and devastated us,” Kelly said. “When it came, there was no growth to slow it down like it did last time.”
Based on surveys so far, 490 homes and 100 businesses are damaged in Kerr County alone. As the response moves to the recovery phase, efforts will focus on debris removal, fixing roads and bridges, and finding families temporary housing.
Meanwhile, to the west, the danger isn’t over yet. Officials said Cotulla, Uvalde, Carrizo Springs and other areas along the Nueces River are the biggest concern over the next few days. As floodwaters head downstream, river levels will rise in these areas.
“All of the state agencies that are here are already there with the support of local governments making sure we move people out of harm’s way and protect the infrastructure that we can,” Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said.