KERR COUNTY, Texas — Kerr County residents are cleaning out homes and businesses this month after the second devastating flood in as many years \u2014 but this time, some nonprofits and community leaders say they\u2019re facing more destruction with less financial assistance and volunteer help than last year.<\/p>\n
The video above is from the original report<\/a>.<\/p>\n As of Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u00a0hadn\u2019t approved<\/a>\u00a0federal aid for individuals or local governments \u2014 including Kerr County, which,\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0the Kerrville Daily Times, was already facing a potential $8 million budget shortfall.<\/p>\n The state by Monday had received 1,501 damage survey submissions, including 47 destroyed structures and 310 that suffered major damage, according to Shorey Harmon, Kerr County\u2019s new emergency management coordinator. In addition to the flood damage, the area expects to suffer economic losses as tourists cancel trips during the busy summer season.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a new flood,\u201d said Jeff Byard, chief program officer for the veteran-led Team Rubicon, which brought volunteers to muck out homes. \u201cThis isn\u2019t last year\u2019s flood. People need help, and organizations need the support of partners and individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED: Key differences spared Texas lives in second straight July flood<\/a><\/p>\n County leaders and locals say the public response hasn\u2019t come close to last year\u2019s flood, which grabbed global media attention after 119 died in Kerr County, including 27 girls swept away by the Guadalupe River at Camp Mystic. Robert Earl Keen, Miranda Lambert and other stars hosted benefit concerts, and resources poured in.<\/p>\n This year, one person died in Kerr County in flooding that affected a\u00a0much broader region<\/a>. But the media attention and the fundraising so far hasn\u2019t compared, even though business owners and families have faced buildings filled with mud and debris that needed to be mucked out quickly and rebuilt \u2014 in some cases for a second time.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are all the volunteers this year, compared to last?\u201d Kerr County Commissioner Jeff Holt asked as he reviewed post-flood issues at the county commissioners meeting Monday, held in a former municipal court building after the flood swamped the county courthouse basement.<\/p>\n The city of Kerrville estimated it sustained $30 million in infrastructure damage to its water treatment plant, sewage lift stations and roads and bridges, Mayor Joe Herring said. Meanwhile, the county saw roads and bridges damaged and had to relocate staff from the county courthouse, County Judge Rob Kelly said.<\/p>\n School sports teams, locals who suffered through last year\u2019s floods and some volunteer organizations have been serving meals and cleaning out homes. But other philanthropic groups report that donors haven\u2019t given as much as last year.<\/p>\n In 2025, Nathan Rich, a 24-year-old mechanic in Center Point, lived behind his light-duty diesel and vehicle repair business when the July 4 flood hit so quickly that he and his wife only had time to grab their shoes, go-bag and guns. They\u2019d reopened the shop with help from volunteers who showed up the next day and were buying a new house when this year\u2019s flood struck.<\/p>\n The flood ruined Rich\u2019s power tools, office\u00a0and other machinery again \u2014 plus the home appliances he said the Zac Brown Band purchased for them after last year\u2019s flood. Customers\u2019 vehicles were totaled. Mud filled the shop.<\/p>\n Rich and an employee started cleaning out metal drawers filled with hand tools. They felt beaten down, he said.<\/p>\n Then three volunteers arrived on Saturday to help, and their mood immediately lifted. They got enough done to reopen Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cThat made a huge difference,\u201d Rich said. \u201c It\u2019s not even necessarily about the money. It\u2019s about just showing that there\u2019s people that care.\u201d<\/p>\n Some 250 small businesses asked for help within three days of the flood from\u00a0LiftFund,\u00a0which provided up to $10,000 in grants to help small businesses rebuild, including Rich\u2019s, President and CEO Amy Hereford said.\u00a0They had to close the applications because they had more than they could fund.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are hardworking, and they are humble human beings,\u201d Hereford said. \u201cAnd they are tired, exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are helping each other \u2014 that\u2019s always a given that we see over there,\u201d she added. \u201cThey will go to the ends of the earth for each other, but they really need help right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t received any kind of help\u201d<\/p>\n Liz Ayala, a 42-year-old clinical research coordinator in Austin, rushed to Monterey Street in Kerrville on July 16 to find a block of people who didn\u2019t know what to do after their homes flooded.\u00a0Intense, heavy rain hit near the city that morning and creeks draining into the Guadalupe River overflowed, including Town Creek, which pushed several feet of water into Ayala\u2019s family home and forced her family to evacuate.<\/p>\n Ayala\u2019s grandmother raised Ayala\u2019s mom in the house, and still lived there when Ayala was growing up. Ayala would walk over as a girl, ring a metal bell to signal her arrival and eat her grandma\u2019s famous tortillas with butter. After her grandma died two years ago, her parents and brother moved into the house, joining one of her aunts.<\/p>\n Her grandma was the kind of person who looked out for her community; she used to leave tacos for the mailman.\u00a0Now Ayala found herself trying to support her neighbors, many of them seniors, by telling them which damage forms to complete online and sharing flyers about charity resources.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, she and her family bought tools and ripped out soggy sheetrock and flooring with the help of friends and relatives. With the house completely gutted, they looked for places to stay until it could be made livable again.<\/p>\n They hauled debris, paying for each load. Her mom developed a cough, likely from the moldy, rotten air around the house.<\/p>\n On July 22, Ayala addressed the Kerrville City Council, seeking help for her family and her neighborhood:\u00a0\u201cWe haven\u2019t received any kind of help, just us as neighbors just doing it ourselves and friends that have trucks or anything just coming to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n The next day, a volunteer group from Samaritan\u2019s Purse provided needed relief, finishing the gutting and cleaning and allowing the family to rest.\u00a0Ayala said they\u2019re still not sure if they\u2019ll get any financial help to rebuild.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what comes next,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mayor Herring visited Ayala\u2019s family home, as she\u2019d asked at the council meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more help needed, she\u2019s right,\u201d Herring said. \u201cWhere do they live while they\u2019re waiting for their homes to be restored? What\u2019s the next step?\u201d<\/p>\n The only FEMA help so far was for\u00a0emergency measures<\/a>, which could include search and rescue and shelters. It\u2019s unclear whether the agency will do more, and officials were encouraging residents to report their damage to the state to help build their case.<\/p>\n U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0to President Donald Trump last week asking him to approve more support, saying the still-recovering communities carried \u201can extraordinary burden.\u201d<\/p>\n Kerr County Commissioner Tom Jones quoted Psalms 34: \u201cThe Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s kind of where we\u2019re at right now, right?,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe are kind of crushed in spirit, but this is the most resilient place I\u2019ve ever been a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n At Audio Video Solutions<\/a>\u00a0in Kerrville, Town Creek pushed through with such force that it lifted the building up \u2014 leaving a slanted flood line \u2014 and swamped a slew of other nearby businesses, including the iconic hardware store Gibson\u2019s and a Mexican restaurant down the road.<\/p>\n Kevin Grona, the 57-year-old Audio Video Solutions owner, said he lost TVs, projectors and other equipment and expects he\u2019s going to have to knock the whole building down\u00a0\u2014 a significant financial hit. He saved what he could, like ceiling lights and the electrical panel.<\/p>\n Now he\u2019s trying to run the business from home and sending shipments to someone else\u2019s building.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t just stop,\u201d Grona said. \u201cSo if I can go out and make some money every day, I\u2019m going to try to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n Stretched resources<\/p>\n In some ways, Kerr County was already ahead in its ability to respond to another flood.\u00a0It already had a long-term group\u00a0helping to think through how to help the community recover economically, ecologically and spiritually. Earlier this year, they opened a space in Kerrville to concentrate resources for people to get help after last year\u2019s flood.<\/p>\n But they were still very much in the process of rebuilding from the 2025 flood when the 2026 flood hit, said Todd Bock, executive director of the Kerr Economic Development Corporation.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we have seen so far in preliminary data has given us enough concern to know that we don\u2019t have enough resources where we are today,\u201d Bock said.<\/p>\n The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country\u00a0launched a relief fund\u00a0the day of the flooding in Kerr County this year, like it did last year. It had distributed $82 million of the more than $150 million it raised after the 2025 flood, as of June.<\/p>\n The foundation on July 30 announced $18 million in commitments to help businesses and families. Almost all of that came from donations after the 2025 flood that donors agreed could be redirected to this year\u2019s response. The foundation planned to give $5 million to LiftFund for business grants and $11.3 million for housing needs in Kerr County. Another $1.7 million would go to emergency financial assistance for Hill Country families.<\/p>\n \u201cThis situation naturally increases anxiety, stress, and existential fear about what comes next, and that is a tough burden for anyone to carry,\u201d CEO Austin Dickson said when this year\u2019s flood hit Kerr County, drenching carpets in\u00a0his own home.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cOn the other hand, we have been through this as a community before.\u201d<\/p>\n When the storm hit, Mercy Chefs was getting ready to move out of a leased kitchen after providing hot meals there for a year \u2014 longer than is typical. But they extended their lease a bit and were back to providing emergency meals again.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will go into our cash reserves when we have to,\u201d said CEO and Founder Gary LeBlanc. \u201cOur support is based on the need in the community, not visibility or media coverage or donor support.\u201d<\/p>\n Samaritan\u2019s Purse and its volunteers had helped clean up homes, getting through 16 work orders in the Kerrville area as of Saturday with 161 requests to go;\u00a0in at least one case they were helping someone they\u2019d helped the year before.<\/p>\n Last year, Good360, which raises money and gives away donated products such as cleaning supplies, clothes and construction materials, gave $4.3 million worth of goods to the Hill Country from some 30 companies that included Mattress Firm, Ikea and JC Penney.<\/p>\n As of last week, Good360 had received no corporate support to respond to this round of Texas flooding, said Morgan Loomis, vice president of disaster response and recovery \u2014 which she attributed in part to donor fatigue and a lack of national media attention.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody\u2019s really seeing the donations come in like they did previously, both in cash and in product,\u201d Loomis said. \u201cThe resources are not coming in, but there is the level of expectation from the community based off of the support that was provided last time.\u201d<\/p>\n In the unincorporated neighborhood of Bumble Bee Hills 46-year-old Justin Rumbo and his wife had rebuilt their home after the 2025 flood exactly as they wanted, with donated help. He even got to put a hot tub on the porch. This year, it flooded again with several feet of water.<\/p>\n His sister scrawled \u201cHELP\u201d on a damaged mattress in the front yard a day or two after the flood; his daughter started a\u00a0GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n Along with a friend and a few volunteers, Rumbo gutted the home for a second time. A few local sports teams stopped by to help move furniture and possessions out.<\/p>\n \u201cThey know that we can\u2019t do it alone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n