{"id":72225,"date":"2025-12-02T00:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T00:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/72225\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T00:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T00:49:09","slug":"8m-raised-but-more-needed-for-ongoing-central-texas-flood-recovery-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/72225\/","title":{"rendered":"$8M raised, but more needed for ongoing Central Texas Flood recovery efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"$8M $8M raised, but more needed for ongoing flood recovery<\/a> <\/p>\n

Travis and Williamson County leaders are appealing to Central Texans to donate more funds to the regional flood relief effort, as only $8 million of the $10 million goal has been raised to help survivors who can now apply for a second round of assistance.<\/p>\n

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas – Local leaders from Travis and Williamson counties urged Central Texans on Monday to help replenish a regional flood relief fund as residents continue to recover from the devastating July floods.<\/p>\n

\"\" Local leaders renew call for aid <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

A misty, cold morning set the tone for the renewed call for donations, issued alongside the Central Texas Community Foundation, which manages the relief funds supporting survivors.<\/p>\n

The foundation has raised $8 million so far, and as of December 1, has distributed 115 checks totaling $3.3 million. The award amounts vary depending on need, said Amy Merida, leader of the foundation.<\/p>\n

\"\" $8 million raised, $3.3 million distributed <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“The journey is far from over,” said Merida.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s absolutely a gap filler\u2026 Some of them may have to use it to pay for their mortgage. It may not meet exactly what they intended for it to meet, but it\u2019s definitely a gap filler as they work toward long-term recovery.”<\/p>\n

“The maximum gift was $100,000. The minimum someone got was $500. The average gift was a little north of $30,000,” she said.<\/p>\n

Second application round now open <\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

Only residents living in designated flood zones are eligible. With the second round of applications now open, county leaders hope donations will help meet or surpass the $10 million goal. Contributions are being directed to the Travis County Cares and WilCo Cares funds.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Travis County Judge Andy Brown said many families continue to face major repair costs.<\/p>\n

“The needs that we\u2019re seeing are still very significant,” Brown said. “Most families [are] facing major home repair costs such as damaged floors, walls, driveways, doors, drywall\u2026 Some homes are total losses.”<\/p>\n

Intentionally slow process to avoid fraud <\/p>\n

Big picture view:<\/p>\n

The distribution process is intentionally slow, officials said, to allow time for thorough vetting. So far, Merida said, 60 cases of possible fraud have been flagged.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“We want to get the money out to the victims as soon as possible,” said Williamson County Judge Steven Snell, “but we have to make sure we\u2019re minimizing fraud as well, because we don\u2019t want that to be a part of the story, that people are getting funds from these wonderful donations and had no damage whatsoever.”<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

The deadline to apply for the second round of assistance is Jan. 31, 2026. Residents who received funding in the first round are eligible to apply again.<\/p>\n

The Source: Informaiton in this article was provided by FOX 7’s Rudy Koski.<\/p>\n

Travis County<\/a>Williamson County<\/a>Texas<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"$8M raised, but more needed for ongoing flood recovery Travis and Williamson County leaders are appealing to Central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,223,4375,394,216,393,2538],"class_list":{"0":"post-72225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-severe-weather","13":"tag-travis-county","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-williamson-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}