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FILE – Texas floods: Kerrville families plead for more help
People in Kerrville are pleading for more help from city leaders to recover from this month's historic flood.
KERRVILLE, Texas - Texans hit by this past July's flooding will not receive federal assistance, marking a blow to communities still recovering just a year after the 2025 Hill Country disaster that killed more than 130 people.
What we know:
In a statement sent to FOX Local on Monday, FEMA explained that public assistance was approved by President Donald Trump on Sept. 1. It helps cover the cost of debris removal, rescue efforts and rebuilding damaged infrastructure in 19 counties.
What it doesn’t do is provide money to individuals who were impacted by the summer floods that killed at least two people.
FEMA officials said they follow the Stafford Act which requires an evaluation to determine whether Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s requests for assistance rise to the level of needing federal help.
"FEMA assesses a number of factors to determine the severity, magnitude and impact of a disaster event," FEMA officials wrote in the statement. "Major disaster declaration request evaluation factors considered include estimated cost of the assistance, localized impacts, insurance coverage in force, hazard mitigation, recent multiple disasters, programs of other federal assistance, state fiscal capacity and resource availability, uninsured home and personal property losses, disaster-impacted population profile, impact to community infrastructure, casualties, and disaster related unemployment."
A woman drives past vehicles and golf carts washed out of Buckhorn Lake Resort and onto the shoulder of the Interstate 10 frontage road near Goat Creek Road by flooding, July 17, 2026. (Sara Diggins/The Austin American-Statesman / Getty Images)
Abbott evaluating appeals process
FEMA said that Texas has the right to appeal its decision, and that Gov. Greg Abbott has been sent a letter outlining why the request was denied.
Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, said the governor’s office is reviewing FEMA’s determination and the appeals process.
"Governor Abbott issued a state disaster declaration, extended SNAP replacement benefits, and requested federal tax relief for affected counties," Mahaleris said in a statement sent to FOX Local last week. "Texas will deliver every necessary resource to communities impacted by the July storms and floods."
State. Sen. Roland Gutierrez said Monday that he sent a letter to Abbott calling on him to immediately file an appeal.
What we don't know:
Abbott's office provided no timeframe on when the appeals process might begin and how long it would take.
Gov. Abbott requests federal disaster tax relief for Texas flood victims after July
Gov. Greg Abbott asked the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday, Oct. 15 to provide federal disaster tax relief to individuals and businesses affected by the severe storms and flooding in Texas on July 14.
Kerrville officials ‘disappointed’ by FEMA decision
Kerr County was one of the hardest hit areas by the July flooding, which came just a year after catastrophic flooding that also destroyed swaths of the county.
Scenes reminiscent of the 2025 floods appeared across Kerr County during the more recent summer floods – cars wedged between trees, buildings sitting along riverbanks and layers of mud left inside homes.
Kerrville officials said in a statement sent to FOX Local last week that they are "disappointed" by FEMA’s decision.
What they're saying:
"Many residents throughout Kerrville and Kerr County continue to face significant challenges as they work to rebuild their homes and recover from the devastation," officials said in the statement. "We remain hopeful that the appeal process will provide an opportunity for FEMA to reconsider its decision and make much-needed assistance available to those affected."
Kerrville officials said they are still confirming the status of any public assistance coming to the city.
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Gov. Abbott speaks at Kerrville day of remembrance
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott spoke in Kerrville on Saturday to mark a year since the deadly Hill Country flooding. More than 130 people were killed across several Central Texas counties when storms dumped more than 20 inches of rain in a matter of hours, starting late July 3, 2025.
FEMA chief wants states to handle disasters on their own, report says
Reporting by Politico said FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton told state officials gathered at a conference in Arkansas last week that they should handle disasters on their own.
Dig deeper:
Cameron Hamilton, administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) nominee for US President Donald Trump, during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, J (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg / Getty Images)
"Every state must have the appropriate financial reserves" and other abilities "to ensure that recovery efforts can start immediately and not necessarily be held up simply because of the federal (disaster) declaration process," Hamilton said, according to the Politico reporting.
The statement seems to be in line with Trump’s long-held wish to phase out FEMA and shift disaster response and recovery to the states. The president has described FEMA as bureaucratic and ineffective.
The Source: Information in this story came from statements from FEMA, the governor’s office, the City of Kerrville, reporting by Politico and previous FOX Local reporting.