Nearly two months after floodwaters swept through parts of the Texas Hill Country, the water has receded, but the damage left behind remains.
Organizations helping families and businesses recover say the need is significant. However, the donations and volunteers they are seeing following this summer's flooding have not matched the response following the deadly July 4, 2025, floods.
“In 2026, we have four times the damaged homes. We have four times the damaged businesses,” said Austin Dixon, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country.
Despite the greater number of damaged homes and businesses, Dixon said significantly less money has been raised to help communities recover.
The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country has raised about $1.1 million since this summer's floods. Dixon said that is a stark contrast to the donations his organization received following the July 4, 2025 floods.
“The donations in 2025, we received significant donations very early on, and we continued to receive donations for several weeks and even several months after the disaster, and the flooding of 2026 has been the complete opposite so far,” Dixon said.
Dixon said part of the difference may be tied to how the two disasters unfolded and the attention each received.
“For one, last year, flooding was a huge disaster and a tragedy," Dixon said. "There was so much loss of life. There was a significant search and rescue operation that lasted days and weeks, that captured the attention of the American people and the world.”
There is also the question of whether donor and volunteer fatigue could be playing a role after two major floods hit the region about a year apart.
Dixon said it is difficult to determine whether people who contributed their time or money following last year's disaster are simply tired of being asked to help.
--
Read the full story at our news partner KVUE.com.
