Tears and gratitude filled the Ingram Tom Moore High School event center Saturday as victims of the devastating July 4 Kerr County flood received $25,000 checks from country music legend George Strait’s fundraising efforts. The checks represent the first installment of assistance from Strait’s July 27 benefit concert in Boerne, which raised roughly $7 million for flood recovery. Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Division of Emergency Management Director Nim Kidd, and Strait’s longtime friend Tom Cusick personally handed out the relief funds.
Severe storms swept through New Jersey and New York on Monday, unleashing torrential rains that caused flash flooding, closed subways, and turned deadly for the second time this month. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency, warning residents to stay indoors as rainfall reached more than two inches per hour in some areas.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the federal response to the devastating floods in Texas during an appearance Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. Responding to criticism over delayed federal aid, Noem pushed back, calling it “unfortunate” that critics were “playing politics” in the aftermath of the disaster.
The Austin Firefighters Association voted 93% in favor of a no-confidence resolution against Fire Chief Joel Baker on Friday, citing failures in response to Texas's deadly Independence Day flooding. The vote followed criticism over Baker's refusal to deploy swift water rescue teams ahead of the disaster, despite requests from Texas Task Force 1.
As search and recovery efforts continue in the wake of the devastating Independence Day Flood in Kerrville, Texas, volunteer groups like Operation BBQ Relief have stepped up in a major way. With over 2,000 rescue workers and flood victims needing sustenance daily, the group has served nearly 10,000 hot meals—4,400 of them on Thursday alone.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump traveled to Central Texas to assess damages caused by the devastating flood that claimed the lives of at least 120 people.
The Austin Firefighters Association plans to hold a vote of no confidence in Fire Chief Joel G. Baker following his failure to deploy emergency teams to Kerr County ahead of the deadly July 4 floods. The decision follows growing outrage that Baker did not respond to the state's request to send Austin's specialized units, reportedly due to an $800,000 reimbursement delay from past state deployments.
As recovery efforts continue following the devastating July 4 flash flood in Texas, residents of northwest Travis County say they’ve been abandoned by local and state authorities. While most deaths occurred in Kerr County, seven people have been confirmed dead and another seven remain missing in Travis County’s unincorporated Big Sandy Creek neighborhood—an area left without warnings, aid, or essential services.
A 26-year-old Coast Guard rescue swimmer is being hailed as an American hero after saving 165 lives during his first-ever mission—responding to the devastating Independence Day flash floods that ravaged Central Texas. Petty Officer Scott Ruskan, a former KPMG accountant from New Jersey, deployed to the flood-hit Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp, where he played a key role in triaging and evacuating victims.
