Federal disaster assistance approved for some Texas counties after July floods
By Emily Foxhall, The Texas Tribune
September 2, 2026
At least 19 Texas counties will receive federal funding to repair infrastructure damaged by major July flooding in southwest Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday.
President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration to open up the much-awaited Federal Emergency Management Agency public funding, including for Uvalde, Zavala and Kerr counties, Abbott said. A request for funding was still pending for nine more counties that sustained flood damage.
Trump also hadn’t made a decision yet on a request to help individuals in those counties with disaster-related costs, such as for temporary housing and initial home repairs.
“Local officials will now have needed resources to recover and rebuild,” Abbott said in a statement. “Texas will deliver every available resource to affected communities.”
On Tuesday, Trump said in a Truth social post that Texas would receive $50.5 million in disaster recovery assistance “from the severe storms, winds, tornadoes, and flooding that hit them hard.”
Trump didn’t specify which storms he meant: His 5:42 p.m. post went up just hours after Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border and was pushing inland into southeast Texas.
Trump’s announced funding was still only a fraction of Gov. Greg Abbott’s initial estimate of $489.7 million in costs from the July storms, which Abbott cited in his first ask for federal help to aid state and local governments for debris removal and restoring infrastructure such as roads, buildings and parks.
Before Tuesday’s post, Trump had only approved limited federal emergency assistance so far for those floods, which is typically capped at $5 million.
FEMA did not respond to a request for comment. The agency issued a news release Thursday announcing the public assistance funding, which will also be available to the state government.
“Texas is a special place, and I will be back soon to support Governor Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, and the entire ticket of Republican Candidates, who have my Complete and Total Endorsement,” Trump wrote in the post.
The Texas Tribune reported Friday that more than six weeks after the severe July flooding, residents and local governments were still waiting on major recovery funding from FEMA to help with short-term individual needs and more permanent infrastructure repairs. The areas harmed included Kerr County, which was struck by deadly flooding in 2025 and still building back from that when the 2026 flooding hit.
Research by Andrew Rumbach, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, has shown that major federal disaster funding decisions are taking roughly three times longer on average under the current administration than under previous administrations since 2000, when the typical wait was about three weeks.
In a post on X Wednesday morning, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, thanked the president for his announced funds.
“We will keep working together to ensure every affected community has the resources and support it needs to rebuild and recover,” Cruz wrote. “I’ll continue working to make sure no community is left behind.”
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.