CLIMATEWIRE | Texas is aware of it is not ready for floods.
However the state has completed little to deal with the danger — and the federal authorities below President Donald Trump is unlikely to assist Texas cowl the associated fee.
The menace was underscored final week when floodwaters ravaged central Texas — killing greater than 100 folks, together with greater than two dozen kids and employees at a riverside summer time camp. About 160 folks have been nonetheless lacking as of Tuesday night, in line with Texas public security officers.
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Officers have vowed to take motion, and state lawmakers are scheduled to satisfy July 21 for a particular legislative session that’s meant to bolster Texas’ emergency response.
But the newest catastrophe isn’t the primary time Texas has handled mass casualties from a flood occasion. Neither is the upcoming Statehouse session the primary time that Texas has tried to deal with flood threat.
The shortage of significant progress highlights the problem of getting ready for pure disasters resembling floods and wildfires which are being made worse by local weather change. And it reinforces the danger of shifting extra of that accountability to states, as proposed by the Trump administration.
“Hopefully this tragic occasion will open everybody’s eyes,” mentioned Marie Camino, authorities affairs director on the Nature Conservancy in Texas.
Texas has confronted devastating floods earlier than — together with 2017, when Hurricane Harvey dumped greater than 48 inches of rain on Houston and different Gulf Coast communities. The storm left dozens useless and triggered greater than $125 billion in damages.
In response, state lawmakers in 2019 created the Texas Flood Infrastructure Fund and commenced planning tasks to regulate excessive water across the state.
The fund, overseen by the Texas Water Growth Board, has recognized $54 billion in flood management wants throughout Texas. However lawmakers to date have devoted simply $1.4 billion to repair them.
The shortage of funding may be attributed to 2 components, observers say.
The primary is ideological. Texas Republicans — who management the Statehouse and governor’s mansion — are large believers in fiscal conservatism. So there isn’t a groundswell of enthusiasm to fund main authorities tasks.
There’s a sensible concern too.
Earlier than lawmakers have been keen to commit cash to flood tasks, they needed to make it possible for plans have been written to deal with every river basin within the state.
In any other case, there’s the danger {that a} challenge in a single metropolis would merely steer floodwaters to different communities, mentioned state Sen. Charles Perry, who chairs the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
“We created this very detailed, very elaborate watershed planning, the place each watershed would coordinate with all of the municipalities and cities up and down that watershed to make it possible for as you are shifting water from one place, you are not simply dumping it on the following place,” he mentioned.
Texas legislators have tried just lately to steer extra money to the trouble.
This spring, lawmakers handed a plan that will dedicate as much as $500 million yearly over the following 20 years to flood tasks. However the proposal should first earn the help of Texas voters in a statewide referendum, now set for November.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and different state officers have described the plan as a “Texas-sized” dedication to water infrastructure and flood prevention.
Perry mentioned the cash may assist deal with the Legislature’s on-again, off-again method to funding flood tasks. “It’s a sport changer,” Perry mentioned. “It is going to be vital.”
Even when voters approve the proposal, there’s one other catch. Lawmakers have talked about utilizing the state cash as matching funds for federal grants — and that seems much less seemingly below the Trump administration.
Earlier this 12 months, Trump canceled a grant program that helps states, tribes and native communities put together for pure disasters. The president additionally has stopped approving Hazard Mitigation Help Grants, which assist states recuperate from disasters and harden their communities towards future calamities.
“Previous to the present administration, a planning assumption could possibly be that these state monies could possibly be utilized in live performance with federal mitigation and infrastructure cash to make the state and native funds go additional,” mentioned Chad Berginnis, government director of the Affiliation of State Floodplain Managers.
“Given the administration’s course at this level, it in all probability is a logical query to ask whether or not or not that can be sufficient,” Berginnis added. “It doesn’t seem that there can be federal funds to match that.”
The dangers will preserve rising with international warming, scientists say. Which means occasions like final week’s floods will change into extra frequent.
“Flash flood occasions from torrential downpours and thunderstorms is definitely one thing I feel we’ve considerably underestimated as a hazard in a warming local weather,” mentioned Daniel Swain, a local weather scientist on the California Institute for Water Assets, in a stay YouTube discuss on Monday. “These are exactly the sorts of occasions which are going to extend probably the most — and actually already are, and far sooner than ‘atypical’ precipitation occasions.”
It’s not clear but how state lawmakers will deal with emergency administration after they meet later this month. Beneath state regulation, the governor units the agenda for particular periods, and Abbott hasn’t introduced his intentions.
Perry mentioned he’s engaged on a invoice that will enable among the state water funds to stream towards emergency response tools. Lawmakers thought-about a invoice this spring that will’ve paid for warning sirens and different communications tools, however they rejected it due to its price.
However state leaders are lining as much as take motion. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the state Senate, mentioned Monday on Fox Information that warning sirens in flood-prone areas can be a precedence, after information reviews confirmed that Kerr County officers thought-about the thought however balked on the price.
Abbott and Home Speaker Dustin Burrows toured Kerr County by helicopter Tuesday and spoke to reporters in Hunt, one of many cities devastated by the flood.
Burrows mentioned he’s fielding calls from Home members throughout the state who need to assist — and Abbott promised outcomes.
“We need to make it possible for once we finish that session, we finish it ensuring these communities are higher, extra resilient and have the assets that they want for the following chapter of their lives,” Abbott mentioned.
Reprinted from E&E Information with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E Information offers important information for power and setting professionals.
