Flooding

The Texas House passed several bills related to floods and other natural disasters yesterday. They include disaster funding, emergency plans, and improved communication for first responders. Here in Lubbock, readers and comic fans have a busy weekend ahead. Our reporter Samantha Larned has more on the Lubbock Book Festival and Hub City Comic Con.

The footprints were created some 115 million years ago, when what is now a Central Texas suburb was a beach on the Western Interior Seaway.

Funding for FEMA's disaster survivor hotline lapsed the day after the Texas floods, federal records show. It took DHS Secretary Kristi Noem five days to approve more money.

Over the past month, a substantial amount of cleanup has been done but there are months of work left to do.

Democrats fled the state to stop Republicans' attempt to redraw congressional districts, but bills aimed at everything from a THC product ban to bolstering flood response are now in doubt.

At least two summer camps in the Texas Hill Country have invited campers back after sustaining little to no damage from the flood. Other camps are still combing through the rubble.

State lawmakers are in the Hill Country community most impacted by the July 4 flooding gathering testimony for legislation to address disaster preparedness and response efforts.

Construction has begun on the Lubbock Psychiatric Center southeast of the city. The $121 million maximum-security facility was approved by the state legislature in 2023. The USDA is on the ground in Kerr County and across the Hill Country to help farmers and ranchers recover from Fourth of July flooding. Texas Public Radio's Brian Kirkpatrick reports on the losses and assistance.

A panel of Texas House and Senate lawmakers held a joint meeting Wednesday where they discussed the state's response to the devastating July 4 flash flooding that left more than 130 dead.

The Legislature will look at proposals for emergency preparedness in a special session that was already planned over hemp laws. A bill to help build emergency systems failed in the spring.