
Volunteers bring relief and hope to Texas flood victims
Clip: 7/22/2025 | 5m 59sVideo has Closed Captions
Volunteers provide relief and restore hope for Texas flood victims
As cleanup operations from the catastrophic flooding continue in Texas, the number of people missing stands at three. Local officials say that many of the individuals initially reported missing have been found safe. The tragedy killed at least 135 people, and volunteers have been crucial to the ongoing recovery efforts while larger questions of accountability linger. William Brangham reports.
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Volunteers bring relief and hope to Texas flood victims
Clip: 7/22/2025 | 5m 59sVideo has Closed Captions
As cleanup operations from the catastrophic flooding continue in Texas, the number of people missing stands at three. Local officials say that many of the individuals initially reported missing have been found safe. The tragedy killed at least 135 people, and volunteers have been crucial to the ongoing recovery efforts while larger questions of accountability linger. William Brangham reports.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipAMNA NAWAZ: As cleanup operations from the catastrophic flooding continue in Texas, state lawmakers are currently holding a special session, in part to address the tragedy that killed at least 135 people.
GEOFF BENNETT: Three people in Kerr County remain missing.
That's down from 100 just last week.
Local officials say many who were initially reported missing have since been found safe.
As William Brangham reports, volunteers have been crucial to the ongoing recovery efforts, while larger questions of accountability linger.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The debris is still slowly being removed along the Guadalupe River, and the many volunteers who rushed here are helping residents cope in ways both big and small.
GREG ADKINS, Flood Victim: Just tons of people helping out.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Homeowner Greg Adkins, whose home was badly damaged, has literally been surrounded by fellow Texans coming to lend a hand.
Adkins had no flood insurance.
GREG ADKINS: All of these volunteers, like Danny and his crew, coming down from Texarkana.
We got people coming.
I had another guy that's a remediation-restoration expert out of North Texas, up north of Dallas.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's too early to know what rebuilding will look like across Texas Hill Country now that the threat from massive flooding is apparent to everyone.
But in the short term, those volunteers offer hope, comfort, and relief.
One local effort tries to find and return people's precious belongings.
When such items are found, photos are posted to this Facebook group, everything from stuffed animals, car keys, photographs, even beloved pets, sometimes leading to heartfelt reunions.
WOMAN: Is this your baby?
WOMAN: She is.
WOMAN: Oh.
WOMAN: Hi, baby.
GIRL: Hi, mommy.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Even far from Texas, volunteers are stepping up.
This pet shelter in Chicago took in dozens of dogs from Texas.
CELENE MIELCAREK, PAWS Chicago: We're really happy to be able to help support the area by freeing up really needed space in their shelters so that they are able to open their shelters for displaced pets.
PAT GREEN, Musician: I'm trying to keep things a little bit upbeat because I haven't been upbeat for a while.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Back in Texas, country singer Pat Green, whose younger brother John died, along with several members of his extended family, held a benefit concert raising more than a million for flood relief.
PAT GREEN: One of my favorite memories of my brother John at Billy Bob's was that every time we played Billy Bob's, me and the band would walk off stage and there would be no beer left.
Nobody gets mad about a little beer drinking.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But many questions remain about this tragic event, like why the floodwaters seemingly caught so many people off guard.
Why hadn't better warning systems been deployed?
LUCIO VASQUEZ, The Texas Newsroom: We at The Texas Newsroom reviewed transmissions, emergency transmissions from that night.
Volunteer firefighters asked for alerts to be sent out around 4:30 or so in the morning.
But despite those requests, there were some delays.
I can tell you, I have seen a lot of destruction.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lucio Vasquez is a reporter for The Texas Newsroom.
LUCIO VASQUEZ: I think they said this special authorization needed to be granted before those alerts could be sent, those potentially lifesaving alerts.
And so there were some delays there.
After the alerts were sent out, there were also some sporadic and inconsistent messaging, just in terms of who got the messages.
We spoke with some people who said that they didn't even get messages at all.
Some people got messages around 10:00 a.m., which, at that point, the water had already risen 10, 20 feet.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Texas lawmakers have now started a special legislative session called by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, in part to examine disaster preparedness.
Over the coming weeks, the legislature will consider proposals to strengthen emergency communications in flood-prone areas, provide relief funding for recovery efforts, streamline regulations to improve preparedness, as well as whether to improve early warning systems.
LUCIO VASQUEZ: Can we invest more money in warning systems?
Can we potentially put sirens along the Guadalupe River to siren off whenever a flood happens again?
And so these are the focuses that are going to be touched on.
RACHEL HOGAN CARR, Executive Director, Nurture Nature Center: We have a responsibility to our communities to think about the worst-case scenario now ahead of time and to look at areas outside of our floodplains that could be affected and figure out who's living there and ask ourselves, how do we reach them if something happens?
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Rachel Hogan Carr researches disasters.
She's the executive director of the Nurture Nature Center, a nonprofit focused on public communication about flood risk.
RACHEL HOGAN CARR: In coastal communities, there's tremendous infrastructure forewarning for hurricanes, for coastal flooding, for storm surge, and communities are highly aware of their risk and they're highly publicized.
In inland community, where the events can be less frequent or have not happened for decades and decades, there's a lot less consciousness in the community.
And so warning systems are generally less well-developed.
They're less well-financed.
Oftentimes, in smaller communities, there are volunteer services and emergency management, people who are charged with delivering those warning systems.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As state lawmakers discuss how to prevent the next tragedy, the victims of this one are coming home; 8-year-old Virginia Hollis died at Camp Mystic.
Her body was driven to her hometown of Bellville, Texas, in a solemn procession, town after town along the route offering a Texas-size goodbye.
For the "PBS News Hour," I'm William Brangham.
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