A climate reporter for The Texas Tribune shares a personal account of visiting Joan Connor and her husband, who rebuilt their home after it was destroyed by the 2025 floods in the Texas Hill Country, only to have it flood again almost exactly one year later. According to the reporter's investigation with ProPublica, over nearly 60 years, Texas lawmakers missed dozens of opportunities to protect residents in flood-prone areas, including preventing homes from being built in danger zones and enforcing stricter elevation rules for buildings at risk of flooding. The analysis found that more people have died in floods in Texas than in any other state, with many of those deaths occurring in areas identified as flood-prone by the federal government. More than 40 people also died in RV campgrounds during last year's flood, yet laws governing their construction were not changed.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-24,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
When deadly flooding swept through the Texas Hill Country in July of last year, Joan Connor and her husband swam and waded out of their home, surviving only by clinging to a pergola in their front yard.
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Connor → sweep → yard
The Guadalupe River flood destroyed most of their possessions.
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flood → destroy → possessions
It killed at least 119 people in Kerr County, where the couple live, about 100 miles west of Austin.
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couple → kill → Austin
But Connor, now 82, and her husband, now 99, moved back into the refurbished house by Christmas, with donated furniture arranged by volunteer decorators.
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Connor → move → decorators
They didn’t fear another flood.
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They → fear → flood
Connor told me earlier this year: “We don’t think a thing like that will happen again in our lifetime.”
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thing → tell → lifetime
Last month, almost exactly one year after the last deluge, their house flooded again.
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house → flood → deluge
I cover climate for The Texas Tribune.
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I → cover → Tribune
I spent months working with ProPublica’s Lexi Churchill and Pratheek Rebala to understand how Texas lawmakers missed dozens of opportunities over nearly 60 years to protect residents in flood-prone places.
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lawmakers → spend → places
Our reporting, published in May, uncovered pivotal moments when Texas legislators could have taken steps that experts said might have saved lives, such as preventing homes from being built in the most dangerous spots along rivers and moving youth camp buildings out of flood-prone areas.
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experts → publish → areas
Instead, our reporting found, Texas is behind more than half of other U.S. states when it comes to passing more stringent elevation rules for buildings at risk of flooding.
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it → find → flooding
Yet research shows more flood deaths have occurred here than in any other state.
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deaths → show → state
Texas also has more buildings in flood-prone places than any other state except Florida, according to our nationwide structure analysis.
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Texas → have → analysis
The majority of the people who died in the 2025 Central Texas flood were in one of those places identified as flood-prone by the federal government, our analysis showed.
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analysis → die → government
I grew up in Texas and have covered floods in this state for more than a decade.
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I → grow → decade
Still, the swift violence of that 2025 disaster struck me.
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violence → strike → me
The river washed entire homes away.
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river → wash → homes
People fought for their lives by grabbing trees or scrambling onto rooftops, and many people didn’t make it.
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people → fight → it
I’ve never before witnessed such intense grief.
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I → witness → grief
Even after the loss, some homeowners like Connor knew they wanted to rebuild.
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they → know → Connor
People have deep, generational ties to this part of the state, where the normally peaceful river winds through limestone under majestic cypress trees.
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river → have → trees
People didn’t want to leave jobs and relationships here, or lose money by selling their land at a loss.
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People → want → loss
I understand that desire to stay, but as a climate reporter I’ve also seen what can happen when development is allowed in flood-prone areas.
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development → understand → areas
What our reporting showed is that the government has cleared the way for residents to stay in many risky places, even after last year’s devastating floods.
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residents → show → floods
Lawmakers did not change how they regulated where RV parks could be built, though more than 40 people died in two Kerr County RV campgrounds during last year’s flood.
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people → change → flood
(Those parks had not reopened when this year’s flood rushed through again.)
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flood → reopen → ?
They also didn’t change building rules for homes.
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They → change → homes
That means that, unless a local city or county government adopts more stringent standards, properties affected by a flood can be fixed without being brought up to code if the cost to repair them doesn’t amount to half or more of the structure’s value.
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cost → mean → value
Homes can be entirely rebuilt in many flood-prone places so long as they are elevated to the height a 100-year flood is expected to reach.
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flood → rebuild → height
Lawmakers did push through legislation that requires youth camp cabins to be moved away from riverside, flood-prone spots, similar to a bill legislators failed to pass in 1989.
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legislators → push → 1989
The law only passed this time after gut-wrenching testimony and advocacy from parents of the 27 campers and counselors who died at Camp Mystic during last summer’s flooding.
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who → pass → flooding
For our May story, we asked the state’s top leaders about whether legislators should enact stricter statewide building rules.
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legislators → ask → rules
None responded.
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None → respond → ?
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said he has addressed flooding issues by funding mitigation projects to lessen the storms’ impact.
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he → say → impact
This July, unusually intense rainfall pounded the Kerr County area again.
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rainfall → pound → area
It flooded some of the same spots.
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It → flood → spots
One person died.
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person → die → ?
The disaster struck as people in the area were still working to heal emotionally, physically and economically.
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people → strike → area
I once again arrived to find the familiar sights and smells of peoples’ possessions piled up by the curb, their flooring and walls ripped out.
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flooring → arrive → curb
Laura Cane, 65, had just reopened her vacation rental house in Center Point three weeks before this year’s flood hit.
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flood → reopen → Point
…and 20 more, not listed.
