Texas News

Robin Bates isn’t quite sure what the future looks like. On Wednesday, she watched volunteers use chainsaws to break up debris from recent flooding. They carried away a car tire. They loaded wheelbarrows with brush and tree trunks, navigating it around an overturned treadmill in Bates’ front yard. Two weeks ago, floodwaters from a nearby creek tore her home in northwestern Travis County from its base. Bates is now one of hundreds of people in…

Just when Austin was starting to think that drought might continue into the summer, the first raindrops fell — and kept falling. Throughout Austin’s history, the city has fallen victim to many floods, caused by dam failure, excessive rain and tropical storm remnants. Not only do these floods damage infrastructure — especially riverside homes and businesses — and cost local governments millions to recover, there are few major flooding events that don’t take lives. The recent disaster is…

It’s been more than a week since the floods in Texas left 131 dead and catastrophic damage in its wake. In Kerrville, streets are packed with volunteers who have come to help with recovery work. Donation centers have popped up in parking lots and businesses. Maranatha Christian Center, a bilingual church a few blocks away from the Guadalupe River is one of those improvised donations centers. The church is helping a specific population: the local…

Austin, deep in drought up until this month, is now watching its severely depleted water reservoirs rise to levels not seen in years. This week the Lower Colorado River Authority even had to open four floodgates on Lake Buchanan for the first time since 2019 to manage the flow. The shift from disastrous dry spell to over-saturation is dramatic, but not unheard of. “Historically, we go through lengthy drought periods that are then broken by…

Until recently, one of the biggest controversies over cloud seeding — a method created to encourage rain — was whether it actually works. That’s now been overshadowed by online theories blaming the technology for the deadly floods in Texas. Experts say falsehoods like these are spreading faster than ever after natural disasters — hurting emergency planning and response efforts. “This is unprecedented in my experience,” said Amber Silver, a professor in the Department of Emergency…