‘We need help to restart,' flood victims try to rebuild amid quorum break at Texas Capitol

The Hill

2 days ago

CENTER POINT, Texas (Nexstar) — Nathan and Audrey Rich, a newly married couple, felt like they had 'adulting' figured out. They were renting a home and a workshop on a property in Kerr County. Audrey worked at the local bank across the street and Nathan ran his diesel repair company out of the workshop.
Then the Independence Day Floods happened.
The Rich's home, about 1,000 feet from the river bank, took on three feet of water and mud that destroyed the interior of their home, and damaged tools and vehicles inside Nathan's workshop.
Both Audrey and Nathan, along with Audrey's parents and brothers, safely evacuated in hip-deep water. Audrey recalled the moment they went back to the home to see the damage.
'We walked in and it broke our hearts,' Audrey said through tears. Their wedding photos were thrown across the front yard. A pool table in the garage with significant value to the couple was ruined. Audrey said she saw Nathan cry for only the second time since they've been together.
'Everybody would come over no matter what the day, and we were the house in the center of all the houses, so everybody would come over and play pool and hang out,' Audrey explained.
The couple is now trying to find a new place to live while restarting their business and paying their bills. It looked like they were going to get some help from Austin after Gov. Greg Abbott called on all legislators to come back to the Capitol building in a special session.
One of the 18 items on the agenda was 'relief funding for Hill Country Floods.' However, those efforts have been put on pause as Democrats and Republicans battle over redistricting proposal that would give Republicans an advantage to pick up five additional seats in Congress ahead of the 2026 midterms. More than 50 Texas House Democrats fled the state to block any votes from happening. A process known as breaking quorum.
Looking for financial help
The couple has moved into a camper located on one of their friend's property and is taking one day at a time. Nathan said he applied for help through FEMA as soon as his internet was restored. An inspector with FEMA and their insurance company came out to look at the damage.
Audrey said they were able to get $10,600 from FEMA for the personal property they lost. However, they estimate there was about $60,000 worth of damage done to the house and the workshop.
Nathan started applying for grants through local groups and county governments and was able to secure about $30,000 worth solely for his business. He is not sure he would've gotten that money if it wasn't for his business.
But the couple has not had the best luck getting money for their living situation. The Community Foundation of the Hill Country began doling out millions of dollars to different groups to help first responders, schools, businesses, and families impacted by the floods.
The foundation granted the Center Point Alliance for Progress $200,000 to allow them to distribute the money to families impacted in Center Point. Susan Walker, the alliance's treasurer, said 58 families applied for funds.
'We have a committee that actually went to their houses to verify that they did have damage,' Walker explained. The group also was gifted private donations that increased their fund to about $270,000.
Walker said the alliance is giving out money in two phases. The first phase cut a $2,500 check for each family that applied. For the Riches, that money paid one month of rent for the workshop.
'We don't have the money to just rebuild, go buy a house, go rent somewhere,' Audrey said. 'We need help to restart.'
In total, Walker said their fund will be able to pay each family about $4,500 to $4,600, but she understands more needs to be done to help people.
'It would be nice for our government to want to help but we're going to try to make sure they're taken care of regardless,' Walker said.
Collateral damage
Kerr County residents waiting for funds to come from the state are becoming collateral damage as a political drama plays out in Austin. Texas Democrats have vowed to prevent quorum until the first special session is ended.
Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said Friday will be the last chance for Democrats to come back to the Texas House floor. If a quorum is not met, both chambers will end the session and Abbott has vowed to call another special session immediately beginning Friday.
Both sides have pointed fingers at each other when it comes to the lack of legislative help for the flood victims. Republicans have regularly criticized Democrats for leaving the state. Abbott posted on his X account Wednesday, 'These representatives were elected to cast votes not run away from their responsibilities.'
On the other side, Texas Democrats have accused Abbott and Republican leadership of using the floods as leverage to get a new congressional map passed to appease President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, nine Senate Democrats walked out of the chamber just before it considered and approved the controversial redistricting map that started the quorum break.
'That's why we walked out – because this session should only be about flood relief, and we refuse to engage in a corrupt process,' the group said in a released statement.
Some House Democrats have even argued the governor has the power to transfer money within different state departments to help provide relief for flood victims. State Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, wrote an opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle where he said, 'Gov. Abbott has the power to make that happen efficiently, and without inappropriately tying this tragedy up in partisan politics or political games.'
Shannon Halbrook, a fiscal policy analyst at Every Texan, a nonpartisan policy advocate, confirmed the governor does have the power to transfer money to different state agencies during an emergency. It's a process called budget execution.
'The governor has to make a proposal to the Legislative Budget Board, which is a state agency that's in really in charge of the budget made up of members of the legislature, and then they review it,' Halbrook explained.
It has been used in the past. Halbrook said in the 2022-2023 biennium there was $415 million moved around for some behavioral health support for the Uvalde victims, and then $1.3 billion was moved around for Operation Lone Star.
But Halbrook said the governor can not execute this power when the legislature is in a regular or special session.
One day at a time
The Riches say they are not too focused about what's happening in Austin. 'I got way more going on than to sit and watch the news and be mad at Democrats or be mad at Republicans, or whatever,' Nathan said.