Texas and FEMA’s History: Understanding the Impacts of Climate Change on Flooding

Record flooding of the Guadalope River in Texas, over the July 4^th holiday in 2025, was among the deadliest U.S. natural disasters for children in decades. The flooding damaged the agricultural sector, destroyed crops and essential infrastructure, and left many families without shelter or a way to earn a living.

For many years, Bread for the World has supported access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and a related program, Disaster SNAP (D-SNAP). SNAP and D- SNAP benefits kept many families from going hungry in the wake of the flooding. Bread’s efforts on behalf of SNAP were particularly strong in the summer of 2025 as Congress debated a budget reconciliation bill, HR 1. Yet the same week as the disaster in Texas, Congress passed a version of H.R. 1 that cut SNAP’s budget significantly.

Making America Safer: According to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and River Authority experts, the Guadalupe River has a history of flooding. U.S. Department of the Interior reports from 1936, for example, show “wiped out corn and cotton crops” in the Guadalupe Valley.

Almost 90 years later, people who may never have heard of the Guadalupe River in Texas learned about it because of the disastrous flooding of July 3-4,2025, described as a catastrophic and deadly event. According to experts, the communities surrounding the river experienced record-breaking rainfall and river levels, leading to significant loss of life.

Making America Stronger and More Prosperous:  FEMA, a key U.S. agency created in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter via an executive order, was also prominently mentioned in the wake of the Guadalupe River disaster. FEMA traces its origins back to an 1803 act of Congress–its first-ever disaster relief bill, enacted to respond to a devastating fire in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in December 1802. This fire destroyed large areas of Portsmouth’s seaport and threatened commerce in the young nation. Congress provided relief to affected Portsmouth merchants by suspending bond payments for several months.

Today, FEMA’s mandate continues to be helping people before, during, and after disasters. According to the Stafford Act, a FEMA disaster refers to a situation where the President has declared an event to be a major disaster or emergency, prompting the need for federal assistance to supplement state and local resources in responding to and recovering from the event. These events can be caused by human activity, such as the September 11 attacks; incidents related to climate change, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Guadalupe River flooding or seismic activity, like the recent 5.2 magnitude earthquake that shook Southern California.

FEMA’s role remains critical to the ongoing recovery and post-disaster rebuilding in the Texas Hill Country. The Guadalupe River’s water levels rose more than 25 feet in two hours. Climate experts indicated that the Guadalupe River flooded in Texas due to a combination of heavy rainfall, the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry, and the humid air conditions. This unusual combination of conditions caused more than 1.8 trillion gallons of water to fall in four hours—the equivalent of four months’ worth of rain. The results were death and the destruction of infrastructure.

As far as the impacts on communities, for days the heart-wrenching news continued to unfold of the fate of over 100 children and community members who remained unaccounted for in the aftermath of the flooding. According to news reports, more than 130 deaths were reported, including 27 youth campers and their counselors from Camp Mystic situated in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

The flooding also impacted access to food by damaging homes and destroying roads, making it difficult to transport food as usual and to reach affected communities with emergency food and supplies. According to reports, 9,310 people were already struggling with food insecurity in Kerr County, which was hit hardest by the Guadalupe River flood. While local food banks are trying their best, the surge in food insecurity is straining their capacity to provide meals to flood survivors.

The Texas Department of Agriculture, in partnership with community organizations, has initiated relief funds and helplines to enable farmers and ranchers to recover and rebuild. It is important that SNAP and related programs be protected. The federal D-SNAP program, mentioned earlier, is available to people in affected areas who do not already receive SNAP benefits and meet eligibility requirements.

As we continue to pray for and lift up families and their children in Texas, we also lift up and pray for the climate and food security responders: FEMA, local community organizations, food banks and SNAP implementers, and the U.S. and Texas Departments of Agriculture. May they be united, strong, and discerning of the importance of each stakeholder working together for the people impacted by the Guadalupe River flood.

Abiola Afolayan is director of the Policy and Research Institute at Bread for the World.