Texas churches working to support families impacted by record-breaking floods

July 20, 2026

Churches in the Texas Hill Country have opened their doors as flood displacement shelters, taking in families whose homes and recreational vehicles had been swept away on Thursday by flooding rivers that killed at least two people.

The Christian Post reports that at least two people died in this week’s flooding, just over a year after the July 2025 floods, which killed 119 people in Kerr County, a county in the Hill Country west of Austin.

Southern Oaks Church in Kerrville, which helped lead the crisis response last July, has formed an alliance with the nonprofit United in Crisis and other local congregations to assist individuals and families hit by the recent floods.

The church indicated that it would activate a Disaster Assistance Center later this week to provide emotional care, emergency funds and disaster assistance to those affected in the Kerrville area.

The Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse said it had deployed a disaster relief unit to the Hill Country, with staff and volunteer teams set to work in Uvalde County.

According to the Christian Post, the church said monetary donations were urgently needed, with funds to be distributed as gift cards, emergency housing, emergency transportation and building materials.

Rain over the Hill Country prompted several counties to be placed under flash flood warnings, with rapidly rising creeks and rivers being the main concern.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said more than 230 rescues had taken place since the emergency began and put the overall response at more than 2,700 personnel and 1,500 vehicles, aircraft and specialized resources, saying they had helped rescue more than 270 Texans.

Abbott said the Nueces River near Uvalde set a record and, at one point, released water at twice the rate of Niagara Falls.

The National Weather Service said a gauge along the Guadalupe River rose 32 feet in four hours and was expected to crest at a level close to the July 4, 2025, flood.

Photo: top, Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images