As natural disasters like flooding, tornadoes and landslides piled up this spring, FEMA accumulated a backlog of disaster requests going into the Gulf of Mexico's hurricane season.

The federal response to the flash flooding disaster in Texas has come under scrutiny. President Trump, who has called for cuts to FEMA, praised the agency during his recent visit to Texas, but did not comment on his plans for its future.

As initial search-and-rescue operations in the July 4 catastrophic Texas flooding started to recede, new reporting emerged that the federal response had been delayed by a new budget rule imposed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The leader of Camp Mystic had been tracking the weather before the deadly Texas floods, but it is now unclear whether he saw an urgent warning from the National Weather Service that had triggered an emergency alert to phones in the area, a spokesman for camp’s operators said Wednesday.

Less than 5% of homes in the county's FEMA floodplain had flood coverage, well below the national average. Uptake was even worse in other areas that flooded.

U.S. President Donald Trump actually sent 700 U.S. Marine Corps troops to Los Angeles in June 2025 — alongside 4,000 National Guard troops.

By Jane Ross and Maria Alejandra Cardona KERRVILLE, Texas (Reuters) -Officials in flood-stricken central Texas on Wednesday again deflected mounting questions about whether they could have done more to warn people ahead of devastating flash flooding that killed at least 119 people on July 4.

Even before dozens died in flood waters on July 4, Texas ranked first in the U.S. in number of deaths due to natural disasters.

In the aftermath of the 2025 Texas floods, a look back at some of the most destructive and defining flood events in the state’s weather history.

Understanding the combination of meteorological, geomorphological and hydrological factors that led to the Texas flood could help prevent future disasters.