In response to failures and grieving parents, Texas lawmakers advance flood bills
Here’s where the proposed laws to address camp safety, flood warnings and emergency response stand in the Legislature. Full Story
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Alejandra Martinez is a Fort Worth-based environmental reporter. She’s covered the impacts of petrochemical facilities on Black and brown communities, including investigating a chemical fire at an industrial complex and how the state's air monitoring system has failed Latino communities. Her work on climate change includes exploring the health effects of extreme heat and how extended droughts affect water resources. Before joining the Tribune in 2022, Alejandra was an accountability reporter at KERA, where she began as a Report for America Corps Member and then covered Dallas City Hall. She also has worked as an associate producer at WLRN in South Florida. A Houston native, Alejandra studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and speaks fluent Spanish.
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![Parents of Camp Mystic girls lost during the Guadalupe River flooding of July 4, 2025 pack seats in the Senate Chamber to view passage of Senate Bill 1 which strengthens summer camp regulations to help prevent future tragedies.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate fast tracks THC ban, flood prep and bathroom restrictions for transgender people
Senators moved fast on Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda for the second special session. With House Democrats back in Texas, bills can now move through that chamber. Full Story
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![State Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, speaks on the Senate floor at the Capitol on July 21, 2025.]()
Credit: Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribune -
History repeated itself when the Guadalupe River swept away Camp Mystic. Why few lessons were learned after the 1987 flood.
The Fourth of July flood bore a striking similarity to the Hill Country flood that killed 10 summer campers in 1987. In the following years, officials took little action to protect against the next storm. Full Story
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Credit: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune -
Texas buys land for new state parks that will be developed using $1 billion voter-approved fund
The fund opens a new era of public land acquisition and park development for Texas, which ranks 35th nationally in state park acreage per capita. Full Story
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![Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists and staff use an anode, an electrical rod that temporarily stun fish during electrofishing for netting, during an aquatic sampling search at Yancey Creek in what will become Post Oak Ridge State Park, a newly acquired park near Lampasas, Texas, on Thursday, June 5, 2025. The park’s acquisition marks the first since $1 billion dollars were allocated to buy more land for the state parks system as part of the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, approved by the state legislature in 2023. Before development can begin, survey teams collect samples and information regarding the environment and wildlife at the newly acquired land.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Sirens, gauges and flood prevention: What the Texas Legislature could do in response to Hill Country disaster
Gov. Greg Abbott has promised to add flood response to the agenda for the July 21 special session, with an expected focus on alert systems and local recovery. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott holds an emergency proclamation during a press conference at Hill Country Youth Event Center on Saturday July 5, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas.]()
Credit: Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribune -
Weather warnings gave officials a 3 hour, 21 minute window to save lives in Kerr County. What happened then remains unclear.
Federal forecasters issued their first flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. Local officials haven’t shed light on when they saw the warnings or whether they saw them in time to take action. Full Story
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![Weather monitors at the National Weather Service West Gulf River Forecast Center in Fort Worth, Texas, on Wednesday, June 18, 2025.]()
Credit: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune -
Hills, rivers and rocky terrain: Why the Hill Country keeps flooding
When storms roll in, water rushes downhill fast, gaining speed and force as it moves — often with deadly results. Full Story
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![An overturned vehicle on the banks of the Blanco River on May 26, 2015, two days after catastrophic area flooding.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
A $20 billion effort to avoid calamity: Here’s what Texas lawmakers did to save the state’s water supply
Among other changes is a new law that says homeowner associations can no longer fine Texans for not watering their grass during a drought. Full Story
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![The secondary clarifier at the Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant expansion in El Paso, Texas on March 5, 2025.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
Staff vacancies hit Texas weather offices as they brace for a busy hurricane season
Houston’s National Weather Service office has lost its head meteorologist amid a federal requirement to cut 10% of NOAA’s staff. Full Story
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![The National Weather Service issued a Hurricane Warning for the Coastal Bend on July 6, 2024.]()
Credit: Pete Garcia for The Texas Tribune -
Bills aimed at studying, restricting “forever chemicals” in Texas fail
Texas lawmakers bypassed bills that would have restricted “forever chemicals” in sewage sludge, studied health impacts and banned some uses of PFAS-laced firefighting foams. Full Story
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![Cattle grazing in Grandview, Texas on Aug. 5, 2024.]()
Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune