Hundreds of newly released messages add more detail to the devastating timeline of the deadly floods.
Emily Foxhall
Emily Foxhall is The Texas Tribune's climate reporter. She joined the Tribune as an energy reporter in December 2022, focused on the state’s transition to green energy and the reliability of the power grid. She completed a year-long Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in May 2025. Emily is based in Houston, where she grew up. After a stint as a Tribune student intern in 2012, she began her career at the Los Angeles Times and its community papers. She later worked at the Houston Chronicle where her environmental reporting uncovered the effects of climate change and pollution on the region. She won several Texas Managing Editors awards and was part of the 2017 team that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of Hurricane Harvey. Emily graduated from Yale University in 2013, where she studied English and was a Yale Journalism Scholar.
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Hill Country floods
Texas is approving money for flood warning systems, but will it be enough to build Kerr County’s?
The county where more than 100 died in July floods wants to quickly build a $5 million flood warning system.
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Environment
Contracts awarded to design gates and dunes for Gulf Coast “Ike Dike” project
Supporters say the massive project would protect the Galveston Bay area from dangerous storm surge, but it remains billions of dollars short of what’s needed to build the barrier.
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Hill Country floods
They couldn’t save their daughters’ lives in the July 4 floods. Now they’re dealing with the grief and the guilt.
RJ and Annie Harber have leaned on faith, their community and each other to move through each day after losing their daughters and RJ’s parents. But memories of that night still haunt them.
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The 2025 Texas Tribune Festival
Former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan says he’s “not a MAGA Republican” and couldn’t carry Trump’s agenda
At a Texas Tribune Festival event on Thursday, the Beaumont Republican said his opposition to Trump and his agenda informed his decision to give up the speaker’s gavel last year.
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Hill Country floods
FEMA has denied or not advanced most Kerr County aid applications after deadly July 4 flood
Advocates are questioning why so many applicants from the flood-ravaged county have not received federal disaster help. Nonprofits are trying to fill in the gaps.
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Hill Country floods
“Our girls are still dead”: Camp Mystic parents pushed for laws to protect kids at camp. But their pain remains.
Two dads helped lead Camp Mystic parents to advocate for new camp rules in the Texas Legislature. What they wanted most was to have their daughters back.
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Texas Legislature 2025
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.
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Hill Country floods
Texas kids’ camps must remove cabins from floodplains, operate warning systems under new laws
The parents of children who died at Camp Mystic advocated for the new legislation, which now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.
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Hill Country floods
Kerr County youth camps appeal to Dan Patrick on proposed floodplain restrictions
Camp Waldemar, Vista Camps and Camp Stewart ask the lieutenant governor for an expert to determine where cabins are located, want financial aid if pending camp safety bills pass.