Trump Approves Major Disaster Declaration for Texas, Opening Federal Aid to Kerr County
On July 6, 2025, President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration for the State of Texas, opening federal assistance for the severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding that began on July 2, 2025, and continued. Kerr County, in the Texas Hill Country, was the first county designated under the declaration, numbered FEMA-4879-DR by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Under the declaration, individuals and households in Kerr County are eligible for FEMA's Individual Assistance program, which can help with temporary housing and emergency home repairs, low-interest loans for uninsured or underinsured property losses, and expenses such as disaster legal services, disaster unemployment assistance, and medical, dental and funeral costs caused by the disaster. Kerr County was also designated for Public Assistance, including direct federal assistance, under which federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis to the state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofits for emergency work and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities. Benjamin Abbott of FEMA was appointed as the federal coordinating officer for the disaster.
The flooding had been under way since July 2, and the Guadalupe River rose sharply within a short time during the July 4 rainstorms, leaving Kerr County among the hardest-hit areas. When the declaration was issued, state and local rescue work and damage assessments were still under way, and federal personnel were moving into the disaster area.
Affected residents can apply for assistance at DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling the FEMA helpline at 1-800-621-3362. The declaration initially applied to Kerr County only; whether additional counties would be added depended on joint state and federal damage assessments.
(Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency)
Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：2025年7月5日，德州克尔县瓜达卢佩河沿岸洪灾过后的景象，前一天的暴雨令河水在约一小时内上涨数十英尺。美国农业部摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Flood damage along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas, on July 5, 2025, after the previous day's rainstorm raised the river by dozens of feet in about an hour. Photo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
