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Hill Country flood victims are in Washington, D.C. through Friday to urge Texas members of Congress to push President Donald Trump for individual flood relief.
The president approved a disaster declaration that triggered FEMA Public Assistance (PA) for 19 Texas counties following July flooding. That move helps a county with funding to fix a flood-damaged road, for example, but no Individual Assistance (IA) to flood victims was included in the president's declaration.
Kerrville-area flood victims this year are receiving neither federal funds to repair their properties nor the private donations that came in after the 2025 flooding.
Ashlee Willis, a victim of Sandy Creek flooding in Travis County in 2025, went through the same double whammy last year.
She has joined Texas flood victims on the D.C. trip to urge the Texas delegation on Capitol Hill to seek individual relief from the president.
"We're working with everyone in Texas that we can get a meeting with. And we're trying to get them to form a Texas coalition to push for it."
She said while FEMA has statistical disaster thresholds that must be reached for Public Assistance to be trigged, there are no such thresholds set for Individual Assistance, leaving the final call in the hands of President Trump.
"It really is up to the discretion, at this point, of the president ... and we've asked our senators to push on him. I know our governor has pushed on him. I know we have (Chief) Nim Kidd with TDEM (Texas Department of Emergency Management), who is pushing the president, to please, please give us our IA designation. We've spoken with (Congressman) Chip Roy. He has said he has made pleas. We've talked with (Senator) Ted Cruz. He said he's done the same thing."
IA designations after disasters appear hit and miss based on what the Texas flood survivors are seeing.
"There's just been no movement," she said of the Trump Administration. "And it makes no sense, because Indiana, the following disaster that came after, got IA designation. No problem."
The Texas flood survivors have joined a national movement to win individual flood relief. Rebuild: The National Disaster Survivors Association organized this trip to Washington. They coordinated disaster survivors from California, Indiana, Missouri, and Texas to meet with their representatives.
The disaster survivors also want funding allotted to an assistance program under the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act passed by Congress. The money could be distributed from Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery funding.
