With hundreds confirmed dead, questions remain about the local response to flood warnings. Meanwhile, lawmakers will weigh measures to mitigate future disasters.

Texas officials labored to account for more than 160 people originally reported missing along the Guadalupe River after the deadly July Fourth floods before ultimately concluding that most were safe and only three individuals still haven’t been found,

Texas Republicans had been working quietly for several months to take up Mr. Trump’s call for an aggressive redrawing of the state’s congressional maps, aiming to gain five additional Republican seats in the U.S. House and help the party keep control of the chamber after the 2026 midterms.

But Noem had severely botched FEMA’s Texas response by failing to renew contracts with companies staffing FEMA call centers, resulting in a majority of calls going unanswered for days as the flood waters raged. The secretary dismissed the reporting as “fake news.”

Forecasters warn that slow-moving storms could bring heavy downpours to already saturated areas, increasing the risk of flash flooding.