Today, recovery has since become as much about navigating administrative systems as rebuilding. County leaders have highlighted a coordinated response shaped by required safety and fiscal procedures, while residents continue to wade through the complexities of long-term disaster recovery—a lingering frustration that has widened the divide between community experience and official processes.
For many still trying to piece their lives back together, county-level communication and assistance seemed to fall short.
“It feels like we got 10,000 spoons and all we needed was a knife,” said Ashlee Willis, a Sandy Creek resident and flood survivor, describing what she calls the “red-tape” aftermath.
Travis County officials said reductions in National Weather Service staffing earlier this year may have contributed to delays in the flood alerts reaching residents, but local personnel quickly coordinated with the agency to escalate warnings.
Willis and other residents described little information, limited access and a reliance on neighbors when the community’s only road washed away. Several conducted their own welfare checks, she said.
“We did our own search and rescue,” Willis said.
While Travis County officials point to their documented response timeline as evidence of an active emergency effort, residents argue that bureaucratic barriers slowed recovery and restricted outside help. Former Leander Mayor Christine DeLisle wrote on social media that resources sent by the city were initially turned away.
“In a state of emergency, that makes no sense,” Willis said during a state committee hearing July 31.
A Travis County spokesperson confirmed DeLisle was present throughout emergency management operations, and Leander fire crews stayed active in the area during both the initial and post-response phases.
After the flood, official search-and-rescue teams, including specialized dog units, had to methodically comb 13 miles of creek for survivors and those who died before debris could be cleared—a slow but necessary process to ensure safety and follow federally mandated best practices, Travis County Judge Andy Brown said.
Coordinating volunteers was also important, as early, uncoordinated efforts sometimes caused unintended damage and created additional safety risks, he said.
Some context
While floods have struck the area before—most recently in 2015 and 2017—the July event has been noted by meteorologists as unusually severe—a 1,000-year flood. However, community members say prior experiences offered lessons that could have improved preparedness.
The July flooding underscored longstanding vulnerabilities in areas like the Sandy Creek community—most notably the Big Sandy Bridge, the neighborhood’s only entry and exit point.
Although the bridge was elevated less than a decade ago, it failed structurally during the July event. While the county was able to evacuate some residents after the storm, some survivors reported using wooden planks to evacuate the cut-off community.
Walking in and out of the area was the only option for nearly 400 residents in the Sandy Creek neighborhood until a temporary bridge was established by the county nine days later.
Initial weather predictions by the National Weather Service did not include northwestern parts of Travis County or southwestern Williamson County. The first flash flood warning, the agency’s highest alert message, was issued at 1:30 p.m. July 4; however, the warning did not include communities in and surrounding Leander or Liberty Hill. Furthermore, the flash flood warning was canceled for both Travis and Williamson counties later that afternoon.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reached out to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office just before midnight July 5, asking officers to check for signs of high water in the Big Sandy or Cow Creek areas. As a result of confirmed roadway flooding, the county asked the agency to escalate its messaging for the area. The first flash flooding message that included areas like Sandy Creek was sent by NOAA at 12:01 a.m. July 5. Emergency responders from multiple county emergency service departments were deployed.
By 4:10 a.m., the water had risen 21.6 feet, according to data from the Lower Colorado River Authority, a regional water monitoring agency.
Of note
In the years leading up to this most recent flood, the county approved updated floodplain data in 2019. Known as Atlas 14, a study was conducted by NOAA and was the first update to floodplain data since 1961. Using updated rainfall intensity data, NOAA redefined critical storm events. The July disaster renewed concerns about mitigation plans, including warning systems and infrastructure improvements.
To address both immediate recovery costs and broader infrastructure vulnerabilities, Travis County approved a one-year, disaster-related tax increase expected to generate about $42 million.
The reserve will reimburse roughly $22 million in flood-related expenses already incurred by the county, including debris removal and the temporary construction of a low-water crossing in the Sandy Creek community. The funding will also support future mitigation efforts, such as evaluating other “one-way-in-and-out” neighborhoods and reinforcing substandard roads and other low-water crossings, Brown said.
Things to consider
Though the counties updated their floodplain development standards roughly six years ago, many homes in the Sandy Creek area have been passed down for generations. Residents of most homes have never had to navigate permitting regulations, resident Jenee Lambton said, leaving many homes vulnerable to today’s flooding events.
Estimates for rebuilding to the updated standards range from $80,000 to $130,000 just for preliminary land surveys, structural supports and foundations, Lambton explained.
Other affected residents, like Williamson County business owner Daniel Hurlbert, whose auto shop and dealership sit outside a designated floodplain but still flooded, had no flood insurance. Hurlbert said he now has few avenues to recoup the hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses to his business.
“This is still my livelihood,” he said. “When I walked in that morning, it wasn't like, ‘Oh, I may have lost my job.’ It was ‘I may have lost my business, my job, my income, my mortgage, my retirement, my kids' future—everything, all of it.”
In their own words
For those rebuilding, financial hurdles and bureaucratic delays have slowed the path to recovery, Willis said.
She said local and state officials should “move at the speed of crisis, not at the speed of bureaucracy.”
“The road to recovery is long and we're just getting started. We are committed to walking with the residents who are impacted. This work won't be finished in a week or in a month. Some families are facing years of rebuilding, but they won't face it alone. Travis County and our partners in our community are here for the long haul,” Brown said.
Looking ahead
Five months later, recovery continues. Travis and Williamson counties, in partnership with the Central Texas Community Foundation, have awarded roughly $3.4 million in donations to 115 residents in a first round of funding Dec. 1.
County officials are now shifting focus to local long-term recovery groups, such as the Travis County Recovery Alliance and WilCo CARES—resident-initiated multiagency partnerships of nonprofits, faith groups and county officials that address unmet needs.
Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard said the county has hired a consultant to help the organization meet legal requirements, as it works to become a regional group dedicated to future disaster recovery, filling a gap at both county and city levels.
A second round of funding from local CARES funds is expected for early 2026. The deadline for applications is Jan. 31. Awards from the first funding grants ranged from $500 to $100,000, with recipients receiving an average of $30,000, officials said.
Willis and other Sandy Creek residents gathered in front of the governor’s mansion Nov. 21, advocating for new state funding designations that would tap into the state’s current surplus. The movement seeks to create a $500 million Texas Forever Fund that provides long-term disaster recovery assistance.
State officials held a special legislative session in August to address disaster response shortfalls.
“We all deserve a recovery system that actually works,” Willis said. “We are demanding a fund that cuts red tape.”
