Less than a week after the deadly 4th of July flooding, veteran-led disaster response nonprofit Team Rubicon has begun deploying its volunteers to provide disaster relief for the Texas floods. On Thursday, July 10, Team Rubicon will begin deploying its volunteers, or Greyshirts, to Kerr and Tom Green counties to remove vegetative debris blocking access to homes and provide muckout services for flooding survivors.
The devastating floods occurred when relentless rainfall fueled by moisture from Tropical Storm Barry combined with a stalled weather system to unleash over 20 inches of rain between July 3 and 6, amounting to over a month’s worth of rainfall in many places. As of July 9, at least 119 lives had been lost—36 of them children—and 173 people were still unaccounted for. Entire communities have been left in ruins in places like Kerr County, where a 20-foot wall of water swept down the Guadalupe River destroying homes, roads, and bridges. Additional impacts have been reported in communities such as San Angelo, in Tom Green County, as well as in Kendall County.
On Monday, July 7, Team Rubicon activated the first of its veteran-led volunteers, mobilizing three reconnaissance teams to conduct initial needs assessments throughout the affected counties. Local Greyshirts also began coordinating with FEMA, the Texas Department of Emergency Management, and the Salvation Army to run a Volunteer Reception Center, fielding phone calls and inputting data into the Texas Community Recovery platform to support information sharing for the broader response and recovery effort.
More than 60 Greyshirts expected to deploy for the Texas floods disaster relief operations in Kerr and Tom Green counties over the next 48 hours. Hundreds of Greyshirts are expected to serve survivors over the next few weeks of the operations.
Watch: Fox News reports on how Team Rubicon is lending a helping hand with Texas flood relief
Team Rubicon is in central Texas providing relief to those impacted by deadly flooding in early July. Incident Commander Oscar Arauco details all the organization is doing to help people recover.
