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Sandy Creek · Travis County, Texas

What happened here,
on the record.

313 published sources on the flood of July 5, 2025 and the recovery since — news reports, testimony before the Legislature, documentaries, and public records. Most are archived, so the record stays readable after the links rot.

Watch Browse the archive

269 of these are archived. News sites move and delete their pages; where a snapshot exists we link it alongside the original, so the record stays readable after the link rots. This archive collects published coverage of Sandy Creek. It is not the community’s own record of what happened — that lives in the people who were here.

Five accounts of what happened at Sandy Creek and what followed. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.

“No One Came” — Texas Country Reporter July 19, 2025 · 6:45 The most widely seen account of Sandy Creek. Volunteers who arrived with their own equipment describe ten days of clearing the neighborhood before official help came, and Ashlee Willis walks through what is left of her childhood home. Watch on YouTube
“Nobody came for us” — Austin PBS August 18, 2025 · 5:13 Brandy Gerstner and her neighbors describe eleven days of clearing their own neighborhood before county crews arrived, and the interagency rules that turned away help from the city of Leander. Watch on YouTube
“The Sandy Creek Texas Community Needs Help” — Mikki Willis July 31, 2025 · 3:36 Three weeks after the flood, residents and first responders ask the state for the basic disaster response other communities received. Ashlee Willis describes losing the family farm, all three houses, and six neighbors. Watch on YouTube
Testimony on the alert failure — KPRC 2 Houston August 1, 2025 · 0:57 Auburn Gallager, a 25-year Sandy Creek resident, tells the Texas Legislature that county staff were warned of flooding at midnight and that the emergency text residents received at 4:39 a.m. said “evacuate wildfire.” Watch on YouTube
Flood Emergency Response Update — Travis County July 6, 2025 · 24:37 The county’s own briefing the day after the flood. Included because the accounts above are residents describing a response they say did not come, and this is the primary source on the other side of that record. Watch on YouTube

The Event — July 4–5, 2025 23

Search and Rescue 40

Immediate Aftermath — July–August 2025 39

FEMA, Disaster Declarations & Aid 35

Accountability — The Response Under Scrutiny 18

Policy & Money 39

Organizing & Advocacy 30

The Long Rebuild — Late 2025 into 2026 34

One Year On — June–July 2026 18

Documentary & Longform 10

Context, Reference & Standing Archives 27