Texas floods may trigger wave of giving, but not all help is actually helpful

Search and rescue crews are still working around the clock in central Texas

where more than 100 people have died in a deadly holiday weekend flooding

To see where they lived in one moment, where they disappeared the next moment

and were gone forever a few moments after that. Among the hardest hit areas, Kirk County, where 59 adults and 36 children were killed

The Guadalupe River, a beloved stretch of hill country, swelled over 26 feet in under an hour after relentless rain on July 3rd and 4th

The flood quickly turned deadly. Governor Greg Abbott declared a disaster in 15 counties and deployed more than 2,000 state responders to help with recovery

He called the response an extraordinary collaboration. But as communities start to rebuild local officials urge people to hold off on well but unplanned donations or volunteer trips They say too much of the wrong kind of help can do more harm than good Experts call it the second disaster when donated items overwhelm response teams instead of helping

A 2023 study from the Natural Hazards Center found that a surge of misaligned donations

after Hurricane Sandy and Oklahoma tornadoes slowed recovery and frustrated survivors. FEMA agrees, money sometimes is best

Donating through trusted channels helps relief groups get what survivors actually need at a quicker rate

Kerr County Sheriff reassured the public, saying they have plenty of resources and manpower

If you want to help, here's a list of how you can assist. To name a few, you can donate to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund or the Kerrville Area Rebuilding and Recovery Fund

Texas Search and Rescue, also known as Texar, is taking donations and deploying search teams

For more resources and links to how you can help find this story on SAN.com or by downloading the Straight Hour News mobile app

For Straight Hour News, I'm Kaylee Carey