Texas keeps wildfire, drought and flooding disasters active across dozens of counties
Texas continues to operate under six active disaster declarations, including designations for drought, Hill Country and Central Texas flooding, and wildfire conditions affecting dozens of counties.
The Texas Division of Emergency Managementโs active-disaster list shows a drought declaration dated July 16, 2026, covering 50 counties. A separate Hill Country and Central Texas flooding declaration dated July 16 covers 15 counties. The list also includes a wildfire disaster declaration dated July 4 covering 11 counties.
The declarations keep drought, flooding and wildfire within the stateโs active emergency-management framework. That matters for residents and local governments that must continue responding to hazards, coordinating recovery work and carrying out emergency-management responsibilities while the declarations remain active.
Six declarations remain listed
In addition to drought, flooding and wildfire, the stateโs active list includes declarations for severe storms, border conditions and New World screwworm. The severe-storm declaration is dated July 14, 2026, while the drought and flooding entries are dated July 16. The wildfire entry is dated July 4.
The county counts identify the geographic reach of three of the listed declarations: 50 counties for drought, 15 for flooding and 11 for wildfire. Those figures describe the counties named under each declaration; they do not establish that every county is experiencing the same conditions or that the designations cover three entirely separate groups of counties.
The active list is maintained by the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the state agency responsible for tracking Texas disaster declarations. The Texas governorโs office is also identified as an entity connected to the stateโs declaration system.
Wildfire response remains documented
A separate TDEM situation-report listing shows that Texas continued maintaining wildfire-season reports in July. It identifies Wildfire Season 2026 Situation Report 152, dated July 20, 2026.
That report listing provides a continuing record of the stateโs wildfire response activity alongside the active wildfire declaration. It does not, by itself, provide a statewide damage total, an assistance amount or a list of current road or facility closures.
What the declarations show
The declarations are a snapshot of the hazards that remain within Texasโ emergency-management system at the time of the stateโs listing. They show that the state is simultaneously tracking weather-related threats that affect different parts of Texas, from drought across a large county footprint to flooding in the Hill Country and Central Texas and wildfire in 11 counties.
For local governments, an active declaration signals continuing emergency-management and recovery obligations. For residents, it indicates that their counties may remain connected to state response structures for the hazards covered by the applicable declaration.
The county designations should not be read as a finding that conditions are identical throughout each listed area. The active-declarations page names the counties and the type of disaster, but it does not give incident-level damage totals, assistance amounts or current closure information.
As of the July 16 active-declarations update and the July 20 wildfire situation-report listing, Texas had not closed out the six declarations shown on the stateโs active list. The next known public marker is the stateโs continuing publication of situation reports and updates to its active-declarations page.
Sources
- Active Disaster Declarations, Texas Division of Emergency Management
- Situation Report List, Texas Division of Emergency Management
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