Flooding in Texas

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be
famines and earthquakes” (Matthew 24:7 NASB).

The July 2025 flood in Texas devastated the nation as people saw the names of young victims and witnessed the destruction caused by fierce floodwaters. Questions arose about why adequate warning was not issued to allow victims to escape in time. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the retired Army general who coordinated relief efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina described the fatalities at Camp Mystic as “a major failure in alert and evacuation” that could have been prevented. Despite a significant effort by the U.S. Coast Guard, local authorities, and numerous volunteers, many of those swept away by the floodwaters were not found.

Perhaps the most severe recent flood occurred in Pakistan in 2022. From June to October 2022, the country experienced devastating floods that displaced over 30 million people and caused damages totaling around US$15 billion. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated disaster — droughts had been a major concern just months before the monsoon floods. After the 2022 flood, a team of scientists from Pakistan, the USA, Switzerland, and Singapore published a lengthy-titled study called “Increasing Drought Risks Over the Past Four Centuries Amid Projected Flood Intensification in the Kabul River Basin (Afghanistan and Pakistan),” which indicates a strengthening of the hydrological cycle based on tree ring analysis. The study was published in Geophysical Research Letters. Using data from the Hindu Kush Mountains, the scientists reconstructed annual precipitation in the Kabul River Basin over nearly four centuries from 1637 to 2018. “Our precipitation data show alarming trends,” shared Dr. Nguyen, the corresponding author (Columbia University). “By looking at trends in the past four centuries, we see that droughts are becoming more severe, shorter, and more frequent interspersed with more frequent wet periods.”

Some consider the 1931 China floods to be the worst in history, although Wikipedia lists the 1887 flood listed below as being worse. Estimates of 1 to 4 million deaths resulted from drowning, famine, and disease. This event affected the Yangtze, Yellow, and Huai rivers, impacting large areas in Henan Province and beyond. A combination of heavy rainfall, snowmelt, and a series of severe cyclones likely caused the 1931 floods. They submerged vast regions of central China, leading to widespread destruction and displacement.

Other Notable Floods

● The 1887 Yellow River flood in China also resulted in a very high death toll, estimated between 900,000 and 2 million.
● The Johnstown Flood in 1889 in Pennsylvania, caused by a dam break, resulted in the deaths of over 2,200 people.
● The 1927 Mississippi River flood in the U.S. was the most devastating river flood in the nation’s history, inundating 27,000 square miles and causing significant damage and displacement.
● Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused catastrophic flooding in New Orleans due to levee failures, resulting in 1,833 deaths and billions of dollars in damage.

The U.S. Natural Hazard Statistics records a total of 2,770 fatalities from flash floods and river related incidents. Flood deaths include those caused by rainfall-induced flooding, boating accidents, incidents at workplaces, and during camping, as well as deaths inside mobile and permanent homes. On average, 125 million people are affected by destructive river floods each year, forcing them to evacuate homes, face financial losses, and risk injury or death. The worst events occur when dams or levees suddenly break during flash floods, such as those in Germany and Belgium. Worldwide economic damage from flooding, amounting to approximately $100 billion, results from both major disasters and numerous smaller, less noticeable events that accumulate over time.

Researchers have identified a complex network of causative factors. These include socio-economic reasons such as poverty, population growth, and higher densities in flood-prone areas, and natural ones like climate change. However, for extreme weather events to turn into a devastating flood, additional conditions are necessary, such as a lack of hazard awareness or inadequate or failing protection and warning systems.

The Biblical Flood

“I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life … But I will establish My covenant with you … Enter the ark … for you I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time” (Genesis 6:17, 18, 7:1 NASB).

God sent the worldwide flood in Noah’s time to eliminate the earth’s corrupt population, leaving only eight faithful souls (2 Peter 2:5). It also destroyed a hybrid race formed by the illicit union of fallen angels and human women (Genesis 6:1, 2).

Before the flood, Earth was cursed for the disobedience of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:17). While God’s intervention caused the biblical flood, natural disasters occur because of this curse. Still, humans contribute to these disasters through neglect or corruption. People suffer and die because of this, but the earth also groans, quakes, and labors, waiting to be brought to the perfect, Edenic state — where it will be a suitable home for a renewed and perfected race in the resurrection of all (Revelation 21:1-4).

Although Jesus understood that these disasters would happen naturally, he describes them as signs of the end of the Gospel Age harvest and a time of great trouble before transitioning into the Millennial Age (Matthew 24:21). The more frequent and severe events were also meant to signal his return. In the same discourse recorded by Luke, he shares some details not mentioned by Matthew or Mark. “Then he continued by saying to them, Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you … bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake” (Luke 21:10-12 NASB).

The combination of these events occurs during “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time, no, nor ever shall be” (Daniel 12:1, Matthew 24:21). Jesus confirms more hardships: “These are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:8) — the start of much greater problems. It is clear from the difficulties we see today that we are in the middle of such a time. We can be confident that major changes in Earth’s climates and soils must occur to make it a suitable home for perfect man (Genesis 2:8). Cyclones, earthquakes, droughts, floods, blizzards, and extreme heat, such as simooms, show Earth’s imperfection. These events are rarely providential. Earth must reach its ideal state, as the garden home of man, by the end of the Millennium, when man’s trial will be over, the right time for all the willing and obedient to fully enjoy God’s favor. Then “there shall be no more curse” (Revelation 22:3), not upon man nor upon the earth for his sake. The earth — like mankind her lord — will gradually and progressively advance to complete perfection in all respects, under the glorious reign of the Messiah.