Six months later, the Texas Hill Country is still living with the flood : NPR
Six months ago, catastrophic flooding ravaged the Texas mountain region, leaving more than 130 people dead and billions of dollars in damage. Since then, families of some victims have filed lawsuits against the summer camps, and state law has passed disaster prevention laws. We provide an update on the current situation.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
It’s been six months since catastrophic flooding ravaged the Texas Hill Country and killed more than 130 people. Reconstruction is underway, but many families are still anguished by the loved ones they lost and the homes washed away by the river. Texas Newsroom’s Lucio Vasquez tells us the story.
LUCIO VASQUEZ, BYLINE: It was just after midnight on the Fourth of July. Joe Herrera (ph) said the rain seemed normal at first. And then it didn’t stop.
JOE HERRERA: I started going down hard.
VASQUEZ: Herrera, who has Parkinson’s disease, lives with his wife near the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas. As the rain intensified, the river began to rise.
HERRERA: The water had already entered the garage, already quite deep, within a few minutes.
VASQUEZ: As the mountain continued to rise, a neighbor came to check on them, tied a rope around Herrera and helped him get to safety. They survived, but their house was badly damaged. Their car was destroyed. Herrera nevertheless says he is happy to be alive. He said he was back home two months later. Hundreds of other people were not so lucky.
HERRERA: Every day I pray to God, thanking him for what I have.
VASQUEZ: In a matter of hours, the river rose to 37 feet. The region is expected to lose up to $22 billion in damages and economic losses. The recovery is far from complete, but daily life has largely resumed. The stores are open. Restaurants are busy. Traffic moves regularly along bridges that were once underwater. The Guadalupe River is now calm. But as we approach the river, gaps appear: empty lots where houses once stood, fresh earth where the foundations have been washed away.
LOUIS AMESTOY: The beauty and calm of this river, seeing the damage that it has caused is really difficult for people to understand, and it’s going to take years to recover from it.
VASQUEZ: Louis Amestoy is a resident and journalist who covered the flooding for the Kerr County Lead, a local online news source. According to him, the landscape only tells part of the story.
AMESTOY: These are people who have lived here their whole lives. You know, it’s a pretty tight-knit community.
VASQUEZ: The flood was one of the deadliest natural disasters in Texas history. At least two people, including an 8-year-old girl, are still missing. And as the water receded, questions arose about whether riverside residents had been properly warned and whether the risk had been fully understood before the storm.
AMESTOY: There are a lot of questions that need to be answered.
VASQUEZ: One of those questions involves the accuracy of flood maps produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an agency that has also been criticized for its response to the disaster. Former acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson was accused by some state and federal lawmakers of failing to demonstrate urgency as the crisis unfolded. He later defended the agency’s response during a congressional hearing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DAVID RICHARDSON: Texas got what it needed when it needed it.
VASQUEZ: Richardson resigned in November. FEMA did not respond to a request for comment this week. Some residents also said emergency alerts on their phones were inconsistent or never came at all. During a public hearing about a month after the flood, Kerr County officials responsible for sending out those alerts said they were asleep or out of town as floodwaters began to rise.
But for some families, the last six months have been about responsibility. Four separate lawsuits are currently making their way through the courts, all related to Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp where 25 campers and two counselors were killed. The summer camp recently announced plans to reopen later this year. Kyle Findley represents the families suing Camp Mystic.
KYLE FINDLEY: They have a child who is still missing. And instead of focusing on that, we’re talking about trying to open a camp to earn extra income.
VASQUEZ: Camp attorney Mikal Watts says investments made by Texas lawmakers after the floods should prevent another tragedy from happening.
MIKAL WATTS: There will never be any more deaths from flooding in this river because we will have a warning system that we need.
VASQUEZ: The state Legislature approved nearly $300 million for flood warning equipment upgrades, including new sirens along the Guadalupe River. Amestoy, who covered the disaster in the same community where he lives, says the recovery is far from over.
AMESTOY: We still have people missing. And I think it’s our community’s responsibility to make sure they’re not forgotten.
VASQUEZ: Amestoy says uncertainty still looms over the Hill Country for survivors who are still rebuilding and families seeking answers. For NPR News, my name is Lucio Vasquez.
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