By Kim Hilsenbeck.
With debris, furniture and soggy items strewn across lawns and driveways, several homes in the Chaparral Park neighborhood in northeast Hays County may look like refugees live there.
And some of those homeowners feel like they are refugees, especially those displaced by Thursday’s historic flooding.
Around 3 a.m., many of the homeowners along Live Oak Drive in Allegro Montanal, which sits just to the east of Chaparral Park, discovered water from the creek behind their homes rising at a rapid pace, pushing against windows and doors. Once it seeped into the houses, it rose anywhere from two to three or more feet inside.
Friends, neighbors and strangers (above) came to help Erin and Todd Andrews of the Allegre Monantial neighborhood near Chaparral Park. Erin said on one day about 35 people were in her home, cleaning up mud, pulling up carpet and removing sheetrock. The Andrews and their neighbors along the creek lost everything, including cars, pools, decks, appliances and storage sheds. (Photos by Kim Hilsenbeck) |
The aftermath of the flood includes broken windows, busted doors, mangled sheds and even an above ground pool and deck completely destroyed. Appliances are ruined, cars considered complete losses and decks uprooted from their foundations.
But it’s hard to break the spirit of the folks who lived through the nightmare.
Take Erin and Todd Andrews. They lost their deck and pool, nearly lost two horses and the house has been gutted, stripped of carpets, sheetrock and more. Furniture was ruined. The family, currently staying with friends and in hotels, will live in a short-term apartment for the next month.
But Erin is still smiling, hugging people and saying thank you to everyone who came by to help her and her neighbors after the flood.
A psychologist, Erin said people going through the aftermath – her included – are experiencing anxiety, sadness and anger all at once.
“It’s very overwhelming,” she said.
But when a man walked over and gave her a hug, she said, “Thank you, love you, appreciate you.”
He is a friend who has been there for days, helping the Andrews family get back to whatever normal will be from here on out.
Down the street, Scot Kratzer, Michael Denson and their teenage son Jon are still cleaning, sorting, and tossing debris and personal items that aren’t salvageable. An SUV sits sideways against the garage door, which sustained major damage from the SUV slamming into it during the storm.
They pointed to a dumpster in their driveway.
“That’s our whole life in there, ruined,” Denson said.
During the interview, a second dumpster was dropped off while the first one, filled to the brim, carted away their destroyed belongings. Inside, the floors were ripped up, Sheetrock exposed and drying out, furniture completely destroyed.
They likely will not be able to reside in the house for several months. The past few days, they’ve been staying with various friends.
Offices in the main station of the Buda Fire Department (above) were inundated with water. (Photo by Clay Huckaby) |
But they managed to remain optimistic, hopeful and even smile a few times. Like Erin Andrews, they were grateful to the dozens of neighbors who showed up to help, doing whatever they could.
Over on the other side of the Chaparral Park neighborhood, near the low water crossing, Linda Reeves’ house sits on several acres where it has been since 1974. Much of the front yard is now covered in items from the house, removed to either dry out or to be determined as trash. Sopping wet clothes hang on the fence, which used to hold 16 goats inside. During the flood, Reeves lost 13 to drowning.
Volunteers started arriving the next morning after the flood and have returned every day since. Neighbors are pulling up carpets, washing clothes, moving furniture – it’s a seemingly endless task with Reeves’ 39 years of accumulated items, but neighbors keep showing up.
Others drop off food and water for the volunteers. Still others act as coordinators, orchestrating the flow of people and items in an orderly fashion.
Chaparral Park residents Diana Heinig, Angela Streeter and Darlene Starr have each taken a lead role, organizing the needs of flood victims, attempting to maintain some semblance of control so as to limit chaos and duplication of effort. They also put on their work gloves and got busy, pitching in as needed.
A Yahoo group email chain for the neighborhood shows the conversations, pleas for help and thanks sent out to group subscribers.
“On behalf of my mother-in-law, Linda Reeves, I would like to add our heartfelt thanks to all who rushed to our aid and who continue to help by bringing food, doing laundry, etc.,” wrote Kathy Reeves. “We greatly appreciate everything that has been done. We do have a wonderful, caring neighborhood!”
Erin Andrews echoed the sentiment.
“Good morning. Great progress was made this weekend at our home, thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who came out from this great neighborhood,” Erin Andrews wrote. “Todd and I are so appreciative - we cannot thank those of you who came out to help, lend equipment, and bring food and supplies enough! We feel so incredibly fortunate to be among such kind and generous people.”
Buda Fire Dept. Main Station $175,000*
Building repairs = more than $100,000; the department’s insurance deductible is $25,000 Contents (all office furniture, Xerox copiers, cabinets, table, chairs, etc., were destroyed) = $50,000-$75,000 *Estimated by Hays County ESD 8/Buda Fire Department | Buda Elementary School (lower campus) $235,000*
Cleanup by Gerloff = $105,000 Other potential costs (e.g., carpet, sheetrock, books, bookshelves, and academic materials) = $130,000 *Estimated by Hays CISD
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City of Buda $555,000*
Water & Wastewater to repair sewer lift stations = $7,000 Streets & Drainage mostly debris removal & some street repair = $5,000 Parks & Recreation trail damage and playground damage = $33,000 Property damage (other than city property) including residential, non-residential and religious properties = $500,000 *Estimated by City of Buda staff
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