A year ago this summer, on July 4, floodwaters rose in the dark in the Texas Hill Country and did not stop.By morning, 139 people across the Hill Country were gone: 119 of them in Kerr County.
Many were neighbors and friends; others had come to experience its beauty.Like so many families across our community, my life was changed forever by the flood, and the anniversary we mark this month is deeply personal.A year later, there are empty seats at dinner tables.There are families marking anniversaries they never wanted to face.
There are roads, camps, homes and riverbanks that carry memories none of us can forget.REMEMBERING TEXAS HILL COUNTRY: 1 YEAR SINCE THE HEARTBREAKING FLOODING DISASTERFor so many of us, it has been a season of grief as well as a season of recovery.We have spent the year since learning that a disaster happens in an instant, and recovery is much longer; it takes everything you have, for as long as you have it to give.In the first days, Texas did what Texas does.
Neighbors pulled neighbors out of the water.Ordinary people became heroes.
Continuing the legacy of disaster relief, organizations like Fox Corporation helped amplify the needs of the Texas Hill Country across its entire portfolio by engaging viewers across the country.In just one week, those viewers contributed more than $7 million to the Community Foundation.
Those gifts, alongside the generosity of thousands of other donors, have helped families return home, supported businesses, expanded access to mental health services and strengthened communities across Kerr County.That generosity became the foundation for the yearlong rebuilding and recovery effort that followed.For so many of us, it has been a season of grief as well as a season of recovery.
We have spent the year since learning that a disaster happens in an instant, and recovery is much longer; it takes everything you have, for as long as you have it to give.Recovery is a family carrying boxes back into a house that smelled...