ORLANDO, Fla. — A woman from Texas Hill Country is watching flooding unfold from her hotel room in Orlando.
Dara Hinshaw says the rain started before she and her husband boarded their flight.
“It was hard to walk onto the plane,” she said.
Her sister, who drove her to the airport, had to get picked up by a neighbor because her car couldn’t handle the flooding, according to Hinshaw. Her mother’s home flooded from the rain.
Hinshaw’s own home was undamaged. She works in metabolic health and says she’d been planning on joining colleagues at the convention for a year, so she didn’t want to miss the important event.
Still, she says it’s been hard to watch things unfold from more than 1,000 miles away.
“We have been just in constant communication with our family there and people have been checking on us which is so sweet,” she said.
The flooding comes just over a year after deadly floods swamped Hill Country on Independence Day 2025.
“You know we were still grieving last year and so it’s a ton of mixed emotions for sure, but so grateful to be here,” said Hinshaw.
As Hinshaw stays in Orlando until Monday, crews are leaving Central Florida to offer assistance.
Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 4 left Thursday with seven crew members from different local fire and rescue teams.
Meanwhile, Salvation Army Orlando hasn’t been called to respond, but Gene Daniels, director of operations for the Orlando Area Command, says they stay ready to roll out their emergency disaster services units.
“When you think about going through a storm or something like that, it’s very disruptive and when people come from the community outside-in, and they’re people you don’t even know and they’re there to help you, it really does mean a lot,” he said.
Salvation Army crews from Texas are on the scene responding to flooding.