TEXAS — Months after the Fourth of July flood that ravaged the area, Hill Country residents are still putting the pieces of their lives back together. Jack and Jennifer Hudson are still rebuilding their home and business.
“Don’t mind our mess,” said Jennifer Hudson. “It’s getting better, but it’s a process.”
The couple’s front porch looks much different than it did back in July when the river rose in Kerr County. The Hudsons were forced out of their Ingram home and onto the porch.
“It was our 31st wedding anniversary,” Jennifer Hudson said in July. “So, I looked over at Jack, and I said, ‘Happy anniversary.’ Not the way we planned to spend it, but we can celebrate that we survived.”
The couple spent the Fourth of July standing in rushing water for over an hour.
“When I woke up, floodwaters were about here,” Jennifer Hudson said, indicating an area near her ankles. “In about four to five minutes, we had water up to here.”
The water had risen to approximately the level of her upper chest, and months later, the evidence of what they survived remains.
The Hudsons’ home was built in 1937 and had never flooded before 2025. The Insurance Fairness Project revealed that only 3% of damaged homes in Kerr County had flood insurance.
“When you’ve been through a flood and you don’t have any surviving paper, that’s not always easy,” Jennifer Hudson said.
More than 3,200 families in Kerr County applied for disaster assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Fortunately, the Hudsons qualified — so far, FEMA has only approved about 700 of those applications.
“We have learned how to navigate the system,” Jennifer Hudson said. “We’re trying to extend that help out to some neighbors.”
Thousands of FEMA applicants have been denied. Some people have been deemed ineligible because the damaged home wasn’t their primary residence, and others because no property damage was reported or because of missing documentation.
“It’s not intended to be all that you’re going to need,” Jennifer Hudson said. “Well, OK, we got FEMA, so we can redo everything we need to do. It helps you get started, and then there’s other organizations and churches and different stuff that fill in those gaps. No one church or one organization can do it all.”
The July flood also destroyed Quality Patio Furniture, the Hudsons’ business. Jack Hudson’s lumber and the equipment for his custom projects were ruined, causing a need for double the renovations and out-of-pocket expenses.
“It’s not just our house,” Jennifer Hudson said. “Our business has been closed, so we haven’t had any revenue source since July 3.”
Support has flowed into Hill Country since day one, with volunteers cooking meals, helping with cleanup and donating construction supplies.
The Hudsons and their pets have bounced from house to house since July, taking recovery one day at a time as construction continues.
“We’ve been so blessed with the kindness of friends that have opened up their homes to us,” Jennifer Hudson said. “We’re eternally grateful for that. But there’s no place like home.”
Through it all, Jennifer Hudson believes the best is yet to come as they inch closer to returning home.
“We are really, really blessed that we get to get back in our home,” Hudson said. “So many of our neighbors lost their homes, and they can’t come back.”