Kerrville – Mothers and girls who survived the July Fourth flood joined volunteers with Operation Blessing to help property owners clean up after recent heavy flooding homeowners like Joan Connor and David Stearns on Bumblebee Drive.
“I got goosebumps,” Connor said.
After the trauma volunteers have been through, they did not give us an on-camera interview, but Connor is grateful they are willing to come back anyway to a place that took so much from them.
“And then there were some older women that I found out later were their mothers,” Connor said.
The couple’s home saw about 4 to 6 inches of water in the living room and more in the garage, but the girls and volunteers were on it, removing flooring and walls that got wet.
“I couldn’t believe in one hour…” Connor said.
And they did a little extra.
“They took every tool out of that box and cleaned it and put it back,” Stearns said.
After volunteers did what they could, they left, leaving a home and community in better shape than they found it.
“I would say it was a very beautiful experience. And we never had an experience quite like that,” Connor said.
They were part of hundreds of volunteers with Operation Blessing helping with cleanup efforts all across the Hill Country over the past two days. Today, other volunteers were passing out hygiene kits in the Home Depot parking lot off Sidney Baker Street. Tomorrow, they will have a trailer with washing machines so people who experienced flooding can clean their clothes. It will open at 10 a.m. tomorrow.