As Kerr County prepares to celebrate the first major holiday since the deadly July floods, KSAT returned to the area to see how people in the region are recovering.
Nov. 26 marks 145 days since the tragedy. The area remains deep in the rebuilding phase.
“It’s changed. It’s completely changed. The way it looks now has changed,” Kyle Bond said.
Today, areas near the Guadalupe River have significantly fewer trees than they did before the disaster.
Although much of the debris has been removed, and the cleanup is ongoing, it’s clear: Kerr County still needs help.
“It’s a long process, but we’re making progress,” Mike Trolinger said.
The home that Mike and Brenda Trolinger share in Ingram was destroyed by raging floodwaters on July 4. Now months into renovations, the couple sees light at the end of the tunnel. They hope to return home before the end of the year.
“We are gonna be OK, you know, it’s all in God’s hands,” Brenda Trolinger said.
But many businesses continue to struggle. Some have shut down. The ones that are reopened also need their customers back.
“We need you, come see us,” said Mike Armstrong, owner of The Lakehouse Restaurant in Kerrville.
Generators, construction equipment heard across Kerr County as cleanup continues
If areas had soundtracks, generators and construction equipment could be the instruments in Kerr County’s feature song.
Now that the giant piles of debris that littered the flood-affected areas after the disaster have been removed, crews are going deeper into places like Ingram Lake, which makes up a section of the Guadalupe River.
Veteran Aaron Tapley founded the Rampart Vigilance Foundation in response to the flood.
Tapley, his fellow veterans, first responders and volunteers have been in Kerr County ever since, going where they’re needed. For months, that’s been in the water.
“We’ve seen it all...there’s everything from household debris, typical forest debris, full-size cypresses...underwater, cars, RV parts,” Tapley said.
Tapley thinks that’s just scratching the surface.
“There’s an extreme amount of hazards along there that haven’t been pulled out yet. A lot of metal debris, metallics, sheds, homes,” Tapley said.
KSAT visited Tapley in his makeshift office, a storage unit in Ingram that stands feet from the lake.
Inside, two pictures adorn a wall: the images of Jeffrey Ramsey, 63, and Seal Steward, 8, the two flood victims who still haven’t been found.
“[My mission is to] find the people that are missing and make...the public waterways safe for the people to enjoy again and actually come back here,” Tapley said.
Longtime Ingram resident Ann Carr is on board with that mission. Months ago, she began a petition to drain Ingram Lake.
“We’ve got heavy machinery owners that own septic tanks...we’re blue collar. Ingram is blue collar, so we’ve got all the equipment that’s necessary to go out there and let us clean it. Let us get dirty, and let’s take care of Ingram Lake because it is the heart of our community,” Carr said.
Tapley said the overwhelming need in the area is what keeps him and his team focused.
“We gotta get more volunteers...businesses...corporations...there’s people here that are still hurting and need support,” Tapley said.
Rebuilding in Kerr County differs depending on who you ask
People in Kerr County who sustained flood damage to their properties are in different phases of rebuilding.
Some homeowners are deep into extensive renovations, like the Trolingers, whose home was down to the studs when KSAT met them in August.
The couple barely made it out of their Ingram home when the floodwaters ravaged their residence. After those waters receded, everything inside was ruined, covered in mud.
Now, their walls have fresh sheetrock and new flooring.
“I look forward to making normalcy again,” Mike Trolinger said.
The couple hopes to be back in their home before the end of the year.
“To be able to say, ‘I’m home,’ yeah, that’s going to be awesome,” Brenda Trolinger said.
But in other neighborhoods, the rebuilding process has barely started.
KSAT visited an area along Water Front Drive in Kerrville, where at least two homes were knocked off their foundations.
Timothy Gloria lives across the street from those homes. Although the interior of his home didn’t sustain damage from the flood, the structure is grappling with foundation issues.
“[The water] just kind of, it just raised it up. I got insulation falling all over the place from the flood. I got stuff I need to fix, but it’s always been so wet that I couldn’t do it,” Gloria said.
Gloria said one contractor quoted him $50,000 to fix his foundation. He doesn’t have that kind of cash, so he’s applying to different nonprofit organizations to see if they can help with the cost.
Kerr County businesses face a challenging path back
Many Kerr County businesses face a two-fold challenge: flood damage and a diminished customer base. Months after the tragedy, many need support.
“I think Kerrville’s back open. We want people to come back, visitors come back,” Bond said.
Bond owns Terminix, a pest control business in Kerrville. He admits the path back hasn’t been linear.
His business didn’t sustain damage, but many of his customers haven’t returned.
“As people are going into clean-up and disaster relief mode, everything gets put on hold,” Bond said.
Even with aid, some businesses have permanently shut down, like the 1011 Bistro restaurant in Kerrville. Last month, its owner announced the facility wasn’t reopening.
Meanwhile, other businesses are struggling to survive.
“The biggest part is obtaining financing, obtaining funding to rebuild. We’ve raised about $150,000. The rebuild is going to run over $400,000,” Steve Edelstein said.
Bond and Mark Armstrong, owners of The Lakehouse Restaurant in Kerrville, received help from the nonprofit LiftFund. The nonprofit supplied grants and zero-interest loans to businesses after the floods.
”We have deployed approximately 319 small business grants, totaling about $2.5 million in grants. And to date, we’ve done 20 loans at zero percent interest," said Adrian Gonzalez, Liftfund’s chief CDC Officer.
Business owners also said they need customers to help them keep the lights on. They hope more people patronize their businesses when they’re in town.
“We really need to be supported through the holidays. [This is a] great place to get a little Christmas gift or something. That’s what’s going to bring us back,” Armstrong said.
Kerr County hopeful about comeback
As we head into the holiday season, hope is a recurring theme in Kerr County.
People can’t take it for granted. They need it as they continue to heal.
To no surprise, churches have been the glue that keeps the community together. The Trinity Baptist Church in Kerrville, for example, is still involved in recovery efforts.
After the disaster, it served as a place where flood victims could get financial help. Today, victims can go there to access counseling services.
“If we can help the people that need it, that’s all we care about,” Pastor John Wheat said.
Trailers from the Texans on Mission Disaster Relief organization have been stationed outside the church facility since July.
“The mindset is that that happened on July the Fourth, and for some, they’re still living with it. It’s over, but it hasn’t gone away,” Wheat said.
As Kerr County continues to recover, Wheat is committed to helping the community heal and find comfort in each other.
“I think when we come along together as a people, and as friends or neighbors or whatever, we can help each other and be alongside each other...we’re gonna be here. We’re not going anywhere,” Wheat said.