SAN MARCOS, Texas – After nearly two years, Brenda Polanco stood in her familiar, but somewhat different, San Marcos house on Saturday.
"It's like a whole new home all over again," Polanco said.
Like many others in Central Texas, Polanco's home was damaged by floodwaters over Memorial Day weekend in 2015. While Wimberley paid the dearest price with several lives lost, a nonprofit organization started in the wake of the flooding, the Blanco River Regional Recovery Team, or BR3T, said people in Hays, Blanco, Caldwell and Guadalupe counties had homes that were damaged.
Polanco lives in San Marcos with her children and her parents. As the rain came down two years ago, police and automated calls from the city told them to evacuate.
"We just grabbed purses, phones and out the door we went," Polanco said.
Meanwhile, water came in. Polanco estimates that about 18 inches ended up inside her home. When she returned, she found it destroyed.
"Mold started growing," Polanco said. "Walls started warping."
It didn't help when flooding hit the house again that October.
Thanks to the kindness of others, her home is repaired and ready to live in again, and will hopefully survive any future floods. In order to rebuild, the house had to be lifted up to about four feet off the ground.
The repair was a big job funded by charitable organizations. Volunteers did most of the work.
"It took a long time to do, especially with volunteers. It takes a little longer than with a construction crew coming in and doing it," said Daryl Ready, BR3T construction board manager.
BR3T executive director Thomas Monahan said damage from the flooding still lingers, even as volunteers and funds become scarce.
"Two years out from the Memorial Day flood, people think everybody's already been taken care of," Monahan said. "But with 300 more homes left to repair, we need donations to get everybody back in their homes."
For Polanco and her family at least, the wait is over.
"We have the mattresses on the floor, but as long as we're living under our roof, it feels good," she said.
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