KERR COUNTY, Texas – One month later, KSAT’s Ernie Zuniga caught up with Hill Country flood victims and checked in with community members to see how the recovery and rebuilding process was going.
Zuniga started by revisiting Waterfront Drive, where multiple homes were swept away in the flood.
A new memorial has been constructed at the Romero home, where three family members died.
Regina Guevara, a local volunteer coordinator, is running the makeshift donation site that has also been set up nearby. She held back tears as she talked about the one-month mark and how residents are tired and sleep deprived.
Much of the help that was present in the first weeks after the flood is starting to go away, she said.
Later in the morning, he traveled to Center Point for an informal discussion with business leaders in the area along the river. All of them had received financial assistance from LiftFund, a San Antonio-based organization that provides funding for nonprofits and small businesses in need.
Melanie Schaubhut runs Tree Top River Cabins along the Guadalupe. Her business was largely spared; however, she was not prepared for the mass cancellations that went on well into summer 2026.
Schaubhut has had to return more than $16,000 worth of deposits due to the cancellations.
Ernie then returned to Kerrville to reconnect with Wayne Donaghe, a Kerrville homeowner whose house has been in his wife’s family along the river for decades.
Donaghe was the first in line last month at the FEMA resource center, which was set up at a local church.
Donaghe said FEMA has been great and is leaning on his faith to help him get by as he rebuilds and his wife recovers from a broken shoulder sustained during the evacuation.
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