KERRVILLE, Texas – Alma Martinez is still finding pieces of her life in the dirt behind her Kerrville home.
More than a month after floodwaters from Town Creek surged five feet inside her house, she is sifting through her backyard — pulling up what little remains. Her truck sits where the water left it. Her kitchen, her pantry, her furniture — gone.
A neighbor pulled her out just in time.
“My house with all items is for the family, and everything is no work anymore,” Martinez said. “My house is empty, empty, empty, empty.”
Martinez lived in the home for 15 years. Her family has been there for 30 years. She is now staying in a rental just around the corner while strangers work to put her home back together — completely free of charge.
Mark Roye, a volunteer with the nonprofit Somebody Cares America, drove up from San Antonio and has been working on her home for weeks. His organization is currently rebuilding 17 flood-damaged homes across Kerr County, all at no cost to the homeowners.
Roye said the scale of this flood is being underestimated — and largely forgotten.
“I come here, we’re going back and say, ‘Mark, how are you doing?’ ‘Well, I’ve been working with the floods,’” Roye said. “‘What flood?’ Even people in San Antonio are saying, ‘What flood?’ And I think a lot of it — we call it compassion fatigue.”
Roye said his team is operating at roughly 10 to 15 percent of the volunteer and financial capacity they had during last year’s floods. He said he still hopes to have Martinez’s home finished by Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, the San Antonio Food Bank has been showing up every Monday with groceries. For Martinez, that help is nothing new — she has relied on the food bank for 15 years. But after the flood wiped out everything in her pantry, she said the support has meant even more.
“It’s food and items for the bathroom and fruits and veggies and everything,” she said. “Very nice, because not every time in a big family you have money for the store. It’s basic.”
Eric Cooper, President and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank, said the organization has distributed roughly one million pounds of food to approximately 36,000 households across 11 flood-impacted counties since July — a roughly 20 to 25 percent spike in demand.
He said families like Martinez’s are caught in a painful cycle.
“To have 12 months later, just a month and a half ago, to have additional flooding back to some of those same neighborhoods — and some of which were already rebuilt — it’s a double whammy,” Cooper said. “More needs to be done, and we will continue to be there.”
The City of Kerrville has reported more than $55 million in preliminary flood-related damages and more than 820 flood-damage reports. Several parks and city facilities remain closed, and debris removal efforts are ongoing.
If you need help, the San Antonio Food Bank can be reached at 210-431-8326 or at safoodbank.org. The City of Kerrville also has a flood debris assistance request form available on its website.
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