On the morning of July 4, at 4:45 a.m., a neighbor called Brenda Espinoza and Mike Trolinger, a married couple living near Hunt, Texas, 200 yards from the Guadalupe River, to warn them the river was rising. 

When their feet hit the floor of their renovated house that was more than a century old, they discovered it was covered with water, and it was beginning to buckle. The power was out.

The pair raced through the house and opened an outer door to escape — only to be hit with an inflow of water and debris.  They climbed a hill to reach higher ground as their home was enveloped by water.  

Once Espinoza was safe, Trolinger, a retired police officer, “went into rescue mode” and headed to neighboring homes to see what aid he could provide. He ended up saving the lives of two of his female neighbors.

“After he left, I sat in the dark, with lightning sometimes lighting up the sky,” Espinoza recalled to the Register. “I heard my house cracking and power transformers popping. As it became light, I could see that two cars had been carried by the river from upstream and had slammed into my house.”

In a few hours, the water had receded, and the husband and wife were able to return home.  The water had risen eight feet inside the house and wrecked everything inside. 

Espinoza and Trolinger’s cat somehow survived, escaping to higher ground.  Five laying hens they purchased for eggs, however, did not. All three of their vehicles had been swept away. And the inner and outer doors through which they had escaped had been blocked by debris, indicating that if they had not been awakened by their neighbor’s call, they would have been trapped and drowned. “We’re grateful to be alive,” Espinoza said.

Gratitude mingles with grief in central Texas — still in recovery from the devastating flash flood that occurred along the Guadalupe River during the early morning hours of July 4, leaving at least 137 dead and causing billions of dollars of property damage.  

The city of Kerrville, located on the river, and the upstream communities of Hunt and Ingram saw the most devastation; both areas are popular tourist sites and hence were teeming with vacationers in RV parks and summer campers for the Fourth of July weekend when the flood struck.  Among those leading efforts to aid victims over the past month include Kerrville’s Catholic parish, Notre Dame, and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

Espinoza and Trolinger thought about relocating, but decided to stay and rebuild.  Their anticipated cost of construction is $200,000, money they do not have.  Espinoza had participated in some retreats with Notre Dame Parish and reached out to the church for help.  Donations from around the country had poured in, topping $800,000, reported Notre Dame’s pastor, Father Scott Janysek, to be used to help people such as Espinoza and Trolinger.

The couple met with Wyatt Wentrcek, the parish’s director of faith formation and youth ministry, who is coordinating relief efforts, prayed with him and shared the story of their loss.  The parish provided them with $30,000 from donations collected to help them fund their construction.  

“We literally fled our home with nothing but the clothes on our backs. It was very traumatic and emotionally scary,” said Espinoza, who noted that she and Trolinger didn’t have flood insurance. “But with the help of Notre Dame parish, we can rebuild.  We now have hope, and we know we are going to be okay.”

 

War Zone of Water

Wentrcek said he caught his first glimpse of the flood damage as he headed into Kerrville on July 5.  Debris lined the river, and many oak and cypress trees had been toppled.  He recalled to the Register, “It looked like a war zone.”

The parish invited parishioners to bring relief supplies to the parish over the weekend — the Saturday vigil Mass was scheduled for that evening — and truckloads of supplies came pouring in: food, water, baby items, cleaning supplies, toilet paper and much more.  The parish also began working with the local St. Vincent de Paul Society, which handled donations of clothing.

“The phones began to ring all day, calls from people who needed help, and people who wanted to help,” Wentrcek recalled.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, whose staff has had experience with relief operations, has since come in to take over the distribution of supplies. Three staff members from Catholic Charities are working on-site to coordinate distribution and related activities, and will stay for the foreseeable future, said Lizzy Perales, Catholic Charities’ vice president of programs. Four hundred fifty people have come for basic needs assistance, she told the Register, with funding provided by generous donors who have demonstrated “a great outpouring of love and support.”

Other Catholic Charities assistance provided to victims, she said, includes help with funeral expenses, interim rental assistance, supplemental financial support and case-management services.

Although there were non-Catholic groups collecting funds for victims, Wentrcek said, “Catholics want to give to the Catholic Church,” so Notre Dame parish began collecting cash donations for victims such as Espinoza and Trolinger on July 7.  

The parish established a committee to vet donation requests, meeting with victims to pray with them, offer emotional support and provide donations from $1,000 to $30,000.  In addition to loss of property, some requests are from those who have lost employment, such as housekeepers who no longer have houses to clean. They coordinate with Catholic Charities to ensure that they are funding different needs.

Wentrcek noted that many of the flood stories are traumatic. One parishioner, for example, was caught in his car and swept down the river.  He used a pool cue he had in the car to break the window and escape and was able to successfully call out to others to be rescued.  While insurance covered the cost of the car, the parish fund helped pay for items in the car that were lost.

“I’ve been amazed by how resilient people have been,” Wentrcek said. “They’ve lost everything, but with a little help, they’ve begun to restart their lives.”

Espinoza and Trolinger, for example, have cleaned up the site of their home themselves and have begun to rebuild, and they expect to be back in their home by the end of the year.

 

Spiritual Support

The archdiocese and Notre Dame parish have provided invaluable spiritual support. Father Janysek reported that he has held two funerals for five parishioners killed in the flood (a husband and wife, and a husband, wife and child). Additionally, he invited San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller to come to the parish the afternoon of Fourth of July to pray with and be present to victims; the archbishop returned July 6 to install Father Janysek as pastor (his first day as pastor was July 1). Joining the archbishop was Auxiliary Bishop Michael Boulette, who had served for 18 years as pastor of Notre Dame.  

Bishop Boulette was one of three Catholic clergy who joined with local families at a community center in Ingram immediately after the flood, ministering to people anxiously awaiting word about loved ones who were missing.  

“There was a lot of anxiety,” the bishop recalled. “People told us about their beautiful children. We held hands; we prayed.  We shared with them the reality of the beatitudes. .”

 

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Contribute to Notre Dame parish’s flood relief here.

Contribute to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio’s flood relief here.