Hi there! I hope that everyone is safe and dry. The weather in Texas has been absolutely insane for the last few weeks. We’ve had copious amounts of rain, which is always welcome. But then, the good thing turned into tragedy as Texas storms began to hit. The Blanco River in Wimberley flooded (right down the road from my brother, who lives in San Marcos) late last week.
Monday night, as most people were wrapping up Memorial Day BBQs and parties, my tiny of hometown in East Texas was being hit by a tornado. My parents’ property was hit (for the second time in 7 years) and lost several HUGE oak trees. We still own our house in that town and rent it out. Luckily, no one is living there at the moment- we also lost several trees, one that hit the house. There’s also roof damage and a small shed that we had is completely GONE. Stuff from IN the shed is still there, but the shed itself? Vanished. It is truly crazy.
THEN! A few hours later, the storm came to Houston. And oh my the rain. I was actually visiting Houston during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 and to me, this seemed worse- probably because I have children now and I was a little scared on their behalf! We got around 10 inches of rain in two hours, and the rain continued for about 6 hours. The bayous (which are supposed to prevent flooding) were overflowing, the water was over major freeways- crazy. So we couldn’t get to our house that was hit by the tornado because of the flooding here.
Our house in Houston didn’t personally sustain any damage- we are in a newer neighborhood and our house was built on an inclined driveway. Several thousand homes across the city sustained significant damage.
I’m so very thankful for my family and some of our close friends who cleaned up our driveway at our rental house and cleared out most of the trees. Texas storms are no joke- I’m just so, so thankful for safety and praying for those who lost family members.
About Kelli Hays
