Looks can be deceiving. This tranquil blue water looked innocent enough when I stood on its banks last week but on Memorial Day weekend, 2015, it was a different story. It had been raining for three weeks in south-central Texas when a new series of heavy rain and thunderstorms caused a rapid rise in the Blanco River. That Saturday evening, the river rose from 5 feet at 9 pm to 41 feet by 1 am. In those dark hours after midnight, the flood waters wreaked havoc, causing at least 12 fatalities, destroying or damaging scores of homes and uprooting thousands of cypress trees in its furious path.
Nine months later, you can still see the debris and destruction all along the banks of the river. The townspeople pulled together to rescue their neighbors, feed, clothe and house the homeless and clean up the mud and the mess. Now there's an initiative to replant hundreds of trees, needed to prevent further erosion and provide shade and shelter. I met many members of this small community during my recent stay here who said they love their town and wouldn't live anywhere else. I feel a connection to them, since this is going to be my daughter's new home for the foreseeable future. In the coming year, I pray that the rains pummel California and give the gentle hill country of Texas a break. They deserve it.
We have had some devastating floods reek havoc for citizens as well, and its heartbreaking... this does look incredibly inviting and that is deceiving for sure considering!
what a difference to see it now...to rise 36 feet in 4 hours i cannot imagine...terrifying...so sorry to hear of this tragedy and the lives that were taken...natural disasters are no stranger to my neck of the woods also...you never forget...
