KERRVILLE, Texas (Nexstar) — Mark Armstrong has been serving the Hill Country for decades. His Kerrville restaurant, the Lakehouse, has overlooked the Guadalupe River since 1988.
Well, it usually overlooks the Guadalupe River. But for a couple of hours on the morning of July 4, 2025, the river rose more than 20 feet into the restaurant’s floor.
“It was the worst day of my life,” Armstrong said. But seeing his community come in day after day, he considers himself one of the lucky ones.
“Everyone suffered something. Nobody came out of this totally unscathed,” Armstrong said.
A new normal for Kerr County
In the Lakehouse’s backyard is a constant reminder of the powerful river — one which claimed the lives of 119 in Kerr County — and could easily wreak havoc again.
“Typically, I would be a firm believer in, ‘It’s a once in a lifetime (flood),” Armstrong said. “These days, the way things are — who can say?”
A little further down the river is a barge — a temporary reminder that the impact is still so raw. The raft serves as a hub for the search-and-recovery effort for the two flood victims in Kerr County whose bodies have never been recovered.
While the pair remain missing a year later, the barge has helped with debris removal and other clean-up work. It may provide a positive outcome, but it’s still a somber sight.
“You still come to work every day and there’s somebody out your window doing search and rescue,” Armstrong said.
Yet, for the most part, Kerrville has bounced back. The downtown area is lively. The “Wall of Hope” memorial is gone. Parts of town which had been taken over by volunteer and first responders’ trailers have returned to parking lots.
But recovery happens on a case-by-case basis. According to Armstrong, many aren’t fully whole yet.
“(For my customers,) it just runs the entire gamut,” Armstrong said. “‘Contractors haven’t made it to us yet,’ ‘We’re still trying to get our money.’ All the way to ‘We’re back and we’re better than ever.’”
Recovering financially, ecologically and emotionally
Helping to lead the recovery charge is the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. In the immediate aftermath of the flood, they raised $150 million. As of June 18, $82 million has gone towards the rebuilding effort in various forms.
“Our biggest accomplishment to date… the majority of flood victims in our community who had their homes affected are home again,” Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation, said. “We have granted over $30 million to repair and rebuild homes, to offer down payment assistance, to offer temporary housing assistance, to pay people’s property taxes and get people home again.”
The Community Foundation also granted funds to help repair or replace community touchpoints — like parks, little league fields and the senior center. They gave $300,000 to the Riverside Nature Center, which, along with private donations, funding from the Chamber of Commerce and grants from the Lift Fund, helped reopen the flooded nature preserve.
“It’s a big humble pit, but it’s also validation,” Becky Etzler, executive director of Riverside Nature Center, said about the community support. “The Nature Center has been here in the community, part of the community, for almost 40 years. And so sometimes it’s hard to quantify your impact.”
No matter how long it takes to repair the visibly damaged parts of the Hill Country, the invisible toll of the flood will likely last a generation.
“(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) in children in our community increased four times… We have now 6,000 cases of PTSD in a county of about 50,000 people,” Dickson said.
Responding to the need, the Hill Country Foundation is investing in mental health resources. Examples include:
- $770,700 to Kerrville ISD for mental health services.
- $750,000 to Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.
- $360,000 to Kerrville’s New Hope Counseling Services.
“Mental health has long and persistent symptoms,” Dickson said. “(It’s) going to be a challenge for many years to come.”
Another area of mixed recovery — the local environment. A walk along the river still shows the devastating damage of the flood, as trees are permanently bent in the direction of the flowing water.
But at Riverside Nature Center, “We’re hip high in flowers this spring,” Etzler said. “We’ve been in a drought for a number of years… I have to go back probably nine years since I’ve seen it look this lush.”
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