The Borne Star
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part 2 of a look back at the past 12 months of Boerne Star coverage of people, events and happenings in Boerne and Kendall County.
The coolers were packed, hot dogs, buns and chips were bagged and ready, camping and picnic spaces were picked out — but 2025 became the Fourth of July that never was.
In the pre-dawn hours that morning, a tremendous rainstorm dropped devastating amounts of rain on the Guadalupe River and the cities and towns along its banks. Massive walls of water washed homes, campers and people downstream.
The banks of the Guadalupe swelled with tidal fury and took everything in its path. From Kerrville, through Comfort, past Sisterdale, clear to Canyon Lake — river water rose out of its banks in minutes time, reducing reaction time to mere moments.
The Guadalupe River near Kerrville swelled from under two feet to over 34 feet in just over an hour. Entire campgrounds of RVs and campers staked out along the river were swept away. A girls’ camp in Hunt, Camp Mystic, was hit especially hard, with dozens of girls swept away in the early morning pitch-blackness.
By mid-to-late morning, the Guadalupe was quickly rising in Comfort. At 9:30 a.m., residents along Water Street were told to “Get out, now.”
An hour later, the town’s evacuation siren shrilled the air for two minutes, calling to all: This is not a drill.
Water was shooting under the U.S. 87 bridge from Interstate 10 to Comfort — where just the day before, a riverbed of 3-4 feet was surrounded by dry brush and grass, withering from the summer’s ongoing drought.
The floods reached inland as far as half a mile from the riverbank. Water rose and covered the roadway on the Sisterdale bridge, some 40 feet above the normal lazy stream the Guadalupe cut below.
By Monday, July 7, the death toll had reached 85, and hundreds were declared still missing. Kendall County Commissioners Court Judge Shane Stolarczyk and County Fire Marshal Brady Constantine told press conference attendees that bodies had been pulled out of the floodwaters in Kendall County, although none were Kendall County residents.
In the end, 135 victims perished as a result of the storm, damages were in the billions of dollars and the state instituted reforms for better warning systems.
The daily bursts of news about the flooding overshadowed other news items that generated interest around the county.
JULY
* The Boerne Planning and Zoning Commission rejected a special use permit to allow a 16,000 square-foot Goodwill store to move into vacant property in the Live Oak Shopping Center on North Main Street.
Before its 6-1 denial, P&Z commissioners listened to the property owner and project applicant pitch Goodwill — looking to move into property at 1030 N. Main St. — as a team player interested in becoming part of the Boerne community.
But commissioners stepped back after hearing from several local thrift store owners, employees and supporters who painted a less-than rosy picture of how Goodwill’s presence would harm their stores.
The item still must go before Boerne City Council, which has the final say over whether to accept P&Z’s finding or decide otherwise.
* Boerne District 3 Councilman Quinten Scott announced his intention to step down from City Council during its July 8 meeting. The Boerne City Council is scheduled to formally accept Scott’s resignation on July 22 and declare the District 3 seat vacant.
Scott recently relocated to a home outside the city limits, prompting the resignation.
* The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country on July 22 dispersed a second round of more than $60 million raised in flood relief since the devastating July 4 flood.
The Comfort Area Foundation received $350,000: $100,000 for financial assistance for individuals and families and another $250,000 to help businesses in the area begin the recovery process, according to the Community Foundation’s website.
The Comfort Volunteer Fire Department received a $50,000 check “to support general operations and greatest needs.”
* The end of July also saw the end of a local favorite: Boerne Bierfest.
An overall decline in vendor numbers led Bierfest sponsor Hill Country Council for the Arts to cancel this fall’s eighth annual beer-and-art gathering.
Traditionally, dozens of booths offered miniature steins for people to use for samples, while artists hung and sold their works of art.
“We’ve seen attendance get weaker, and we’ve seen the bottom line get smaller,” said Rob Ziegler, treasurer of the Hill Country Council for the Arts.
* Hundreds of families and thousands of children attended the annual Boerne Independent School District’s “Back To School Resource Rally” at the main office. Parents enrolled their children, picked up school supplies and school clothing, looked up bus routes and some students rolled up their sleeves for tetanus and meningitis vaccinations.
Online:https://www.boernestar.com/article/12427,the-year-in-review-deadly-flood-response-year-s-top-story
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