Hope House employee who worked with special needs kids swept away in Liberty Hill flood
LIBERTY HILL, Texas (KXAN)— Sherry Richardson had only worked with the Hope House for about 3 and a half years, but those who knew her said she talked about how it was her favorite job of her life.
She lived in a cabin on Hope House's Liberty Hill property, where she helped kids and adults with special needs. And it's where she would later spend some of the last moments of her life.
"At 3:30 [in the morning] I got a call from... Sherry, and she said that water was coming into the cabin," Hope House Executive Director David Gould said. "I asked her if she called 911, and she said she had. And then she said they were calling back. She clicked over to answer...I called her back 15 minutes later, and I couldn't get any response. Turns out the entire cabin was swept away and she lost her life."
The 2-story cabin where Richardson lived, is now rubble.
The residents and staff at Hope House were evacuated to safety. A frightening situation, as the kids and adults who Hope House serves are nonverbal.
“They're not able to tell us what they're feeling, they're not able to communicate their upsets, all they know is, at three o'clock in the morning the water started pouring in," Gould said.
Tucked away in the rural county roads of Liberty Hill, Gould said torrential rain dumped on their grounds, seemingly out of no where overnight on Saturday. 12 Hope House kids and two staff members were air-lifted by a Black Hawk helicopter.
As of Monday, at least two deaths have been reported in Williamson County. Now, the county said it is in recovery mode with others still missing.
“The bodies that we're looking for could be hidden beneath 20 feet of mud, trees and debris," Williamson County Sherriff Matthew Lindemann said.
With multiple roads still shut down, officials said as of Monday morning, there are over 100 first responders on the ground.
Meanwhile, the Hope House has asked for volunteers for continued help clearing debris from its kids' rooms.
On Sunday, Gould said over 200 volunteers showed up to help out. And even in the thick of rubble and despair, there's still hope.
“We're a forever home, and that means forever," Gould said.
In honor of their mission to help some of the most vulnerable, Gould said they'll never forget Sherry.
“We'll pick up and we'll move on. You know, that's what she would have wanted," Gould said. "She'd make you feel like you're immediately a part of the family, and then she would set about to make sure that you knew you were a part of the family."