Relief group plans longtime help for Burnet County flooding victims

BURNET COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The rebuilding process will look "different" and likely last a lot longer than previous disasters in the Hill Country, according to one relief organization now working to connect with survivors of the Independence Day floods.

Kevin Naumann serves as executive director of the Ark of the Highland Lakes, which now operates from a warehouse in Marble Falls. That's where people who lost their homes in the recent floods are now coming to connect with his group's case workers and pick up food, clothing, cleaning supplies and even furniture to start rebuilding their lives.

He said their needs are different because they lived in places where flooding may be less expected, like near creeks or in low-lying spots instead of next to lakes. For instance dozens of RVs and campers got destroyed when water from Hamilton Creek overflowed and overtook the Cedar Stays RV Park just east of Marble Falls. Many people, he added, have no flood insurance or may be experiencing poverty.

"Our response the last time it flooded looked a lot like deploying volunteers and to rebuild or re-sheet rock houses and things like that," Naumann explained. "We’ll have a lot of that, but this one it’s like my entire RV washed away, and that was the entire thing I have or my whole car is just totaled. It’s going to look a lot different financially and having to come alongside people just to completely rebuild or completely get them new living situations.”

He urged other Central Texans to consider donating money on top of needed supplies, like building materials, hygiene products and food items. Those funds will be distributed by his group to those in need, Naumann said, for the "long-term process" of helping them get back on their feet.

“It’s heartbreaking — devasting would be the way to put it for the cases we’ve seen so far,” Naumann said Monday.

Anyone interested in donating or volunteering can visit the Ark of the Highland Lakes website or by calling 325-423-3662.

Already he said hundreds of volunteers are staffing food distribution sites in Burnet County and beginning to work on cleanup efforts at different properties. Shortly after the flooding began, a network of 31 churches from the area also started mobilizing their members to respond through the Ark of the Highland Lakes, which is the new name of the Highland Lakes Crisis Network that formed after historic flooding in 2018. People are also showing up at the group's warehouse to drop off supplies and other materials.

“It’s just incredible to see the generosity and the love that’s shared in the midst of these sort of crisis situations, and people just loving on people because they’re people," Naumann said.

Jacob Graham pulled up Sunday morning with a trailer attached to his truck. He drove about three hours to Marble Falls from Bellville, Texas to donate pallets of bottled water, Gatorade and barbecue he made for the volunteers. He said he felt compelled to do something after learning a little girl who went to his daughter's dance class was one of the campers missing from Camp Mystic in Kerr County.

"Being a dad of girls, you know, and having a daughter the same age, it hits home," Graham said. "I hate that all these families are having to go through all this. And, you know, you send your kids off to do something fun, and then tragedy strikes. We're just glad to be able to help out in any way we can."

The Burnet County sheriff shared Monday that crews have now located the bodies of four people in the area, and they're still searching for two others, including the Marble Falls volunteer fire chief.