‘Their hearts are shattered’: Unprecedented flooding tests Uvalde area’s hard-earned resilience

From KERA News:

Jesse Rizo is no stranger to loss.

On May 24, 2022, his 9-year-old niece was among the 19 children and two teachers killed during the Robb Elementary School shooting.

Four years later, and now the president of the Uvalde school board, Rizo is dealing with a different type of loss. His hometown of Batesville, about 20 miles south of Uvalde, was inundated on Thursday with historic floodwaters, destroying homes and damaging the local school.

On Saturday, Rizo joined volunteers outside the Zavala County Nutrition Center, distributing clothes and food to those affected by the flooding. He said he’s doing all he can to keep himself together.

“You got to look strong. You got to show a certain image,” Rizo said. “You can’t let them see you break. You break in your own time, but not in front of them.”

The community, Rizo said, is largely dealing with the loss the only way it knows how — by banding together and helping each other out.

“You’re going to see people that can’t get into their homes, they can’t live in their homes — but those are the very same people that are unloading trucks [and] the very same people that are in the kitchen cooking,” Rizo said. “They know that their home is shattered. Their hearts are shattered, but where are they at? They’re trying to rebuild somebody else’s shattered heart.”

Myra Gonzalez, whose mobile home was turned into something of an island by the flooding, said helping others at the nutrition center keeps her mind off her own issues.

“There’s a lot of times throughout the day where I have to stop and go to the restroom, or just take a step outside, and just breathe,” Gonzalez said. “Because if not, I’ll start crying.”

When the rain started falling more intensely last week, Gonzalez said she wasn’t too worried since she lives farther from the nearby Leona River than most in the community.

But by 6 .a.m. on Thursday, she said the water had swelled up to her doorstep.

“I hadn’t been able to get any kind of groceries or anything for days because all the roads were closed,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez is a teacher at Batesville School, which is part of Uvalde CISD. She was worried about water damage to the school because its the heart of the community.

“I’m just thankful that nobody in our town was hurt and that we were all spared our lives,” Gonzalez said. “But just the damages and the devastation within the town is what’s really taking a toll on all of us.”

Gonzalez said she personally paid for all the decorations in her classroom and is worried they were damaged by the water.

Batesville school principal Adriana Beza confirmed to KERA that the school suffered water damage, especially to flooring and carpets which will likely need to be replaced.

The flood was unprecedented for residents of Uvalde and Zavala County, State Rep. Don McLaughlin told KERA.

“I’ve been here all my life, and I’ve never seen the water that we saw in this flood,” said McLaughlin, who previously served as Uvalde’s mayor from 2014 to 2023.

Still, the two counties didn’t get hit as hard as Kerr County last year where over 130 people died, including 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic, a century-old girls summer camp along the Guadalupe River.

“I’m sad to say, but I think Kerrville was a wake up call for everybody,” McLaughlin said. “So people were prepared, and we made the call to evacuate people when we thought it needed to be done.”

McLaughlin, who told KERA he worked closely with emergency responders throughout the flood, estimated between 300 and 500 people have lost their homes in the city of Uvalde alone.

The damage to roads due to the amount and rapidness of the water is also going to be a challenge, he said.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of bridges that have been there 30, 40, 50 years have sustained damage, if they’re not gone,” said McLaughlin.

Flooding along the Nueces River destroyed part of the FM 481 bridge southwest of Uvalde, cutting off a key connection between Uvalde and Eagle Pass.

Still, McLaughlin said, the residents of this area will get through it.

“Mother nature’s tough, but we’re tougher,” he said, quoting Uvalde County commissioner Roy Kothman.

Rizo said he saw how the community processed the trauma four years earlier on May 24 after the Robb Elementary shooting, and he’s seeing signs of that process again.

In the beginning, he said, everyone comes together and supports each other.

“But eventually what will take place is that reality, right?,” Rizo said. “When the noise settles down, when all this begins to dwindle away and people start going back into the routine of life, you eventually have to get back to your house. And when you get back to your house, you’re going to get reality — and you won’t know where to begin.”

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