UVALDE — The creek behind Aracely Balderas’ home was almost always empty in the six years she’s lived in northeast Uvalde.
So on Thursday morning, as she watched her home camera feed from the safety of her parents’, she couldn’t grasp how 2 feet of water was flooding her house. Balderas never heard of flooding in her city or the neighborhood, let alone from the creek she never saw filled.
“It’s something that you don’t really know the magnitude to it until you’re actually in that position,” Balderas said.
Balderas’ home was far from the only one torn through Thursday morning when Uvalde “almost became an island” after record-breaking flooding, as Gov. Greg Abbott described it. Rushing water exposed house foundations, blew open garage doors and ripped out air conditioning units. Now assessing the damage on Friday, families said they never thought such vicious flooding was even possible in their South Texas town.
Uvalde received heavy rain for three days, totaling more than 2 feet in certain locations, according to the National Weather Service. One rain gauge in Uvalde County measured more than 10 inches Tuesday night and an additional 6 inches Thursday morning.
The river gauge for the nearby Nueces River rose above major flood stage at 17 feet by 3 p.m. Wednesday. It crested on Thursday evening at 28 feet, surpassing the previous record of nearly 25 feet set in 1996. It remained above the flood stage until Friday morning.
During that time, water scattered debris and broke into homes.
The city was prepared, however, and Balderas’ neighborhood was evacuated Wednesday evening before water leapt from the Nueces and Leona rivers nearby. Balderas was concerned but didn’t leave when officers came the first time; when they returned two hours later, their tone told her it was urgent.
Kimberly Rubio’s family wasn’t prepared when law enforcement knocked on the door urging them to leave before flooding reached their home. They grabbed a few essentials and what was most important: a backpack and drawings from her daughter Lexi, who was killed in the 2022 Robb Elementary shooting.
“That’s what we grabbed. Everything else doesn’t matter,” Rubio said.
Rubio returned Thursday evening, wading through water to assess the damage before leaving again to avoid the additional flooding expected through that night. By Friday afternoon, she and family friends tossed ruined furniture to take to the landfill and marked wooden windowsills that would need to be replaced.
Few of those most affected by the flood navigated the aftermath alone. Families, neighbors and community members among the city’s 15,000 residents flocked to waterlogged homes to help with cleanup, bring food or just check in.
Julio Valdez, a restaurant owner, brought dozens of enchilada plates into Rubio’s neighborhood to hand out to those picking through debris looking for anything salvageable.
Delia Matas spent Friday afternoon cleaning up what was left in the first floor of the family home not totally destroyed by gray muck, aided by distant relatives and strangers. Kid volunteers raised different clothes up for inspection while Matas decided what could be kept as she helped wheel leather sofas away.
“It’s so hard without help,” Matas said. “These people who just came to help out, and they showed up.”
Matas, too, was shocked that the creek and Leona River had swollen enough to reach their homes. She had never heard anything like it.
Even with the disastrous flooding, though, residents’ daily lives march on.
Balderas’ first thought after the shock of seeing her home overrun with floodwater was simple: she still has to go to work. The registered nurse took comfort knowing she could do something as the flooding blocked other coworkers from reaching the hospital.
The sadness is hard to navigate on top of her responsibilities and the cleanup, she said.
“You don’t know until you’re actually put in those positions,” Balderas said. “I’m like, there’s really nothing else. Just pray and work for now.”
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