News

As the Blanco River roared through the Wimberley Valley, riverside residents headed for the hills, rooftops and attics to get away from the flood. At the same time, the Wimberley Fire Department and local first responders were running towards the rising water.

By 4 a.m. the night of the flood, there were 84 calls for rescue piling up faster than could be addressed. 

Initially, there were eight to ten members of Wimberley’s swift water rescue team rushing in for the rescues. There were also dozens of local first responders assisting in keeping the massive undertaking a float.

Governor Greg Abbott shopped the Wimberley Square on Saturday to show that “Wimberley is open for business.”

Many people, including the Wimberley Lion’s Club and the Wimberley Valley Chamber of Commerce, have been trying to get the message out to media outlets that most businesses were largely unaffected by the flood and are still open.

Local lodging owners have said people have been canceling reservations because they believe that Wimberley is literally underwater. This is one of the reason’s Abbott visited the square to shop.

“We wanted to send a message across Texas and across America that Wimberley is open for business,” Abbott said in front of Cypress Creek Café. “Come to Wimberley and support your fellow Texans by spending your dollars here to help these people get back on their feet.”

Greg Howard, the Assistant Principal at Danforth Junior High has been promoted to Danforth’s Principal. Casey Holliman, the departing Danforth principal has taken the position of Blanco High School Principal. “We wish Casey the best. He worked hard for the district. He had a great opportunity at Blanco, one that he couldn’t turn down,” said WISD Superintendent Dwain York.

Greg Howard has been with the district for 15 years and eight years as the assistant principal at Danforth. He has been in Education for over thirty years, with stints in Pecos, and Dripping Springs.

Shad Scharlach will be the new Danforth Assistant Principal. He was the director in charge of the Alternative Educational Placement for Danforth.

Symptoms of Dehydration in Adults

The signs and symptoms of dehydration range from minor to severe and include:

• Increased thirst

• Dry mouth and swollen tongue

• Weakness

• Dizziness

• Palpitations (feeling that the heart is jumping or pounding)

• Confusion

• Sluggishness fainting

• Fainting

• Inability to sweat

• Decreased urine output

Urine color may indicate dehydration.

If urine is concentrated and deeply yellow or amber, you may be dehydrated.

When to Seek Medical Care

Call your doctor if the dehydrated person experiences any of the following:

It’s not going to happen anytime soon, but Hays County Commissioners laid the foundation this week for a new Blanco River bridge on Fischer Store Road.

Though the Fischer Store Road bridge has been widely publicized, it’s not the only Hays County roadway closed due to flood damage. There’s a chunk missing out of the middle of the Post Road crossing, and a bridge at York Creek and on FM 150 at Onion Creek are also out, the county’s road department says.

Under the Bridge Replacement Program of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the state will pay 90 percent of the cost for the Fischer Store Road bridge and the county will pit in 10 percent, which comes to $295,000.

Unprecedented floodwaters on Memorial Day weekend demolished the bridge, which is a vital link between portions of Hays County. 

The Wimberley Habitat for Humanity dedicated the 17th house in the organizations history on Sunday afternoon to Jamie Redding and her family. 

The emotions were overwhleming for many, as Redding was becoming a partner in her own habitat home, but the there was more emotions than normal. 

Longtime habitat volunteer Bruce DeHart passed away during the process of building this home, and friend Rogers Holt dedicated the house in his honor. 

Redding’s family and friends were on hand to see the ribbon cuttting as Denise Jackson presented house warming presents to the family. 

The families that partner with Habitat for Humanity are required to put in hundreds of volunteer hours as part of the process. It wasn’t a problem for Redding.  

Anyone who questions the force of the raging Blanco River on Sunday, May 24, should consider this: One of the victims who had been at a Wimberley vacation home swept away in the deluge was carried some 30 miles downstream.

Out of Wimberley, past Kyle, thorough San Marcos on the other side of downtown Martindale searchers found the body of 43-year-old Michelle Marie Carey-Charba on Tuesday, some two days after the water crested there.

She is among eight people from the Corpus Christi area that were spending the weekend on the home overlooking what had been a placid Blanco River.

For Patricia Kelly, Paradise Valley was just that –paradise. But Saturday evening turned into a nightmare her and her husband will never forget as they heard the screams for help coming from the river.

Since moving to Wimberley a few years back, Patricia Kelly thought her neighborhood was like and old time TV show. All her neighbors advised her on the local places to shop and as a whole was like Andy Griffith’s Mayberry. “Double the niceness” of anywhere else, she said. 

But that night will forever haunt her. 

She and her husband watched the rain when they saw their neighbor leaving. “Why?” they asked. 

The wall of water was “coming at any minute,” the neighbor said. 

They packed up a few things and 20 minutes later the water hit in the dark.

The Hays County water bill to expand the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District has passed through the House and Senate and now sits on the governor’s desk waiting to be signed.

This means that the Electro Purification well field will be with in the regulatory district, as long as it isn’t vetoed.

“This is a big win for Hays County,” Representative Jason Isaac said. “This is big win for property rights and protecting peoples ability to sell their property while protecting surrounding well owners, so they aren’t negatively affected by their neighbors actions.”

The last week of school is supposed to be reserved for senior trips, possibly a few pranks and the fun of basking in four years of hard work. For the Wimberley High School graduating class of 2015, the last week of school started with a natural disaster the likes of which Wimberley has never seen. 

This situation was different, but this so is this class – one that has grown to be known for their community involvement and volunteerism. 

The morning after the flood, some of the first volunteers were high school students showing up at the school. 

“Immediately after the flood, seniors were in the parking lot first thing Sunday morning looking for ways to help,” Principal Jason Valentine said. “From sorting donations to shoveling mud, moving debris and cleaning what was hoped to be salvageable.”