Kindgo
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By T.A. BADGER
.c The Associated Press
CANYON LAKE, Texas (AP) - Larry Welborn took a break from hosing mud off his power tools and looked over at his neighbor's place, where nothing remained but the concrete floor slab.
``He drove up the day before yesterday and he yelled out, 'Larry, what did you do with my house?''' Welborn said. ``I yelled back, 'You lucky devil, you don't have one anymore.'''
Having everything washed away meant no reason to be outdoors in the 95-degree heat and stifling humidity to sort through ruined belongings, as Welborn and his family were doing.
Their Horseshoe Falls subdivision was one of the areas hardest hit by last week's powerful floods that spread destruction from the Hill Country of central Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. The flooding is blamed for nine deaths, and damage is estimated at $1 billion.
Canyon Lake overflowed on July 4, producing a torrent that was funneled through a narrow canyon and emptied directly into the Horseshoe Falls area, at a bend in the usually placid Guadalupe River.
The charging water carved a new riverbed through the subdivision, demolishing nine homes and filling dozens more with deep, dirty water.
Tall cypress and pecan trees shading a riverside park were uprooted and flung into houses. Huge chunks of limestone were piled up high enough to dam the Guadalupe.
What used to be home for Ken and Charlotte Jones is now a pile of broken lumber and jumbled appliances standing about 30 feet from its former foundation.
Three of their friend labored in the heat and humidity to break apart what had been a garage wall.
``Most people don't realize how powerful and forceful water is until you see something like this,'' said Steve Batchelor, a retired engineer who belongs to the same fly-fishing club as Ken Jones. ``I don't know how I would react if this happened to me.''
Charlotte Jones said the support of friends is making the ordeal easier to deal with. Members of the Central Texas Flyfishers passed the hat at their meeting this past week and raised $837 to help the family.
``We really have been blessed by people and offers to help,'' she said. ``We'll make it.''
Some Horseshoe Falls residents put off their own cleanup chores to help neighbors who are worse off.
More than a dozen of them worked Friday to clear away some of the heavy rocks damming the Guadalupe.
``It's a good time to help,'' said Betti Donovan. ``It's almost therapeutic.''
Larry and Joann Welborn had a different approach to therapy. They sat around what used to be his furniture-making workshop with friends and family, trading jokes.
``You know, you're a real filthy housekeeper,'' said Joann's sister, Cheryl Richards.
The Welborn house took in more than 4 feet of water. Nearly all the workshop's walls were gone, and in places dried mud was 6 inches deep. Larry Welborn said about $35,000 worth of cherry, walnut and other valuable wood floated away in the flood.
They haven't figured out yet how they're going to pay to rebuild their home. Like nearly all of their neighbors, they didn't have flood insurance.
Family photos and many other irreplaceables were destroyed, but Joann Welborn found that her grown children's baby clothes survived unharmed.
``At times like this, it's the little things that mean so much,'' she said
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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