AILSA CHANG, HOST:
It's been two weeks since flooding in Central Texas killed at least 135 people and left at least another 100 missing. All along the Guadalupe River, in places like Hunt and Kerrville, evidence of the disaster is still present. Debris is piled up along the banks. Homes are gone, and trees lie on their sides. People in Kerr County are mourning the loss of life, and they have found a place where they can do that together. James Hartley from member station KERA visited a makeshift memorial wall to hear from people in the community.
JAMES HARTLEY, BYLINE: The memorial wall is next to a flower shop in downtown Kerrville. This is where locals, emergency workers and volunteers have come to grieve together since the weekend after the floods. Here, mourners put photos, flowers, toys and other personal effects recovered from the debris - a red chair sitting at the right end of the wall, with details written in Sharpie about when and where searchers found it; a black candle holder with the words Mommy, Daddy, Lucy, Dillon, I love you, goose written on it in white marker; a sign at the top of the wall reads, Jesus wept - John 11:35.
Kerrville residents Michael Hinojosa and Juanita Hinojosa say the wall is the place where they see the real impact of the disaster. Michael Hinojosa says his aunt's home was damaged, but his family survived the flood.
MICHAEL HINOJOSA: I still can't fathom all this stuff. It's terrible. Thankfully, none of them are hurt or, you know, they didn't pass away, but water came all the way up to, like, my aunt's porch.
HARTLEY: His wife Juanita is thankful for the assistance they've received. She says local leaders are doing their best, but help from outside has been a blessing.
JUANITA HINOJOSA: You know, they're doing the best with what they have and the resources that we have, 'cause Kerrville's so small, so the resources here are not really that well. But the fact that people from all over are just coming here to help is really warming to my heart.
HARTLEY: Katie Boyland is a nurse who lives here. Her home wasn't hit by the floods. Now she's delivering food, water and other supplies to people involved in the search and recovery efforts.
KATIE BOYLAND: Truly and honestly, I mean, this is a community that really cares about the people that live here. You know, you just - you see people - ooh - coming out and helping in whatever way they can (crying). People that don't even live here, people that live here, trying to do whatever they can for their neighbors, people they don't even know.
HARTLEY: Oscar Hinojosa is a chaplain, not related to Michael or Juanita Hinojosa. He and his wife have been living in Kerrville for about 15 years. For him and many others in the community, faith will be a large part of the journey forward, but it's still hard to come to terms with the loss of life.
OSCAR HINOJOSA: Even in (ph) finding solace in the scriptures, you still get emotional about what just happened because I know what bothers me most is not that we just lost adults, but we also lost children. And that's the most painful side of this tragedy.
HARTLEY: The death of children at the all-girls Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe weigh heavily on the minds of a lot of people here. Katie Machicek has lived in Kerrville for five years, and her husband was born here. They live near an RV camp that was completely washed away by the raging waters. Machicek said she and her husband have family connections to Camp Mystic. A cousin was supposed to attend the next session of camp, and an aunt and uncle were married there.
KATIE MACHICEK: So it hit home, you know? And I mean, when you have direct connections, it's hard. But, you know, everybody's connected here. No, we're not a big city, but, you know - but everybody knows everybody in a way. And we're all connected. And we're going to grow. We're going to recover.
HARTLEY: Machicek visited the wall with her two young sons, one held in her left arm and the other clinging to her right hand. She brought them to pay homage to the people who lost their lives in flooding on July Fourth.
Reporting from Kerrville, Texas, I'm James Hartley for NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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