Operation Blessing Brings Flood Relief in Texas

After sustaining massive property damage in the recent Texas floods, Collene and her husband faced overwhelming despair. However, with the compassionate assistance of Operation Blessing volunteers, they found renewed hope for recovery and are now on the path to rebuilding their lives.

Collene recalls the recent events:

“It was a normal day. I mean, I woke up and went to work. Ten minutes ‘til five, I left my house. Around 6:10, a vendor came into my place of business and told me that one of the businesses in Kerrville was flooding. And at that moment, I knew my house was flooding.

My husband was home asleep. I tried to call him, but he wasn’t answering, and I started to panic. I was worried about him because I knew our home was underwater—or at least experiencing serious flooding.

Eventually, I was able to get in my truck and head down Old Engrim Loop to try to reach my husband. But my truck stalled. Water started coming inside. I opened the driver’s door, put my left leg out, and the water was almost up to my hip. I turned around and put my right hand on the door—because I knew, at that moment, I couldn’t save my husband.

So I walked to the firehouse, praying the entire way. I truly believe I was walking on water—because I made it there safely.

The rescuers came, and that’s what saved my husband’s life. I am so blessed. We lost a lot of things, but we didn’t lose a life. And everyone needs to understand—lives are irreplaceable. Material things can be replaced. A life cannot.

So I’m very blessed today to be in my home—102 Indian Creek—surrounded by Christian volunteers who have been a true blessing. They’re packing up our house and even created a storage space for everything in our garage.

There are so many memories here, and you carry those in your heart and in your mind forever. So really, they’re never gone.

I have nothing but blessings. I’m truly blessed. I don’t know what I would have done without y’all. I mean, the community would help, sure—but everybody has jobs and their own devastation going on, you know what I mean?

And y’all… y’all have been like a miracle. It’s like, ‘Oh wow!’ We’re going to be moving into a studio apartment this weekend, and we were wondering, ‘How in the heck are we going to do this?’ But now, we don’t have to worry about this part of it. We can just grab what we need from the garage and move into the studio, because now we know where everything is. It’s a blessing.”