Texas flood devastation sparks grassroots response from Austin agent

“I think just writing the word ‘helpless’ was like a trigger that I needed,” Wilsey said of an initial social media post. “Because I was like, ‘No, I’m not. I’m not helpless. I can do something.'”

300 volunteers in 48 hours

Within 48 hours of that post, Wilsey had rallied more than 300 people to donate supplies and support her effort to assemble flood relief kits for impacted families.

“I decided to set a goal of just making 50 bags. I didn’t know how bad the flooding was going to get when I started this either,” she said. “And within 48 hours, I had over 300 people buying and donating.”

The kits — modeled after a similar project Wilsey organized during Hurricane Harvey — include essentials for families with small children such as diapers, wipes, towels, onesies, pacifiers, formula, granola bars, bug spray and more.

Some even contain handwritten Bible verses, stickers and stuffed animals, Wilsey said.

“We didn’t realize how insane the mosquitoes get after flooding,” Wilsey noted. “You got flooding, and then you turn up the temperature in Texas, and it gets pretty bad. So we added bug spray — over 250 cans of it. That’s something we missed during Harvey.”

Ongoing recovery efforts

Rescue efforts continued Wednesday as the search for more than 170 people missing stretched into a sixth day. At least 120 people have been confirmed dead, with officials warning the toll could rise, according to CBS News.

The disaster — driven by a powerful weekend storm — caused the Guadalupe River to surge and overwhelm areas west of Austin.

Kerr County suffered the worst damage, with 161 people still unaccounted for, according to officials.

President Donald Trump approved a federal disaster declaration, activating support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). And the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a 90-day foreclosure moratorium on all Federal Housing Administration-insured forward and reverse mortgages in the disaster area.

At least 95 deaths occurred in Kerr County, including 27 at Camp Mystic — a girls’ summer camp near the community of Hunt. Rescuers are still searching for five campers and one counselor who remain missing.

Support pours in from near and far

The outpouring of support extended far beyond Wilsey’s own network.

“I did reach out to my local community — like my hyper-local 350-home subdivision — and kind of started with that,” she said. “But then I just put it on my Facebook page, and I was born and raised in San Diego, so I’ve stayed connected with a lot of my San Diego people.

“I would say this is majority Texans, but also 20% coming from outside of Texas to support. It’s pretty amazing.”

She also received overwhelming support from her real estate colleagues.

“Tomorrow, I will have four different agents from three different brokerages helping me stuff these bags,” Wilsey said. “So it’s all over. It’s not just my brokerage either. I mean, agents are showing up big time right now.

“These are our communities, right? I live here, I work here, I donate here. That’s what it’s all about.”

Devastation in every direction

While her focus has been on emergency disaster relief, the scenes that Wilsey has witnessed speak to the broader damage left behind.

“It looks like hurricanes came through here or tornadoes came through here,” she said. “There’s a ton of loss of property — whether it’s your RV, your house. You’re seeing pictures of refrigerators and vanities lined up on the street.”

In some cases, the flooding caused even more chaos near area lakes.

“Lake Travis has been sitting at 43% full for two years, and overnight we went up almost 20 feet,” Wilsey said. “We’ve had docks just running free on the lakes, running into other docks. There’s so much property damage on our lakes right now, so it’s a mess.”

Hope amid catastrophe

Amid unspeakable loss, Wilsey sees resilience.

“There’s the saying, ‘Texans helping Texans’ — it’s more than just a phrase,” she said. “It really is a way of life. People are out there doing nonstop work. I mean, it’s hard to focus on work, but I have to, because obviously that’s my livelihood and I have clients that I owe a fiduciary responsibility to, right? But it’s hard to focus on anything but this right now.”

Wilsey said many of the hardest-hit areas are small, rural towns that are difficult to reach.

“You think about some of these small towns, and they have 1,000 people in them,” she said. “And now there’s seven to eight thousand volunteers that just showed up. There’s not even enough bathrooms for all these volunteers, let alone lodging and parking and everything else.”

Flood insurance, FEMA disaster zones

Statewide, only about 7% of residential properties carry flood insurance coverage, according to Neptune Flood. This leaves the vast majority of homeowners financially vulnerable.

In Harris County — home to Houston, a city repeatedly hit by major floods — more than 78% of homes are without flood insurance, according to Neptune data cited in a report by the Houston Chronicle.

According to FEMA data, more than half of all National Flood Insurance Program claims filed since 2005 originated outside of federally designated high-risk flood zones.

Construction permitting firm PermitUsNow is among those helping residents and business owners navigate the rebuilding process. It offers advice on floodplain development permits, building and trade permits, and FEMA-related elevation certificates.

Next steps to recovery

While her Amazon donation link has reached capacity, Wilsey urges her peers to keep up their ongoing contributions.

“Right now, I think the biggest call to action is financial support and like, muscle and people on the ground, chainsaws, and cutting through stuff so that we can get to everything,” she said.

For now, her garage is full of donated goods. Her neighbors, clients and colleagues are showing up by the dozens — and her sense of helplessness has been replaced by something stronger.

“I’m not helpless,” she repeated. “None of us are, if we decide not to be.”