The following is a report from CBS Austin.
More than 20 volunteers gathered at the Shady River RV Resort Wednesday morning to continue cleanup efforts following the weekend’s devastating flooding. Despite the overturned RVs and scattered debris, the community’s spirit remains unbroken.
Shauna Thayer, a local community organizer, has been instrumental in coordinating the relief efforts.
She has mobilized local groups and volunteers to provide essential resources such as food, water, dumpsters, and machinery to expedite the cleanup process, but says they’re looking for a little more help.
“We have full dumpsters and nowhere to take them,” she said. “So yeah, we need funding for basic, simple things like that. Not huge funding, just enough funding to get rid of the debris we’re pulling out.”
Thayer and her family have been in the area for days helping out with recovery efforts, which started on Saturday.
“I texted my son and said, ‘Hey, the river’s about to flood,’ And he said, ‘Let’s go, mama.’ So we came down here to try to help as many residents as possible get their campers out,” said Thayer.
What they witnessed down at the RV resort that day, according to Thayer, they couldn’t have expected.
“It went from pulling step-high RVs out to watching them wash away and just making sure the people and their pets got out,” said Thayer.
As the storm ravaged parts of Williamson County, leaving behind damage in its wake, the community in Georgetown has come together.
“A whole lot of grassroots because federal funding hasn’t been approved, government wheels turn slow,” said Thayer. “So we’ve been working just with mostly volunteers from local community, our local businesses, and some smaller local organizations for the most part.”
Uriel Castro is one of those volunteers. Castro owns his own family landscaping business and drove in to help those in the RV resort impacted by the storms.
“It’s the least I can do that’s close to home. And I couldn’t imagine being in this position with the residents that, going through this,” said Castro.
Castro says seeing the damage with his own eyes is “unimaginable.”
Castro, an immigrant, also says he wants to provide help to those communities who may be too afraid to ask for help right now.
