PUEBLO, Colo. — A Pueblo woman's trip to her family's home in Kerr County, Texas, took a harrowing turn over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Julie Zabolio's family owns a 10-acre property along the Guadalupe River in Ingram. She said her extended family spent July 3 playing and relaxing on the riverbank before retiring to the family home built by her grandparents a quarter mile away.
Zabolio told Denver7 the area was under a flash flood watch, but they were not worried since such alerts are common there. However, overnight, she started receiving flash flood warnings on her phone.
At 3 a.m., Zabolio was alerted to a flash flood emergency in her area. Thankfully, the family home was located at the top of a hill.
On the morning of July 4, the family discovered that they had no electricity or running water. The property is served by a well with an electric pump, according to Zabolio.
They kept the refrigerator closed, cooked on the grill, and collected rainwater to flush the toilets. It was an inconvenience, but the house was not damaged.
When the family was able to get further from the house and look around the property, the extent of what had happened overnight came into focus.
"We saw debris in the trees down by the river crossings, below the Ingram Dam. A truck in a tree. All sorts of things. Kayaks. Canoes. Picnic tables. Clothing. Just debris everywhere. It was devastating," Zabolio told Denver7.
The bridges on their property that cross the Guadalupe River were mostly washed out, but with help from the town, the family was able to piece together enough of one of the bridges to drive out Saturday morning and start the trip back to Colorado. On the way back home, Zabolio stopped at a hotel to get a hot shower and some rest.
"Finally started looking at the news and seeing national news broadcasts covering the story and on the scene. The reality of it hit then, I think," she said. "I was devastated for this community that's been my home away from home every summer of my life."
Zabolio's family was not hurt, and she knows how fortunate they are to have only lost boats and an RV.
Now back home in Colorado, Zabolio is trying to drum up support for her friends and neighbors back in Kerr County any way she can.
"We're out trying to figure out how to help," she said. "Local people were getting out their tractors and chainsaws and trying to help. Churches were gathering donations."
- Denver7’s parent company, E.W. Scripps, and its public charity, the Scripps Howard Fund, are teaming up to provide relief for Texas flood victims. Learn how you can help below:
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