TEXAS — Days after the July 4, 2025, flooding, it was clear the community of Hunt was hit the hardest. The Hunt Store becoming a symbol of strength for neighbors.
“It’s hard to be strong. It’s hard to be strong now…a year later,” said Kerr County resident Courtney Calhoun.
Calhoun has spent the majority of her life in the Texas Hill Country.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to knowing this happened,” Calhoun said. “Like I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the fact that we would be 30 feet underwater right now.”
She’d been inside the Hunt Store just days before the Guadalupe River overflowed.
“So, watching the news of where I just was and where my hometown is, just a complete shock,” Calhoun said. “I didn’t know how to take it.”
Calhoun got back to town as soon as possible and joined her neighbors in the cleanup and search for the missing.
“What would you do to find somebody that you could have talked to yesterday or even last night,” Calhoun asked. “Like what would you do if that person went missing?”
Just four days after flood waters receded, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott invited the media to Hunt for an update. That became Calhoun’s opportunity to speak up.
“It was God,” Calhoun said. “That the only way to say it. I was right there, I was right there and someone said the governor is here. And my first thought was I need to talk to him.”
“Governor I have a follow-up sir, I’m local,” Calhoun said last July.
For about 10 minutes she shared her concerns with Abbott. Calhoun was wondering why folks didn’t get flood alerts and pleaded for help.
“People talk about how strong Texas is, is because of people like you,” said Abbott. “People who don’t wait around for orders and instructions.”
“Let us take care of each other, but we need help,” Calhoun said, reflecting on the interaction. “And we need the resources to have help. Like not having service out here. And again, it’s a year later, and we’re back…there’s not cell phone service. We can do better.”
Twelve months later, Calhoun says she’s thankful for the support that has sparked progress in her community.
“It just doesn’t feel real, still,” Calhoun said.
With a natural disaster, she feels like nobody is to blame. But healing from this tragedy may take some time.
“To give dignity to the people that are still here, and who go through situations like this, the best thing we can do is be supportive and pray,” Calhoun said. “And just cast all judgment aside.”