Del Valle residents clean up damaged homes

DEL VALLE, Texas-- After the floods tore through a Del Valle neighborhood, homeowners are struggling to recover and say they need all the help they can get.

Lynn Saunders remembers vividly the horrific moment when she knew her home would be destroyed. She recalls how the water rose so high, so fast.

“It was swimming like a river. Next thing we knew, it was up at the door and it was just pouring in, pouring in,” Saunders said.

She lives in the Los Cielos subdivision in Del Valle, a neighborhood ravaged by the Halloween flood.

“I've never seen anything like it before. What happened? Two seconds it was raining, now we are flooded,” she said.

Saunders says since the storm, Austin Code Compliance stopped by but believes more can be done.

“Everybody comes here and slaps a sign on our window, but nobody came over here and said 'do we need any water?' I went four days without my medicine,” she said.

Many things, from her carpet to her kitchen, were saturated. It's a similar story for her neighbor, Isabel. She says that Friday morning, was a very scary time.

“We threw stuff up on the roof. Our neighbors even came with us on our roof,” Hernandez said.

More than 20 agencies are helping those in Austin-Travis County, but with the number of people needing help, there could be a wait.

“If they don't think their address has been addressed yet, in other words, somebody coming by, they can come up here,” Paul Hopingardner, Incident Commander with Dove Springs Flood Assistance Center, said.

As the Los Cielos neighborhood tries to rebuild, they still remember-- despite the destruction-- they have each other.

“Materialistic things are not worth anything, but our lives are,” Hernandez said.

The Dove Springs Flood Assistance Center is open Monday through Sunday 11:00 a.m to 7:00 p.m. If you need help you must arrive before 6:00 p.m.