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One year later; Wimberley still rebuilding

May 21, 2016

Caroline Rolling and her two sons, Jonathan and Tristan, have spent the last year trying to piece back together everything they've lost since the 2015 Memorial Day Flood.

"Still going home is the hardest part. Nothing survived, there's not a single tree, there is five feet of topsoil gone. There is nothing there." Caroline said, "I am still trying to find normal."

Jonathan said he has spent most of his senior year of high school living with his family and three dogs in a 400 square foot room. He said the flood didn't only take away his home and belongings it also revealed who his true friends were.

"It was also difficult because a lot of my friends came but a lot didn't and the ones that did come (to help) came for a little while and then stopped coming. So it was really eye opening to see who you're real friends were," he said.

On Saturday, Caroline along with more than 700 people from across Texas and within the Wimberley community tried to find the new normal together.

"The purpose of today isn't to rehash sad memories, i don't believe, and bring back disappear in fact it's quite the opposite. We are here to give thanks, we are here to be grateful for the first responders, grateful for leadership, and grateful for each other," U.S. Representative Roger Williams said.

The community took another large step to rebuild and recover from an event that took away so much.

"I'll never forget the view looking upstream and downstream of what that river looked like and watching so much of our community right in the middle of it," Will Conley, Hays County Commissioner, said.

11 people were killed during the Memorial Day Flood and more than 300 homes and businesses were destroyed. However a new 10-foot-by-8 foot monument, that will sit near the Blanco River, will honor those lost and those still working to rebuild.

"As an artist that's kind of my motivation to make other people smile and to make other people happy and to hold strength in the cities and communities and the people are the biggest strength of the area," J.J. Priour, the artist who designed the monument, said.

A strength displayed by Caroline and the thousands more living in this Texas town.

"What has kept me going are the people that did come through and the volume of hugs and just emotional support that its going to be ok and sooner or later it will," Caroline said.

The monument, "River Pillars," will be made out of limestone, from Central Texas, and tempered glass. The glass will be shaped as a recreation of the Blanco River. The location of the monument and park has yet to be determined but it will sit near the Blanco River.

Donations are being collected throughout several Brookshire Brothers stores in the area to pay for the $75,000 monument and park. Brookshire Brothers made a $3,900 donation during Saturday's remembrance.