They Rebuilt After Texas’ Devastating Floods. Then Their Home Flooded Again.

When deadly flooding swept through the Texas Hill Country in July of last year, Joan Connor and her husband swam and waded out of their home, surviving only by clinging to a pergola in their front yard. The Guadalupe River flood destroyed most of their possessions. It killed at least 119 people in Kerr County, where the couple live, about 100 miles west of Austin. But Connor, now 82, and her husband, now 99, moved back into the refurbished house by Christmas, with donated furniture arranged by volunteer decorators. They didn’t fear another flood. Connor told me earlier this year: “We don’t think a thing like that will happen again in our lifetime.” Last month, almost exactly one year after the last deluge, their house flooded again. I cover climate for The Texas Tribune. I spent months wor