Maria Cruz, 73, awoke at 2:30 am to find her bedroom already filling with water. In the early hours of July 4, 2025, the City of San Angelo, Texas, received up to 15 inches of rain, the highest amount in recorded history, which caused devastating flash flooding throughout the region. More than 12,000 structures in the city were affected, according to local officials, including Maria’s home.

Disoriented, Maria didn’t quite comprehend that situation at first, thinking that the flooding was localized to inside her home as objects floated by her. With the help of her nephew, who was staying there at the time, she made it outdoors and through the floodwaters to his truck, parked outside. He lifted her into the bed, and there they waited as the waters continued rising. 

“In less than a few minutes, the water rose so much…. It brought with it everything it encountered, like drawers, washers, dryers, fridges, as if they were pieces of paper running through the current. I thought, I thought, here we are going to die,” Maria said. 

Maria begged her nephew to go, to save himself, but he refused to leave her. All told, they clung to the truck for around 4 hours before the San Angelo Fire Department reached them.  

But that wasn’t the end of Maria’s story. As the floodwaters receded, they left behind the home, where Maria had spent the last 40 years, in desperate need of attention. Contaminated flood waters had soaked her possessions and permeated the walls, creating ideal conditions for dangerous mold growth. The longer a home sits without removing affected materials and drying out, the worse the problem quickly becomes.