Disaster Not Dampening Devastated Community's Spirit

WIMBERLEY, Texas -- The rain has long stopped in those flooded areas of the Lone Star State, but people are still struggling to recover and return to life as normal.

In Wimberley, Texas, residents are finding hope in each other as they sit down for a hot meal, courtesy of Mercy Chefs.

Chef Gary LeBlanc and his volunteer team of master chefs travel the world to feed people in the face of disaster. They have managed to dish out 18,000 to 20,000 meals in eight days in Wimberly.

"We have been able to do some amazing work using local people and just providing the expertise and the talent to get the food done," LeBlanc told CBN News.

LeBlanc also noted that traveling to reach the retirement and tourist community was not easy to do amid the devastation. The town is home to about 12,000, many of whom call the recent flood, "the greatest flood in the state's history."

"It is incredible to look down at the river and then look 30 or 40 feet up and you see the disaster line where the trees are just completely ripped out," LeBlanc said, describing the journey. "It was just very challenging to come in and see a flood that looked like a tornado."

The tornado-like images are still fresh on resident Tom Talcott's mind. The former Wimberley city councilman and Air Force veteran and his wife rescued eight of their neighbors. 

"All of them would have been asleep and all of them would have potentially drowned if we had not been able to get them out," Talcott said.

Some people in Wimberley did not survive the storm and some are still missing. The road to recovery ahead is also going to be long.

But if everything is bigger in Texas, that is certainly true of the kindness in Wimberly, where churches have become command centers for people looking to help their neighbors.

"Right now, they are doing what they know to do in order to get to tomorrow and that is a great definition of hope," Rob Campbell, pastor of Cypress Creek Church, said. "Hope is expecting greater things to happen tomorrow."  

CBN News spoke with Steve Meeks outside his ruined home, as he salvaged some items that can't be replaced.

He and his wife Cindy own Rio Bonito Resort. The couple has 45 years of memories, raising children and grandchildren on property that's been in the family for generations .

"We found out we are stronger than we thought we were," Cindy Meeks told CBN News. "And we have a very strong faith in God. He has given us this beautiful place and he will give it back."

That hopeful spirit is as visible as the devastation in the Texas community.