As heavy rain early Monday morning pushed Big Sandy Creek to swell beyond its banks, Ashlee Willis feared for her family’s safety for the first time since last summer’s deadly Central Texas floods.
“I was just watching the water rise through lightning strikes,” said Willis, whose house last summer floated off and landed 10 feet from its foundation. “It just took me right back to (July) fifth; I didn’t realize I was that kind of traumatized.”
Big Sandy Creek sits a few miles east of Leander in the northwest corner of Travis County. The community was among the hardest hit outside the Kerrville area during the 2025 Independence Day floods. Ten died and dozens more lost homes, vehicles, livestock and family pets.
To help clean up, repair damaged infrastructure and add additional safety measures following the catastrophic floods, Travis County Commissioners raised property taxes by 9.12%, a move that is expected to generate an additional $42 million in revenue. But nearly a year later, some survivors remain concerned that not enough has been done to address the area’s vulnerable infrastructure.
“We are far worse off in an infrastructure way than we were before the July floods of last year,” Willis said. “I’m looking at my neighbors and my family and people that I love who are in danger because of the pace of the system.”
One year later, still vulnerable
Willis and her mother spoke with Austin Current via Zoom a few days after Monday’s rainstorm, saying they were unable to leave their property. A road damaged during last year’s flood had once again become impassable after the latest storm.
In 2025, “we lost three houses, five cars, all of our livestock, all of our barns, our business,” Brandy Gerstner, Willis’ mom, said through tears. “It wiped everything that we’ve worked 36 years for right off the earth.”
Travis County said the July 5 flood has cost about $30 million so far in debris removal, emergency response and repairs. Officials expect that number to grow as they complete projects intended to rebuild and improve damaged infrastructure. One of those projects is the Juniper Trail crossing, the only public roadway Willis and her family can use to exit their homestead.
“They are moving at the pace of bureaucracy, not the pace of crisis,” Willis said. “Red tape in a disaster is ridiculous.”
Travis County spokesperson Hector Nieto said the county is working as quickly as possible while balancing work required in other county precincts. Nieto said seven flood-related infrastructure projects remain underway — still in the design, permitting or procurement stages.
“I recognize that they went through a traumatic event during the July 5 flooding, and I completely understand why they would want to have their lives back to normal,” Nieto said. “It will take as long as it takes. It’s one of those things that you want to make certain that you get done right.”
In addition to being frustrated that the Juniper Trail project is not yet complete, Willis said she had hoped flood-preparedness measures, such as water gauges and warning sirens, would already be in place nearly a year after the disaster and ahead of what is expected to be a wet remainder of the year.
Senate Bill 3 passed during last summer’s special session, directing the Texas Water Development Board to identify areas within flood-affected counties that would benefit from flood warning sirens. In March, the board released a flood-mapping tool identifying areas at risk of flash flooding across the state, which showed the land surrounding Big Sandy Creek had a “moderate to high” flood risk. Travis County will be responsible for building and maintaining the sirens and will be reimbursed for portions of the associated costs once completed.
For Willis and her family, Monday’s storm was yet another reminder that recovery from the natural disaster is still a ways off.
“There’s not been a lot of positive progression forward in reference to trying to rebuild our lives,” Willis said.
