SafeHorns headquarters flooded by severe storms

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6 days ago

The Brief
SafeHorns recovering after HQ was flooded by severe storms
West Campus building got close to three feet of water inside
Monday's flood was the second time SafeHorns has suffered water damage from severe storms
AUSTIN, Texas - The nonprofit organization SafeHorns is recovering after its headquarters was flooded by severe storms over the last 24 hours.
Their building in West Campus received close to three feet of water inside.
What we know
SafeHorns moved into the basement of the Congregational Church of Austin in February 2024.
Monday's flood marked the second time the organization has suffered from water damage caused by severe storms.
"When I got here, I was shocked to see the line on the door of how much water. Over two and a half feet I'm guesstimating, and then once I opened the doors, it was just all throughout," said SafeHorns president Joell McNew.
McNew says she spent hours Tuesday morning cleaning up the aftermath.
"It's been an all-day event of cleaning it out, airing it out and, and we need the rain, but it's concerning because of the area that we are in in West campus. This is an area where people are using it as a restroom, so there's human waste. We have feces right there and trash and we try to keep up with cleaning it all the time, but it's a daily occurrence. All of that water is going into our creeks and the trash and now that's obviously what I was cleaning up today," she said.
She added that there were not many items ruined in the flood, but the water did damage the floor tiles.
Dig deeper
The Memorial Day weekend marked a decade since the 2015 floods that took the lives of more than a dozen people and damaged hundreds of properties across Central Texas.
Ten years later, the city of Austin says there have been capital improvement projects that enhance local drainage systems and infrastructure in flood-prone areas, but McNew says there is still work that needs to be done on the infrastructure in West Campus.
"We know that West Campus has serious issues with drainage in the area. It's just really shocking at times because there's so many drains around us. When the city votes on June 5th for the expansion of Uno, which is going to bring a tremendous amount of density, more density to this area, which is already one of the most densely populated in Texas, that we look at the infrastructure," she said.
What's next
More rain in the forecast is also drawing concern for McNew.
"After we leave today, we're going to try to barricade the door and get some plastic up and hope that, you know, we need the rain so badly, but we don't want it in the wrong place. We need to keep it out of our space and our property, and we're going to do the best we can to try barricade the door hoping that it'll prevent more flooding," she said.
The Source
Information in this report comes from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin's Tan Radford.