Pioneer Creek RV River Resort was partially evacuated on July 23 due to flooding from the storms that wracked the county last Tuesday. During the process, they received an outpouring from the larger local community, many of whom turned up with their own trucks offering to help.
Sitting on the river, Pioneer Creek is especially vulnerable to flooding, said manager Sharon Cummings.
On Tuesday, Cummings and her staff were continuously watching the river levels, she said, just in case.
They had already decided to move the two rigs that were staying on the third level closest to the wate when they received a call from the Bandera Marshal’s office to evacuate.
“It’s always something we were keeping in the back of our minds,” Cummings said. “We were not expecting to have to evacuate the whole park.”
Following that phone call, they were able to contact their guests and move them up to either the first or second level while offering the ability to park their rigs at either Bandera Middle School or Bandera High School.
Cummings was also in close contact with the Bandera County River Authority, who called her her to evacuate the third level closest to the river. The Pioneer Creek office staff relayed what the marshal’s office had told them, which was met with confusion.
“The River Authority said that she didn’t see any indications in their forecasting that we would need to evacuate the entire park,” Cummings said.
After calling the marshal’s office, Cummings found out that evacuating the whole park was simply a suggestion. They told their guests to sit tight, and that they would allow everyone to move up to the first level, which many people took advantage of.
The biggest shock of the day came after Cummings posted about the event on social media. Word quickly spread to the wider community, and people from not only Bandera, but the wider Hill Country community began to stop by with their trucks offering to help.
People continued to stop by and help until later that afternoon, when Cummings received another phone call from the Bandera County River Authority, who told her there would be another surge.
“At about ten minutes to 3:00, you could see it start barely coming up, and it did come up,” said Cummings.
While the second surge did reach the third level, there was no imminent danger, and everyone was safely above water.
In the end, Cummings wants to thank the larger community who showed up to help that day, from local business owners who checked in on them, to people who weathered the storm from Boerne and Kerrville.
“I’ve only been living here five years, and it’s really the people that keep me here,” Cummings said. “So, I just want to say thank you to our community; it really does feel good when everybody wraps their arms around you.”
For more information about Pioneer Creek RV River Resort, visit their website at pioneerriverresort. com/prr/.
