WIMBERLEY, Texas — Springtime thunderstorms in the Hill Country aren’t unusual. But weather observers recalled that there was something different about the spring of 2015 with its constant rainstorms. The ground in Blanco and Hays counties was already saturated with rainwater as the Memorial Day weekend approached.
On Saturday, May 23, 2015, a big storm formed upstream of the Blanco River and it rained hard for hours. A wall of water 40-feet-high roared down the river, destroying vacation homes and cabins and 100-year-old trees. Thirteen people died that night, most washed away by the torrent
As the sun rose the next morning, some of the most stunning scenes of the devastation along the river were captured by retired University of Texas at Austin journalism professor Gale Wiley, who lived about five miles from the river…