Texas Hill Country schools transformed into relief hubs after the deadly summer floods. Now, students are headed back

Texas Hill Country had over a month until its young students were scheduled to go back to school. But after devastating floods swept through the region on July 4, Kerr County schools opened their doors early to welcome emergency responders and muddy volunteers pouring into rural Texas.

In the small Hunt Independent School District, a science lab that typically hosted students working on class experiments became a break room, outfitted with a microwave and shelves of beef jerky and coffee. Staff set up dozens of cots in classrooms throughout the district’s buildings and even provided garment bags, later collecting them to wash first responders’ laundry in the school gym.

Outside, the basketball court was crowded with generators and air-conditioned tents for overflow responders to sleep