Over just two hours, the Guadalupe River at Comfort, Texas, rose from hip-height to three stories tall, sending water weighing as much as the Empire State building downstream roughly every minute it remained at its crest. The force of floodwater is often more powerful and surprising than people imagine.

For residents like Jessica Calix, who's still living in a travel trailer after her Southcrest apartment flooded in January 2024, watching footage of the Texas floods was heart-wrenching — but also all too familiar.