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Volunteers needed to rebuild final Taylor home destroyed in 2015 Memorial Day flooding

The Memorial Day floods of 2015 destroyed dozens of homes all across Central Texas, and crews are working to build the last home in Taylor.

It's been almost three years, since the Memorial Day floods of 2015 destroyed dozens of homes all across Central Texas.

In Taylor, the Long Term Recovery team is working to rebuild the last house, and working to get the last family back home. And they need your help to do it.

"That's what the house used to look like,” said Janie Morales, as she shows photos of her family home in Taylor.

Morales, now in her 70s, has lived there her entire life.

"This is where they were tearing it apart with that machine,” said Morales.

She also has photos of the day crews tore it down after the flood waters destroyed it.

"All the years that I've been living in that house, I have never seen a flood like that,” said Morales.

Back in 2015, heavy rains caused the nearby creek to quickly rise.

"It was like a lake all around our house,” said Morales. "When I went to the kitchen and saw the water coming in, I said, 'Hey, Margaret, come here, look,' she said, 'Well, I'm over here busy with my room because it's coming in, in my room too.'”

Janie lives with her sister, Margaret.

"That was the first time that water came into our house,” said Margaret Morales.

For now, the Long Term Recovery Committee is helping to pay for the Morales sisters to live in an apartment. But they are anxious to return.

"I can hardly wait to be there,” said Janie.

"I miss my house, believe me, I miss it,” said Margaret.

That's why the Long Term Recovery Committee contracted Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild, and why they need volunteers.

"Finally, finally, we're able to build the home for Margaret and Janie,” said Linda Sloan with Habitat Humanity. "We'd like to get it done as quickly as possible to get Janie and Margaret back in their home.”

According to Sloan, the floods damaged about 90 homes in Taylor, and said finding funding has been difficult.

"A lot of people didn't realize how much happened in Taylor, so it took a while to get all of that taken care of, and unfortunately the worst damage was the last to get dealt with,” said Sloan.

Even Hurricane Harvey has played a role in completing these final steps.

"People want to donate where the latest and greatest tragedy has occurred, which makes sense, they need help, they need people, we've had groups cancel coming out to work on our sites because they’re team has decided to go to the Houston area, or somewhere down on the coast to work, and I understand, and they need to go," said Sloan.

Sloan said the Habitat team does most of the technical work, and said anyone with any skill level can help.

"It will make the process go faster if we have the people out here to help," said Sloan.

The team works on the Morales home two days a week, every Wednesday and Saturday, and each day they need about 15 volunteers.

It's work Margaret and Janie are thankful for. They even plan to cook lunch for some of the volunteers.

"It means a lot, it means a lot to me,” said Janie.

"There are a lot of good people believe me, in this world,” said Margaret.

And while they wait, they're picking out a paint color for their house.

"Yellow,” said Margaret Morales.

One step towards making this new house their happy home.

"I'm anxious to get back, like I said, I have nothing against this apartment, I like it, it's decent, but it's nothing like your own house,” said Janie.

If you can’t find time to volunteer at the work site, Sloan said they also always need people to donate lunch for the volunteer crews.

If you want to donate money to the project, you can donate through the United Way of Williamson County fund designated to the Taylor Long Term Recovery Committee.

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