River Flood Cleanup in New Braunfels, TX
The river gauge at Sattler was climbing all night, and by morning the Guadalupe had come across the yard, through the back door of the river house, and left a waterline four inches up the kitchen cabinets. Now the water is back in its banks and there is a layer of gray silt on everything it touched. This site routes you to an independent local provider who cleans up river flooding in New Braunfels and across Comal County.
Pumping out a river house and deciding what the water ruined
River water is a contaminated-water job from the first minute. The Guadalupe picks up septic overflow from the Hill Country, fuel from flooded garages, farm runoff, and whatever was in the RV park upstream. The crew wears protective gear, pumps out what is standing, and then shovels and squeegees the silt before it hardens. Everything porous below the waterline is written down, photographed, and bagged: carpet and pad, laminate and its underlayment, the bottom two feet of drywall, insulation, and the cabinet bases.
Hard surfaces that stay are cleaned and disinfected. Then the drying equipment goes in, because a slab that sat under river water for a day has soaked up more than any shop vacuum removes.
Before you walk back into a flooded house
Wait for the water to drop below the door sills and for the power to be off at the panel, or have the utility pull the meter. Wear boots and gloves. Open the doors and windows to let the smell out while you photograph every room, the waterline, and the yard. Do not run the air conditioner until a crew has checked the air handler and ducts, which in many river houses sit at floor level. Keep children and pets out until the silt is gone. Then call and say how high the water got and when it left.
Contents: what gets cleaned, and what gets photographed and hauled
Solid wood furniture can often be cleaned. Upholstered pieces, mattresses, rugs, and particleboard that sat in river water usually cannot. Dishes, glass, and metal are washed and sanitized. Paper, photos, and electronics below the line are photographed for the inventory and set aside; some can go to a specialist, and the provider will say which. Nothing sentimental is thrown away without asking you first. The written inventory is also the list your adjuster, or the flood program, will want.
Once the house is cleaned out, the work becomes structural drying, and if a supply line or the water heater also failed while the house was under water, that is handled as its own loss.
The Guadalupe between Canyon Dam and Lake Dunlap
New Braunfels has a flood history as long as its settlement. On the night of May 11, 1972, ten to twelve inches fell in three hours, Blieders Creek came down as a wall of water, and seventeen people died in town. On October 17, 1998, nearly 25 inches of rain fell in a day, the Guadalupe crested at 39.2 feet, and homes in Gruene, Sleepy Hollow, and along River Road washed away. In July 2002, after more than 30 inches fell upstream, Canyon Lake topped its emergency spillway for the first time and the water carved the mile-long Canyon Lake Gorge. The July 4, 2025 flood that devastated Kerr County raised Canyon Lake fifteen feet in a month and closed the Comal River to tubing in town.
The dam buffers the river below it, but the Comal, Dry Comal Creek, and Blieders Creek flood on their own, and the Guadalupe below the Comal confluence takes both. River houses, tubing outfitters, and the short-term rentals along River Road and in Sattler and Startzville sit closest to the line. Schlitterbahn built its first slides on the Comal in 1979, and the tourist economy around it means many of the houses that flood are rentals whose owners live elsewhere.
Standard homeowner policies exclude rising water; coverage comes from a separate flood policy if one was bought. This site makes no promise about either. Document the waterline before anything is removed.
Calling after the river goes down
Say how high the water came inside, when it receded, and whether the power is off. Mention whether the house is your home or a rental, and whether anyone is staying there. Have the address and a number where you can be reached. Call (830) 356-7502.
