CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nearly seven years ago, Hurricane Harvey disrupted life for thousands along the Gulf Coast.
Most have since rebuilt but it has taken a long time for the Community Presbyterian Church in Port Aransas, who finally had a groundbreaking for the replacement church on Monday.
"It's amazing how long it's taken us to recover," church member Joan Snyder said.
Joan Snyder who's been a member of the church for almost 30 years, said getting help from the government to rebuild was a nightmare.
"We've lost a lot of members over the years and they had to fight with FEMA, etcetera, etcetera," Snyder said.
Charlie Zahn, who's been a church member for almost 50 years, said FEMA offered more money to rebuild the more than 80-year-old church rather than repair the extensive damage caused by Harvey.
"We ran into so many problems dealing primarily with FEMA that we felt like in order to be able to build it the way it needed to be rebuilt that we need to tear it down and build a new building," Zahn said. "The good thing about it is the new building is going to look exactly like the old one."
Veril Barr, part of the building committee and lifelong member of the church said FEMA finally offered a logical solution to rebuild.
"FEMA's point also was they want to give us a new building so this won't happen again," Barr said. "So, they won't have to come back and build us another building."
The church will be built next to the fellowship hall. Barcom Construction Inc. representatives said the church must be built by September or October because of FEMA time restrictions on their grant
The rebuild timeline is just over a year.
"I grew up with that church," Zahn said. "I've had so many of my friends that got married there. I've given eulogies for friends that predeceased Linda and I. I've raised both of my children in that church and raised my grandchildren in that church. And it's an important part of Linda and mine's life over here in Port Aransas."