First home rebuilt by General Land Office complete in Hockley County - kcbd.com

Straight-line winds reaching 120 miles per hour and hail the size of softballs and DVDs tore through the region in May of that year, destroying homes and businesses across Hockley County. Levelland's mayor, Breann Buxkemper, was only eight days into office when she signed a disaster declaration. "That day in May was something I'll never forget in my life," she said.

For the families who took the worst of it, two years is a long time to wait. Some properties sat in total disrepair while the slow machinery of state disaster funding worked through its process. The General Land Office program targets homeowners who lost the most and typically have the fewest options for rebuilding on their own.

Getting one house across the finish line is a real marker for Hockley County, but it also shows how far the recovery still has to go. One completed rebuild is the beginning of that work, not the end.

Levelland is about 30 miles west of Lubbock, close enough that folks here remember watching that storm system roll through.