Man tries to 'hold it together' with 5 family members missing amid Texas flooding
Ramirez, 23, from Midland, was at the church in Kerrville with weariness in his eyes. He was getting by 'minute to minute, second to second,' he said.
One of his cousins, Devyn Smith, who had been at HTR Campgrounds outside Ingram when the Guadalupe River burst from its banks, had been found late Friday and was recovering at Peterson Regional Center, he said.
Smith, 23, was found about 20 miles downriver outside Center Point in a tree, Ramirez said.
But she was one of six who'd been at the campground outside Ingram in Kerr County.
Ramirez said he still was awaiting word of his aunt, Tasha Ramos; another cousin, Kendall Ramos; his stepfather, Cody Crossland; his mother, Michelle Crossland; and his uncle Joel Ramos.
The campground had been a destination spot for years, where the family had gone to enjoy the river since he was a small boy, Ramirez said.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rapidly emerging thunderstorms in the Texas Hill Country produced near 100-year flooding. The Guadalupe River marked 23.4 feet on a flood stage chart, above 'major flooding' indicators, early Friday, according to NOAA.
The shocking rise of floodwaters, possibly boosted by a 'flood wave' that rolled along the Guadalupe and could have instantly raised its depth, left vehicles abandoned, mobile homes and businesses totaled and summer camps usually busy with holiday weekend activities wiped of humanity and surrounded by muddy sediment.
The devastating flooding has so far claimed the lives of at least 51 people across the state, with dozens more missing, including 27 children who were at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls. Kerr County has been the hardest hit, with officials there reporting at least 43 deaths, including 15 children, as search and rescue efforts continue.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who visited Kerrville on Saturday, declared a state of disaster for 20 Texas counties affected by the flooding and proclaimed Sunday will be a day of prayer for victims of the extreme weather event. He said he has also requested federal disaster relief.
Ramirez's family had been asleep when the Guadalupe River's waters began to rise in the early morning hours Friday.
'They slept in the truck. They didn't think it was safe in a tent' because they had heard about the storm, Ramires said, relaying what his cousin had told the family. There were two trucks: his mother and father and teenage cousin in one, and his aunt, uncle and Smith in the other.
It was his aunt who awoke first. The family members scrambled to get to the top of the trucks, climbing through sun roofs, Ramirez said.
'They lost my uncle first' to the water's heavy current, Ramirez recalled. 'He had tried to keep them all together and couldn't hold on.'
His mother, stepfather and Smith had managed to get to higher ground and had planned to go get help.
'We found their truck in Ingram, against a tree, crushed and flipped, not far from the campground,' he said.
His mother's purse was inside when the family found the truck Saturday, after a day of searching.
'I'm the only boy, so I'm trying to hold it together for rest of the family,' Ramirez said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Death toll in central Texas flash floods rises to 82 as sheriff says 10 campers remain missing
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Families sifted through waterlogged debris Sunday and stepped inside empty cabins at Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp ripped apart by flash floods that washed homes off their foundations and killed at least 82 people in central Texas. Rescuers maneuvering through challenging terrain, high waters and snakes including water moccasins continued their desperate search for the missing, including 10 girls and a counselor from the camp. For the first time since the storms began pounding Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said there were 41 people confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing. In Kerr County, home to Camp Mystic and other youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said in the afternoon. He pledged to keep searching until 'everybody is found' from Friday's flash floods. Ten other deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, according to local officials. The death toll is certain to rise over the next few days, said Col. Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The governor warned that additional rounds of heavy rains lasting into Tuesday could produce more life-threatening flooding, especially in places already saturated. As he spoke at a news conference in Austin, emergency alerts lit up mobile phones in Kerr County that warned of 'High confidence of river flooding" and a loudspeaker near Camp Mystic urged people to leave. Minutes later, however, authorities on the scene said there was no risk. Families were allowed to look around the camp beginning Sunday morning. One girl walked out of a building carrying a large bell. A man, who said his daughter was rescued from a cabin on the highest point in the camp, walked a riverbank, looking in clumps of trees and under big rocks. 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President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County, activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Texas. The president said he would likely visit Friday. 'I would have done it today, but we'd just be in their way,' he told reporters before boarding Air Force One back to Washington after spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. 'It's a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible.' The destructive, fast-moving waters rose 26 feet (8 meters) on the river in only 45 minutes before daybreak Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. The danger was not over as flash flood watches remained in effect and more rain fell in central Texas on Sunday. Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue people stranded in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads. Officials said more than 850 people were rescued in the first 36 hours. Prayers in Texas — and from the Vatican Gov. Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state. "I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday — for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines,' he said in a statement. In Rome, Pope Leo XIV offered special prayers for those touched by the disaster. History's first American pope spoke in English at the end of his Sunday noon blessing, 'I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.' The hills along the Guadalupe River are dotted with century-old youth camps and campgrounds where generations of families have come to swim and enjoy the outdoors. The area is especially popular around the Independence Day holiday, making it more difficult to know how many are missing. Harrowing escapes from floodwaters Survivors shared terrifying stories of being swept away and clinging to trees as rampaging floodwaters carried trees and cars past them. Others fled to attics inside their homes, praying the water wouldn't reach them. At Camp Mystic, a cabin full of girls held onto a rope strung by rescuers as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs. Among those confirmed dead were an 8-year-old girl from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was at Camp Mystic, and the director of another camp up the road. Two school-age sisters from Dallas were missing after their cabin was swept away. Their parents were staying in a different cabin and were safe, but the girls' grandparents were unaccounted for. Locals know the Hill Country as ' flash flood alley' but the flooding in the middle of the night caught many campers and residents by surprise even though there were warnings. Warnings came before the disaster The National Weather Service on Thursday advised of potential flooding and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare alert notifying of imminent danger. At the Mo-Ranch Camp in the community of Hunt, officials had been monitoring the weather and opted to move several hundred campers and attendees at a church youth conference to higher ground. At nearby Camps Rio Vista and Sierra Vista, organizers also had mentioned on social media that they were watching the weather the day before ending their second summer session Thursday. Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expect such an intense downpour, the equivalent of months' worth of rain for the area. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said authorities are committed to a full review of the emergency response, including how the public was alerted to the storm threat. Trump, asked whether he was still planning to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that was something 'we can talk about later, but right now we are busy working.' He has previously said he wants to overhaul if not completely eliminate FEMA and has been sharply critical of its performance. Trump also was asked whether he planned to rehire any of the federal meteorologists who were fired this year as part of widespread government spending reductions. 'I would think not. This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it. Nobody saw it. Very talented people there, and they didn't see it,' the president said. ___ Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. 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New York Times
32 minutes ago
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