Dad who left kids voicemail before he was killed in Texas floods got evacuation alert after he was swept away
Jeff Ramsey, 61, received a text from the Kerrville RV camp where he was staying with his wife and dog advising him to leave the grounds at 4:49 a.m. on July 4 as the floodwaters were already sweeping away him to his death, text messages obtained by The Post show.
'We have just received an emergency notification from the fire department that we do need to evacuate the park due to the river flooding,' the alert from HTR RV Park read. 'Please gather your things and you may go to the church parking lot and wait for further notification.'
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3 Jeff Ramsey, 61, and his 24-year-old son, Jake. Jeff was camping and swept away and killed by the Texas flooding.
Obtained by the NY Post
But that was no help to Ramsey and his wife, 46-year-old Tanya, who minutes earlier had hung up the phone after calling their son and daughter to tell them goodbye because they were about to die.
'He got that text as they were floating away. Literally right as he left my sister that goodbye message,' their 24-year-old son, Jake Ramsey, told The Post. 'It's your worst nightmare.'
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'Right, literally, the same time he left her that voicemail, as they were getting swept away, they received an evacuation text from their RV park saying 'Gather your belongings and head out as soon as possible.' It was ridiculous,' he added.
The Ramseys' heartbreaking story comes as questions swirl about how Kerrville and greater Kerr County warned locals as the Guadalupe River rose to nearly 30 feet in under an hour that fateful morning.
3 A text message Ramsey received urging him to evacuate — after he and his wife had already been swept away.
Obtained by the NY Post
National Weather Service flash flood warnings were issued to local officials just after 1 a.m., but Kerrville's mayor has said he wasn't aware of the unfolding flooding until around 5:30 a.m. — about an hour after the Ramseys had already been swept away to their deaths.
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A county 'CodeRed' alert was sent to local phones around 6 a.m., according to the Texas Tribune. It is unclear what fire department emergency notification the RV park was referring to in the text sent to the Ramseys and other campers.
Rushing water was audible in the message Ramsey left his kids, while his wife was heard in the background screaming 'We're dying, we're dying!'
'You never heard this guy panic but we heard panic and fear in his voice,' his son said of the message.
'He called me once he realized there was no hope. It was a short voicemail. He just left me a voicemail. He said, 'Buddy. I love you so much. It doesn't look like we are going to make it. Tell Rachey I love her,'' he added, referring to his sister, Rachel.
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3 Jeff and his wife, Tanya, and their dog, Chloe, were all swept away — but Chloe managed to survive.
Obtained by the NY Post
Kerr County was the epicenter of the destruction that ravaged Texas during the holiday disaster, which has claimed the lives of at least 119 people. At least 95 of them were in Kerr County — 36 of whom were children.
And more than 150 people are still missing in the area.
Miraculously, Ramsey's dog — a whippet named Chloe — survived the flooding and had been reunited with his kids.
But they are also left with questions about why so few people were aware of the danger they were in when they bedded down the night before — and why something like a local alarm system hadn't been installed years ago.
'The infrastructure for that seemed to have been outdated. It seemed like a lousy effort to evacuate. It should have been something where we saw a possibility we know the night before,' the son said.
'There should have been more that was done. The only thing I am aware that was done was my dad was sent a text after it was already too late. He already said goodbye to me and my sister.'
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