Kerr County man searches for flood victims after 9 bodies found on his land on the Guadalupe River

CBS News

3 days ago

Mike Richards lost his cabin on the Guadalupe River to the flood in Kerr County, but he hasn't stopped searching his land for victims, fearing some remain missing as volunteers prepare to leave.
"We hang out here and go fishing all the time," said Mike Richards, "My grandson Blue, he knows every inch of this river."
Richards worked all his life to have a small cabin on the Guadalupe River, so he could fish with his grandkids.
The flood waters on the Fourth of July completely leveled it. But these days, he's not worried about his cabin.
"I have worked all my life for this, but it's just a material thing," he said, "I was a police man for quite a few years and I could always drive up to a scene and leave. But here, I got no place to go. It weighs heavy on your heart."
Richards says since the flood, he's found the bodies of nine people on his property.
"I've never felt my heart beating so heavy. Man, it just, it's terrible, but it feels like my heart weighs 40lbs," he said.
He's had volunteers helping him comb over his land, but he's worried. Eventually, they'll have to return to their lives.
"I think they may have to go back this week," said Richards, "I really feel in my heart, there's still people on my land."
It's something other people who live in Kerr County have been worried about.
"Eventually, everybody is going to leave and go back to their normal life and God, what does it look like for us who have to stay?" said Jodi Carpenter, who lives in Kerrville.
But Richards is dedicated to leaving no stone unturned and finding every person on his little patch of the Guadalupe.
"I just want to lay my head down on my pillow and say I don't think anymore of them are on my land. I owe that as a father, as a grandfather, as a neighbor," he said.