A flood killed his entire family in 2015. Now, he's joined search efforts in Texas.

USA Today

6 days ago

Jonathan McComb was the sole family member to survive similar floods in 2015. Since then, he has found a calling searching for others after deadly natural disasters.
KERRVILLE, Texas – For the past four days, Jonathan McComb has climbed into inflatable Zodiac rafts or hiked along the flood-scarred banks of the Guadalupe River, poking through brambles and uprooted trees, looking for victims.
He works from sunrise to sundown. It's relentless, tedious, physically demanding work. And, as search-and-rescue turns to recovery, occasionally soul-wrenching as well.
McComb is one of hundreds of volunteers who have descended onto Kerr County in the wake of the deadly Independence Day floods here to help search for victims.
But the task carries extra weight for McComb: He was the sole family member to survive similar floods in 2015 in Wimberley, Texas, 80 miles east of Kerrville. Those floods destroyed some 400 homes and killed 13 people, including McComb's wife and two children. They were swept from his grasp as the house they were in was pushed along the Blanco River and broke apart against a bridge.
On the morning of July 7, McComb, 45, gathered with about 20 members of TEXSAR, a search-and-rescue volunteer group based in Central Texas. On the banks of the Guadalupe – no longer destructive but still brown and swollen – the members discussed river currents and reminded one another to be careful with fallen branches and trees. As of that morning, the missing included at least 10 children attending a nearby Christian camp for girls.
Live updates: Texas flooding death toll rises to 90; 10 campers missing
Many of the volunteers were lending their expertise in search and rescue to a stricken community. For McComb, it was the fulfillment of a pact he struck with God while clinging to life in the raging Blanco River a decade ago.
'This one hits a little bit more at home,' McComb said in an interview with USA TODAY. 'I can see the hurt and the pain in the families. I know what they're going through and what they're feeling and what they're going to feel.'
'The magnitude of this is in its own category'
Volunteers have streamed to Kerr County in the wake of the floods, some pulling skiffs on trailers behind trucks or with canoes strapped to the roofs of their SUVs. Authorities have asked volunteers to connect with a law enforcement agency before helping.
TEXSAR alone has deployed 50 volunteers and six swift water rescue boats to the effort, spokesperson Shannon Smith said. Over the years, TEXSAR teams have helped in hundreds of missions, from search and rescue in the wake of Hurricane Harvey in southeast Texas to rescuing lost hikers in the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas.
But few have compared to this disaster, Smith said.
'The magnitude of this is in its own category,' she said.
At least 90 people have died in flooding across Texas since July 4, officials said. The worst of the flooding occurred here in Kerr County, but fatalities have also been recorded in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties.
The death toll included at least 27 children and counselors from a beloved all-girls summer camp, the camp said in a statement, as a frantic search for those still missing entered its fourth day.
"Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy," the private Christian camp, Camp Mystic, said in a July 7 statement on its website. "We are praying for them constantly."
There were about 700 children at the camp when relentless rain caused the nearby Guadalupe River to surge over 26 feet in less than an hour, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said. Photos taken at the scene show a building where some of the children slept with broken windows and a blown-out wall. Among the mud-covered debris were pink blankets and stuffed animals.
'I'll tell your story and help others'
The images have reawakened painful memories for McComb.
On Memorial Day weekend 2015, McComb, his wife, Laura, their son Andrew, 6, and daughter Leighton, 4, were vacationing at a riverfront home in Wimberley with another family when the floods hit, pushing the home off its foundation and sending it rushing down the Blanco River.
The home smashed into a bridge and began ripping apart, sending family members into the raging river. McComb witnessed his family swept away by the angry current, as they slipped from his grasp, he said.
He resigned to go as well and slipped under the waves. But something bumped his head, startling him awake. He called on God.
'I said, 'All right, I'm going to get out of here and I'll tell your story and help others,'' McComb remembered.
Around 11 miles downriver, McComb finally climbed out, scaled a steep cliff and walked to safety. He was the only one of the nine people in the home that night to survive. Leighton's body was never recovered, he said.
While recovering in the hospital, he learned that TEXSAR volunteers were looking for his family. He vowed to join the group as soon as he could. Later that year, he did.
McComb has assisted in six missions with the group, including other weather events and helping to find missing persons. He has since remarried and now has a 5-year-old daughter, Scarlett. He hugged her a little tighter before heading off to Kerr County.
He arrived in Kerrville on the night of July 4, as the Guadalupe still roiled, joining search-and-rescue teams on Zodiac rafts.
It's been a struggle, he said, to stay focused on the search while not letting familiar feelings distract him.
'It's a tug of war,' McComb said. 'I'm here to help. But knowing we weren't able to recover my daughter 10 years ago and I know what that feels like. I want to do what I can to help.'
He climbed into a pickup truck with his team and rode off to a stretch of uprooted trees and tangled debris downriver.
There were more victims to find.
How to volunteer
At a news conference, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice asked that volunteers contact the Salvation Army Kerrville at 830-465-4797, or in-person at 855 Hays St. in Kerrville. He also asked that private drone operators desist from flying in the disaster area.
Where to donate
A variety of aid groups, nonprofits and other organizations are accepting donations to help victims and assist in the recovery effort.
The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country started a Kerr County Flood Relief Fund, which will provide aid to vetted organizations in Hunt, Ingram, Kerrville, Center Point and other areas. Crowdfunding website GoFundMe has an updated page for verified fundraisers connected to flood victims and their families.
Other organizations accepting donations include World Central Kitchen and the Salvation Army, which is distributing supplies and has set up a mobile kitchen in the disaster area.
Reach Jervis at: [e-mail], or follow him on X: @MrRJervis.