Mom, Stepdad and 3 More Relatives Go Missing in Texas Flash Floods: 'I'm Trying to Hold It Together,' Son Says
The family was camping near the Guadalupe River when it overflowed on the Fourth of July, and only one of his cousins made it out
'I'm the only boy, so I'm trying to hold it together for the rest of the family,' Ramirez saidSix of Xavier Ramirez's family members were near the Guadalupe River when it overflowed in the tragic flooding in Texas last week, he said. Only one has come home.
Ramirez's mom, Michelle Crossland, stepdad Cody Crossland, uncle Joel Ramos, aunt Tasha Ramos and cousins Kendall Ramos and Devyn Smith were all at HTR Campgrounds outside of Ingram, Texas, when the flooding began on Friday, July 4, according to NBC News.
The family had been visiting the camping site since Ramirez was just a boy, the 23-year-old told the outlet.
As of Sunday, July 6, one of Ramirez's cousins, 23-year-old Smith, is the only person on the trip who made it out, as far as he knows.
She was found in a tree about 20 miles downriver and is now recovering in a hospital, he told NBC News.
Now, like so many others, Ramirez is waiting to learn the fate of the rest of his family. All he knows is how they spent their final moments before the floodwaters rose, thanks to his cousin, NBC reported.
According to Smith, the family took some precautions as they knew there was extreme weather coming, according to NBC News.
They slept in trucks — his aunt and uncle in one and his mother, stepdad and teen cousin in another — Ramirez told the outlet. 'They didn't think it was safe in a tent,' he said.
As the river flooded early on Friday, his aunt woke up first and the family then rushed to climb through the truck sunroofs, he told NBC News. His mom, stepdad and Smith reached higher ground with plans to find help.
"They lost my uncle first,' Ramirez told NBC News. 'He had tried to keep them all together,' he recalled, but 'couldn't hold on.'
On Saturday, July 5, a search led to traces of the camping trip, but not the campers. Ramirez told NBC News that one of the trucks was located in Ingram 'against a tree, crushed and flipped, not far from the campground.'
With five of his family members still missing, Ramirez is getting by 'minute to minute, second to second,' he said.
That, and he's trying to stay strong for the sake of others.
'I'm the only boy, so I'm trying to hold it together for the rest of the family,' he told NBC News.
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As of Sunday, July 6, more than 50 people, including 28 adults and 15 children, have been killed amid the flash floods, according to NBC News, CNN and The Washington Post.
The death toll has steadily risen since Friday and many people are still unaccounted for, including multiple young girls from Camp Mystic, located near the Guadalupe River.
Much of the flooding has taken place along the river — which runs from Kerr County to the San Antonio Bay — according to CNN. The region experienced "more than an entire summer's worth of rain" in a matter of hours, the outlet reported.
According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the river climbed to 34.76 feet at around noon local time on July 4.
The NOAA described the flooding as "disastrous" and "life threatening," noting that it spread "over a mile across in some areas, flooding many homes,' including "some to the roof."
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