16 hours ago
Survivors describe devastation after Central Texas flooding: "There's nothing left"
In less than an hour, paradise turned to wreckage.
"This was our paradise," said Lorena Guillen. "But now it's all gone. I mean, it's gone. There's—there's nothing left."
RV park destroyed in under an hour
The RV park Guillen owns with her husband in Kerrville was wiped away in less than an hour.
"Within 20 minutes after the water had came all the way up here, it was all the way up there where the patio is," she said. "I mean, that is a 500-year flood."
RVs were wrapped around trees. A kayak was found hanging 20 feet in the air. Cars were buried under rocks and mud.
"The force of nature" was overwhelming
"It was just incredible, the force of nature of that moment," Guillen said.
People were swept away by the floodwaters.
"Just here with me I have six people missing. We don't know their whereabouts. A family of five that I'm praying someone is going to rescue down below," she said.
Families wait for word from camps
Across town, hundreds of family members waited anxiously to be reunited with girls from Camp Waldemar.
"As reports came in, we saw images of the Camp La Junta cabin floating downstream, started hearing about a cabin at Camp Mystic that floated downstream—it was an emotional day," said Rob Sell, a parent of three campers.
Campers recall the terrifying night
Sell and his wife drove down from Fort Worth and were there when buses arrived with their daughters.
"There was a little hole that you could see through my window, because I was on the top bunk, and I looked out and I saw water," said Alice Sell, a camper at Camp Waldemar.
"When I slept I heard this loud thunder, and it was silent, but I knew—I didn't want to be worried, so I just thought God was with me and I can sleep the night," said Martha Sell, also a camper.
A moment of relief amid the chaos
"I had to wait a minute for them to hug their mom first," said Rob Sell. "I'm kind of chopped liver, but ultimately when I did get the hugs, they were really sweet."
'What now?': Survivors face uncertainty
A really sweet moment, on an incredibly hard day.
"The only thing that's going through my mind right now is like, what now? How — how are we going to move forward? You know, who is going to help?" Guillen said.
