Latest news with #MatthewCrowder
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
‘The worst nightmare you've ever had': Jonestown man recounts saving family from flood
JONESTOWN (KXAN) – As floodwaters rapidly rose overnight across Central Texas, one man's instincts may have saved a family's life. Unable to sleep, Matthew Crowder showed up to work early at Texas Paintball, on the banks of Big Sandy Creek in Jonestown. Realizing they wouldn't be opening for the day, he walked the property, snapping photos of the rising water. As he was leaving, a gut feeling made him turn back—and that's when he saw floodwater edging dangerously close to a nearby home. 'And then all of a sudden, just within 30 seconds, the people's front yard was starting to take on water, pretty bad,' Crowder added. He decided to start shouting to get their attention. That's when he saw a child with a dog exit the home. Moments later, his mother followed. He said she appeared in shock, so he took control, telling her 'make sure everyone's awake, get your head count, and let's make a plan.' He also called 911. As he waited for first responders, the water rose to waist-high, making it tough for children to get their footing, one briefly being swept away a short distance. Crowder recounts grabbing children, four of them, all under 12 years old, helping get them to safety. Crowder said that's when the power cut out. 'To be in that water and listening to the thunder, the loud, you know, water, the trees, hearing the roots come up off the trees and buildings crashing and things flying down the creek, and, you know, everyone, kind of yelling and, you know, screaming, trying to find who's where and stuff. It was definitely like surreal,' Crowder said. He lost his footing, water carrying him 20 feet down the road. Despite that, he got back on his feet and helped the mother, her children, their grandfather, and two dogs to safety. 'It's kind of like, you know, the worst nightmare you've ever had, and and just kind of realizing that in the moment is, is something that, if you haven't gone through it, it's really kind of hard to comprehend,' Crowder said. Among the children was a 12-year-old friend staying over for a sleepover. His mother later contacted KXAN, saying Crowder saved her son's life. Chrissy Eliashar recounted the moment the good Samaritan rescued her and her family when the unthinkable happened — floodwaters was slowly rushing into their Jonestown home in the early morning on July 5. 'At 4 a.m. my son Benny comes running and tells me, 'Somebody is screaming outside and the dogs are barking,'' Eliashar said. 'And sure enough we run to the front door, open it and there's a person screaming for us to get out of the house. Our front yard was a rushing river.' But despite the rushing waters, Crowder continued to help the family of five and their dogs to safety. When they attempted to leave the house the backyard was unfortunately 'already a lake,' Eliashar described. So, with five kids and their dogs, they escaped through the front yard, which by that point was already a river, Eliashar said. 'These guys were really, really brave,' Eliashar said, referencing the kids. In that moment of fighting to get to safety, Eliashar said it felt like the time was going second-by-second. 'It felt like a minute,' said 12-year-old Daniel Polner, the friend staying over at the Eliashar family's house. Polner said the adrenaline was what kept them going. 'You're just thinking get out of there,' Polner said. As for the good Samaritan, Crowder, Eliashar said she is grateful for him. 'He was in the right place and the right time. He was being a good leader,' Eliashar said. In the moment of panic he was the voice that guided all of them to safety, she said. Having gone through this stressful and scary experience, the family would like to remind others to listen to evacuations and flash floods because it could potentially be life-threatening or dangerous. According to a fundraising effort on GoFundMe, the Eliashar family lost their home, car and belongings. They had no flood insurance and only got away with the clothes on their backs. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
09-07-2025
- Climate
'Send help or not, I have work to do': Texas man rescues family from catastrophic flood
As Central Texas grapples with one of its worst flooding disasters, which has claimed at least 110 lives and left 170 people missing, acts of courage shine through the darkness. Among them is Matthew Crowder, who rushed into the raging waters to rescue a sleeping family before dawn on July 4. Crowder, a manager at Texas Paintball, said he was headed to work around 3 a.m. local time when he noticed the rapidly rising floodwaters. That's when he spotted a house in danger, with people still asleep inside. "I started yelling to wake them up," Crowder recalled to ABC News. "The first one to come out was the oldest son, Benny. He saw his front yard become a raging river." Despite emergency dispatchers advising the family to stay put, Crowder knew they needed to evacuate immediately. "The house was making noise, trees were coming down, and water was rushing under the house," he explained. "I told dispatch, 'Send help or not, I have work to do.'" The rescue came at a crucial time. Just hours earlier, at 1:14 a.m., officials had upgraded the flash flood watch to a warning for parts of Kerr County. By 4:03 a.m., they had declared a flash flood emergency. The region would ultimately receive 15 inches of rain, more than double what meteorologists had predicted. For the family Crowder saved, he said the losses are staggering. "They lost everything - their car, their house. When I saw them yesterday, they were working with whatever they could salvage in trash bags," Crowder said. Crowder said he is now volunteering around the community to help families in need after the flood. He told ABC news the community's response has been overwhelming. Crowder's workplace, one of the largest businesses in the Dovestown area, has been flooded with offers of help. A GoFundMe campaign for the rescued family is "doing great," according to Crowder, and similar stories of neighbors helping neighbors continue to emerge.
New York Post
08-07-2025
- Climate
- New York Post
Heroic Texas man rescues family trapped in pitch darkness amid surging waters: ‘I had to do something'
A Texas man took matters into his own hands when he bravely rescued a family as their home was flooding during the deadly and historic floods on the Fourth of July. Matthew Crowder said he passes by the neighborhood where the rescue happened every day to get to work. He told FOX Weather he was going to work early, at about 2:30 a.m. and didn't expect to see flooding. He got out of his vehicle in a neighborhood in Jonestown, when he saw a family trapped in their home that was filling with floodwater. Crowder said when he realized what was happening, he called 911. But the situation was fast becoming more dire. 'Something had to be done immediately,' Crowder said. 'That's kind of when I started yelling out to them, and we began that evacuation process.' Crowder said he'd never seen or spoken to the family before the rescue played out. 'I had to do something for these people,' he said. 3 Crowder took matters into his own hands when he bravely rescued a family as their home was flooding during the deadly and historic floods on the Fourth of July. FOX Weather Crowder described the rescue as 'chaotic.' He said the power went out halfway through the rescue, making it pitch black while he got the people to safety. Follow The Post's coverage on the deadly Texas flooding He assisted the family with getting from the front porch of their home into their truck and ran to see what the safest way to get them out would be. 3 Crowder said he'd never seen or spoken to the family before the rescue played out. FOX Weather/Matthew Crowder 'I had gotten overcome by some water and pushed down the street,' he said. He twisted his ankle and got some cuts and scrapes. Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! In the end, he and the family made it out safely. 'I just believe it was, I was in the right place at the right time,' he said. 3 Crowder assisted the family with getting from the front porch of their home into their truck. FOX Weather He said what he did still hasn't hit him. 'My family is proud,' he said. Crowder said, as far as he knows, the family has been doing OK since the rescue, but he hasn't spoken to them.
CNN
08-07-2025
- Climate
- CNN
Man reunites with family he helped save from Texas floodwaters
CNN's Omar Jimenez speaks with Matthew Crowder who saved Crissy Eliashar and her three young children when they became trapped by rising floodwaters in Texas.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Stranger's Yell Saved Family from Texas Flooding: 'Our Front Yard Was a Rushing River'
Matthew Crowder yelled to wake up the Eliashar family early on Saturday, July 5 and helped them escape before flood waters destroyed their home in Jonestown, Texas A GoFundMe to support the family has raised more than $80,000 The death toll reached 104 statewide on Monday, July 7Devastating flooding destroyed the Eliashar family's Jonestown, Texas, home as it swept across a central portion of the state days ago, but they escaped with their lives due to the quick thinking of a man nearby. The death toll has since reached 104 statewide since flood waters rose and ravaged Texas Hill Country over the holiday weekend. Matthew Crowder had arrived for a shift at Texas Paintball on Saturday, July 5, when he observed waters rising around the family's home in the area, he told USA Today. "In the early hours of the morning, the unthinkable happened. Without warning, floodwaters rushed into the Eliashar family's home in Jonestown, rising to over six feet in minutes," wrote Kim Polner, the organizer of a GoFundMe to support the family. Soon, "everything went south, real quick," Crowder told the newspaper. He began shouting to alert them, which eventually worked. "At 4 a.m., my son Benny comes running and tells me, 'Somebody is screaming outside and the dogs are barking,' ' Eliashar told NBC affiliate KXAN. 'And sure enough, we run to the front door, open it and there's a person screaming for us to get out of the house. Our front yard was a rushing river.' At the time, her husband was working a night shift and she was home alone with her three children, ages 7, 10, and 12, along with a 12-year-old family friend who was spending the night with them, according to Polner. Crissy needed to move quickly to save everyone. 'Make sure everyone's awake, get your head count, and let's make a plan,' Crowder told her, according to KXAN. Initially, the family tried to flee through the backyard, but "that had already become a lake," Crissy told USA Today. "So then I'm really panicking." Eventually, they had no choice but to enter the water to try to move closer to Crowder as he held tight to a fence, the outlet reported. At some point, he also managed to call 911. "My daughter actually fell and lost her shoe and nearly lost her life," Crissy said to the newspaper. "My son grabbed her arm and picked her up, and we were able to just keep walking just a few more paces." "That kid getting swept away, like genuinely, I thought that that was it," Crowder told USA Today. "That was the worst feeling I think I've ever experienced in my life." For a moment, the waters knocked him over too, but he recovered and eventually helped bring them all to safety before authorities picked them up and drove them to higher ground, the outlet reported. 'It's kind of like the worst nightmare you've ever had, and just kind of realizing that in the moment is, is something that, if you haven't gone through it, it's really kind of hard to comprehend,' Crowder told KXAN. Crissy's 75-year-old father also survived the ordeal, according to Polner. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Although everyone inside lived, including the dogs, the house itself was destroyed by the powerful flood. "The family escaped with barely the clothes on their backs," Polner wrote. "They did not have flood insurance. They are now starting over from absolutely nothing — no home, no belongings, no basic essentials." Still, Crissy is holding onto thankfulness for the man who went out of his way to rescue them all. "I'm so grateful that he screamed and was able to wake us up and be that guide to safety for us," she told USA Today of Crowder. "He really saved us." Read the original article on People
