A survivor of Texas’s deadliest floods in decades, recounted the sheer chaos and devastation as floodwaters rose rapidly, claiming lives and leaving communities shattered.
Up to 80 people have died while 41 people remain missing on Sunday, three days after hours of heavy rain led to major flash flooding in the south-central U.S. state, authorities said Sunday afternoon.
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Survivor recounts harrowing experience of Texas flood tragedy
Survivor recounts harrowing experience of Texas flood tragedy
Survivor recounts harrowing experience of Texas flood tragedy
Survivor recounts harrowing experience of Texas flood tragedy
Among the missing are 11 girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp that was swept away by the rapidly rising Guadalupe River on Friday.
Search and rescue teams are working across 12 counties in what officials are labeling the state's deadliest flood disaster in decades. They are hoping for a miracle as rescue operations continue along the Guadalupe River, whose water levels rose from 2.3 meters to a staggering 9 meters within just three hours early Friday morning, reaching the second-highest level on record.
In Kerr County, the hardest hit the among 20 affected counties in the region, all 33 RVs at a RV park were swept away by the floodwaters as families celebrated the national holiday last Friday.
Julia Hatfield, a survivor, shared on Sunday her harrowing account of the flood’s devastation at the RV park.
"Honestly, if my husband hadn't been awake, I think it could have been a different story. We were worried about leaks in the RV with the heavy rain and he heard screaming outside and came and woke me up immediately. And we had to be out of there in about 10-15 minutes," she said.
"The hardest part was there was a little boy who started floating downstream and he was screaming, asking for help. But there just wasn't anything anybody could do at that point. I was about to jump in and my husband had to hold me back. He said, 'You're going to go too and there's nothing you can do if you jump in.' I didn't know how I was going to live with that. And thankfully, by the end of the day yesterday, I saw his face online and he had been rescued," she added.
Emergency authorities are still working to assess the full scale of the disaster. Texas Governor Greg Abbott assured the public in a Saturday news conference that the state is doing everything in its power to locate the missing.
Survivor recounts harrowing experience of Texas flood tragedy
Survivor recounts harrowing experience of Texas flood tragedy
Survivor recounts harrowing experience of Texas flood tragedy
Survivor recounts harrowing experience of Texas flood tragedy
