KERRVILLE, Texas — In the sticky Texas heat with night approaching, Xavier Ramirez waited outside Calvary Temple Church hoping for a miracle — that somehow his mom, stepfather, aunt, uncle and cousin weren’t swallowed by Texas’ bloated Guadalupe River.
Ramirez, 23, from Midland, was at the church in Kerrville with weariness in his eyes. He was getting by “minute to minute, second to second,” he said.
One of his cousins, Devyn Smith, who had been at HTR Campgrounds outside Ingram when the Guadalupe River burst from its banks, had been found late Friday and was recovering at Peterson Regional Medical Center, he said.
Smith, 23, was found about 20 miles downriver outside Center Point in a tree, Ramirez said.
But she was one of six who’d been at the campground outside Ingram in Kerr County.
Ramirez said he still was awaiting word of his aunt, Tasha Ramos; another cousin, Kendall Ramos; his stepfather, Cody Crossland; his mother, Michelle Crossland; and his uncle Joel Ramos.
The campground had been a destination spot for years, where the family had gone to enjoy the river since he was a small boy, Ramirez said.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rapidly emerging thunderstorms in the Texas Hill Country produced near 100-year flooding. The Guadalupe River marked 23.4 feet on a flood stage chart, above “major flooding” indicators, early Friday, according to NOAA.
The shocking rise of floodwaters, possibly boosted by a “flood wave” that rolled along the Guadalupe and could have instantly raised its depth, left vehicles abandoned, mobile homes and businesses totaled and summer camps usually busy with holiday weekend activities wiped of humanity and surrounded by muddy sediment.
The devastating flooding has so far claimed the lives of at least 51 people across the state, with dozens more missing, including 27 children who were at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls. Kerr County has been the hardest hit, with officials there reporting at least 43 deaths, including 15 children, as search-and-rescue efforts continue.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who visited Kerrville on Saturday, declared a state of disaster for 20 Texas counties affected by the flooding and proclaimed Sunday will be a day of prayer for victims of the extreme weather event. He said he has also requested federal disaster relief.
Ramirez’s family had been asleep when the Guadalupe River’s waters began to rise in the early-morning hours Friday.
“They slept in the truck. They didn’t think it was safe in a tent” because they had heard about the storm, Ramirez said, relaying what his cousin had told the family. There were two trucks: his mother and father and teenage cousin in one, and his aunt, uncle and Smith in the other.
It was his aunt who awoke first. The family members scrambled to get to the top of the trucks, climbing through sunroofs, Ramirez said.
“They lost my uncle first” to the water’s heavy current, Ramirez recalled. “He had tried to keep them all together and couldn’t hold on.”
His mother, stepfather and Smith had managed to get to higher ground and had planned to go get help.
“We found their truck in Ingram, against a tree, crushed and flipped, not far from the campground,” he said.
His mother’s purse was inside when the family found the truck Saturday, after a day of searching.
“I’m the only boy, so I’m trying to hold it together for the rest of the family,” Ramirez said.
