A heartbroken father clung to a tree while holding tightly onto "his babies" as floodwaters surged around them. Despite desperate pleas from nearby residents, he couldn’t let them go, and all were tragically carried away, a devastated local shared on Monday.
"My husband was in the water trying to ask them, 'Please throw me your baby!' The man was holding tight to his babies, and he just got swept away." said Lorena Guillen, who owns the Blue Oak RV Park in Kerr County — the area that took the worst hit from the devastating floods that swept through Texas last week.
The father, identified as John Burgess from Liberty, Texas, is sadly among the confirmed victims, according to a report by KWTX.
His wife, Julia, along with their two young sons, are still missing in the aftermath of the disaster. Their daughter, who was luckily staying at a nearby summer camp, is safe and unharmed.
According to Guillen, the family had come to the RV park to celebrate the July 4 holiday together.
"The kids were so excited to be here." she said, remembering the joy and excitement the children had before the tragedy struck.
Guillen described the heartbreaking scene that unfolded that morning, saying all 28 RVs in her park were completely destroyed. She said the terrifying sounds that echoed as they were ripped away will forever stay with her.
"We heard people screaming throughout the night." she recalled. "The cabins from the RV park next door came floating, and they were getting smashed against the trees."
"'Help me! Help me!' — that was the main thing. You heard a lot of screaming, it was just too much." Guillen said, remembering the chilling cries for help.
She shared how she had just closed her other business, Howdy's Bar, around 12:45 a.m. Friday morning when heavy rain began falling.
Soon after, she received an alert warning of a possible flash flood in the area.
"About 2:30 a.m., I couldn't sleep. I went all the way to the edge of the water, and I looked down at the river, and it was fine." she said, describing how calm the river still looked at that moment.
"I called the sheriff's department at that time, and they had no information how the river levels were. I asked them, 'Do I need to evacuate?' and they said, 'We have no information right now, we don't know.'"
Just an hour later, she and her husband were jolted awake by the bright flashing lights of the rescue crews arriving at the RV park.
"My husband and I ran down. By then, the first level of the RVs were already washing away. The river went up about 10 feet at that time. A family of five was stranded because they were the ones closest to the river. Their RV was floating away. It was pitch black, it was so dark." she explained, painting a picture of the chaos and darkness as the water rose rapidly.
The couple rushed out, banging on RV doors to alert sleeping residents and try to get them to safety before it was too late.
On Sunday, eight bodies were found on her property. Two young girls were also discovered trapped under debris. Meanwhile, the RV park next door had 40 people reported missing, she said.
Now, the riverbank is lined with twisted metal, uprooted trees, and smashed vehicles. The Guadelupe River had surged an incredible 27 feet in just 45 minutes, leaving behind a scene of destruction.
Guillen believes a more effective warning system could have saved lives, giving people precious time to escape before the waters rose.
"I don't understand why we don't have alarms blaring in every single property or every mile down the road." she said. "But something needs to change. Hopefully I'll never get to see this in my lifetime."
Still, she doesn’t hold the local authorities responsible. The situation was so extreme, she understands how difficult it was to manage.
"I think they did the best they could with what they had. The river flooding authorities not having a budget enough to have censors and alarms installed — that's the part that should have been changed. Without having a budget or resources, their hands are tied as well." she said, expressing understanding for the tough position emergency responders were in.
"Nobody ever remembers a flood this bad. I have friends who are 90 years old and they don't remember a flood that bad."