Man tries to ‘hold it together’ with 5 family members missing amid Texas flooding

Kerville, Texas – in the sticky heat of Texas with the night, Xavier Ramírez waited outside the Church of the Calvary Temple with the hope of a miracle, which somehow his mother, stepfather, aunt, uncle and cousin were not swallowed by the Guadalupe River of Texas.

Ramírez, 23, from Midland, was in the church in Kerville with tiredness in his eyes. He was arriving in “minute by minute, second to second,” he said.

One of his cousins, Devyn Smith, who had been in the camps of Htr outside of Ingram when the Guadalupe River exploded from its banks, was found on Friday night and was recovering at the Peterson Regional Center, he said.

Smith, 23, was found about 20 miles down the central point in a tree, said Ramírez.

But she was one of the six who had been in the camp on the outskirts of Ingram in Kerr County.

Ramírez said he was still waiting for his aunt’s news, Tasha Ramos; another cousin, Kendall Ramos; his stepfather, Cody Crossland; his mother, Michelle Crossland; and his uncle Joel Ramos.

The camp had been a destination for years, where the family had gone to enjoy the river since it was a small child, Ramírez said.

According to the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration, the emerging thunderstorms quickly in the country of the Texas hills produced near the floods of 100 years. The Guadalupe River marked 23.4 feet in a flood table, above the indicators of “important floods”, according to Friday morning, according to NOAA.

The shocking increase in flood waters, possibly driven by a “flood wave” that rolled along Guadalupe and could have instantly increased their depth, abandoned vehicles, mobile houses and totalized companies and summer camps generally occupied with festive weekend activities erased from humanity and surrounded by furry sediment.

The devastating flood has so far charged the lives of at least 51 people throughout the state, with more missing dozens, including 27 children who were in the Mystic Camp, a Christian summer camp for girls. Kerr County has been the most affected, with officials reporting at least 43 deaths, including 15 children, as search and rescue efforts continue.

Governor Greg Abbott, who visited Kerville on Saturday, declared that a disaster state for 20 Texas counties affected by floods and on Sunday proclaimed will be a day of prayer for the victims of the extreme climate event. He said he has also requested federal disaster relief.

Ramírez’s family had been asleep when the waters of the Guadalupe River began to get up in the early hours of Friday.

“They slept in the truck. They didn’t believe it was safe in a tent” because they had heard about the storm, Ramires said, transmitting what their cousin had told the family. There were two trucks: his mother, his father and his cousin in one, and his aunt, uncle and Smith in the other.

It was his aunt who woke up first. The family members rushed to the top of the trucks, climbing by the solar roofs, Ramírez said.

“They lost my uncle first” for the heavy current of the water, Ramírez recalled. “I had tried to keep them all together and couldn’t endure.”

His mother, his stepfather and Smith had managed to reach higher land and planned to get help.

“We found its truck in Ingram, against a tree, crushed and turned, not far from the camp,” he said.

His mother’s bag was inside when the family found the truck on Saturday, after a search day.

“I am the only boy, so I’m trying to keep him together for the rest of the family,” Ramírez said.



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