Introducing: After the Flood

Summary

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Where the River Took Us

Episode: Introducing: After the Flood
Podcast: Where the River Took Us
Host: Texas Monthly
Date: July 29, 2026

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Overview

This special episode introduces the new podcast series After the Flood—a partnership between the Texas Newsroom and PBS’s Frontline. Hosted by Dominic Anthony Walsh, the series explores the devastating Central Texas floods of July 4, 2025, which killed more than 130 people, the majority in Kerr County. The episode blends urgent survivor testimony, 911 calls, family stories, and the beginning of a search for answers: How did this disaster happen with so little warning? Could it happen again? The show balances on-the-ground reporting with deeply personal accounts of loss, fear, and resilience as a community attempts to rebuild.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to "After the Flood"

Aaron Parsley (00:00–01:03)

• Aaron Parsley introduces listeners to "After the Flood," highlighting its focus on personal storytelling and urgent community questions.
• "Episodes highlight personal stories and try to answer the questions that so many of us have: how could this have happened with so little warning? And could it happen again?" (Aaron Parsley, 00:39)
• Listeners will hear survivor stories, learn why the region is called “Flash Flood Alley,” and about parental lobbying for emergency changes at camps.

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2. The Day of the Disaster: July 4, 2025

Dominic Anthony Walsh & Survivors (01:03–24:56)

a) Early morning chaos

• 911 recordings situate the listener in the disaster’s earliest moments. (03:03–03:09)
• Whole neighborhoods caught off guard; up to 11 inches of rain fell in just hours, causing the Guadalupe River to rise 38 feet—its all-time high.
  "The enormity of the disaster is nearly impossible to bear." (News Reporter, 04:47)

b) The Childress Family & Camp Mystic

• Parents Matthew and Wendy Childress receive troubling updates about their daughter Chloe, a counselor at Camp Mystic. (01:28–03:18, 25:31–29:20)
• Tension builds as Camp Mystic representatives confirm Chloe is unaccounted for; driving through rain, the Childresses arrive at the reunification site, clinging to hope.
  • "I had every confidence that she had found a way to survive...she was hanging onto a tree, taking care of some camper somewhere." (Matthew Childress, 26:03)
  • "That I may never see her again." (Matthew Childress, 26:58)

c) Bumblebee Hills: Neighbors React

• Local residents describe the holiday preparations, sudden rain, and overnight horror:
  • “I looked at my rain gauge, it was seven and a half inches and that's 45 minutes. That's a lot of rain. Something's going on here.” (Lilia Herrera, 10:54)
  • “We've been through it before.” (Miles Murayama, 11:04)
• Chain of events: neighbors check on each other, attempt rescues, face confusion and fear as water invades homes.
  • "Ram tied a strap around Joe's waist and pulled Joe out of the water towards higher ground. Lilia held on too." (14:20)
• Emergency calls pour in as water rises into attics and onto roofs.
  • “My house is so flooded.” (Anonymous, 22:54)
  • “There is an elderly woman up on her roof...please hurry.” (Kerr County 911 Dispatcher, 15:35)

d) The Blue Oak RV Park Catastrophe

• Jake Richards describes the RV park’s community, waking to chaos as floodwaters rise at terrifying speed.
  • "It was mostly like, screaming that their homes were being swept away and everything so quickly." (Jake Richards, 19:16)
  • "At one point, the Guadalupe was rising about 2ft per minute." (Dominic Anthony Walsh, 22:11)
  • “The screaming...turned into screaming for people who are fighting for their lives...” (Jake Richards, 22:15)
  • "That's the most haunting sound in the world is that silence." (Jake Richards, 22:39)
• Owners Bob Canales and Lorena Guillen attempt midnight evacuations. Unable to rescue a family on a river island, Canales nearly loses his life trying.
  • “I remember seeing him standing by that tree...that was the last time I saw that fine young man with his family.” (Bob Canales, 21:23)

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3. Aftermath: Sunup on Kerr County

Residents & Responders (23:18–27:09)

• Survivors emerge to find devastation: homes, cars, and lives lost or destroyed.
  • “We came to the house and we're like, oh, my God.” (Joe Herrera, 23:55)
  • “It was something you'll never forget.” (Joe Herrera, 24:06)
  • “So once we made sure they were safe, we continued into the neighborhood.” (Miles Murayama, 24:23)
• Miles Murayama reflects on the randomness of survival:
  • “Why, why, why, why? Fourth of July, wee hours...why couldn't it be 4th of July during daylight where people have a chance?” (Miles Murayama, 25:20)
• Dozens of families at the reunification site, hope dwindling as more bad news arrives.
  • Matthew Childress: “The horror and terror that may be laying ahead for us, that I may never see her again.” (26:58)

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4. Wider Response and Unanswered Questions

Officials, Journalists, and Parents (27:09–29:20)

• Texas Governor Greg Abbott arrives, confirms fatalities, promises ongoing search.
• Press and community seek answers about why warnings came late and whether similar disasters are likely.
  • "Is Camp mystic the only camp that's under this sort of duress?" (Reporter, 28:17)
  • "Do you trust the National Weather Service?" (Reporter, 28:24)
• Parents of missing children cling to hope and endure sleepless nights awaiting information.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “How could this have happened with so little warning? And could it happen again?” — Aaron Parsley (00:39)
• "I had every confidence that she had found a way to survive." — Matthew Childress (26:03)
• "That's the most haunting sound in the world is that silence." — Jake Richards (22:39)
• “Why, why, why, why? Fourth of July, wee hours...why couldn't it be 4th of July during daylight where people have a chance?” — Miles Murayama (25:20)
• "This has just been an unprecedented historical flooding event." — Ramiro Rodriguez as cited on air (04:43)
• "We'll be working around the clock 24/7 till every person is found." — Texas Governor Greg Abbott (27:38)
• "All the folks that were left were the parents of the unaccounted for children..." — Matthew Childress (28:37)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:00 — Introduction by Aaron Parsley
• 01:03 — Dominic Anthony Walsh begins hosting "After the Flood"
• 03:03 — First 911 calls and urgent search for Camp Mystic campers
• 10:10–14:54 — Bumblebee Hills: neighbors’ harrowing escapes from floodwaters
• 16:04 — Flood height: up to 38 feet rise on the Guadalupe River
• 17:28–21:23 — Blue Oak RV Park: devastation and fatal rescue attempts
• 23:18 — Morning aftermath and first views of the destruction
• 25:20 — Survivor reflections on timing and fate
• 26:58 — Matthew Childress confronts likelihood of terrible news
• 27:13 — Governor's statement, national attention, press questions
• 29:20 — Preview of next episode

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Tone & Storytelling

The episode’s tone is immediate and compassionate, alternating between the factual clarity of a reporter and the raw emotion of families in the midst of tragedy and uncertainty. Extensive use of first-person testimony, 911 tapes, and on-the-ground interviews creates an immersive, urgent experience that prioritizes survivor voices over dramatic narration.

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Summary

This introduction to "After the Flood" powerfully sets up a series about loss, resilience, and the urgent need for answers after a once-in-a-generation tragedy. By focusing on individual voices and family experiences, the podcast humanizes the disaster, while raising crucial questions about warning systems, emergency response, and how communities move forward after unimaginable devastation. The episode promises a careful blend of investigative journalism and storytelling, making it a must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the real impact of climate-fueled disasters.

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Transcript

[Aaron Parsley]

Hey there.

I'm Aaron Parsley, host of where the River Took Us. I want to let you know about another podcast about the July 4th floods in Texas. It's called after the Flood from the Texas Newsroom in partnership with PBS's Frontline. From Camp mystic to Sandy Creek and across Kerr county, reporters from the Texas newsroom have been talking to different communities over the past 12 months about what happened that day and what it's been like in the aftermath. Hosted by Dominic Anthony Walsh, episodes highlight personal stories and try to answer the questions that so many of us have how could this have happened with so little warning? And could it happen again? Along the way, you'll learn why the region is called Flash Flood Alley and how Camp mystic parents lobbied for change. You'll even hear about another flood that happened 24 hours later, 100 miles away in Sandy Creek, Texas. In the first episode, you'll hear from residents across the area about what happened that day. The series is a robust and powerful account of this chapter in Central Texas history. You can find after the Flood wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

On the morning of July 4, 2025, an emergency dispatcher in the Texas Hill country got a call.

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

Kerr County 911, what's the location of

[Aaron Parsley]

your emergency here at Camp Mix Dick and Hunt, Texas? We need search and rescue.

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

Okay, what's going on?

[Aaron Parsley]

We're missing as many as 20 to 40 people.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Hundreds of miles away in Houston, Matthew

[Narrator/Reporter]

Childress was getting his day started, was

[Matthew Childress]

ready for a non work lazy Friday and was coming down and starting to check emails, have coffee, et cetera.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Matthew's 18 year old daughter Chloe had left home to be a counselor that

[Narrator/Reporter]

summer at Camp Mystic.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

The all girls camp is one of over a dozen popular summer camps in Kerr county.

[Matthew Childress]

And probably about 30 minutes later my wife came down and said that she was fielding texts from friends and family about flooding that was happening in the whole country and that we should be concerned.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Camp mystic is right on the banks

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

of the Guadalupe river and on July 4, 2025, hundreds of campers were on site.

[Narrator/Reporter]

There had been a flash flood overnight,

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

which isn't unusual in Central Texas.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But alarming images of the river surging over its banks started circulating around social media and the news at home.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

In Houston, Matthew's wife Wendy KE trying

[Narrator/Reporter]

to text and call Chloe, but she didn't answer her phone. That wasn't necessarily cause for alarm. Camp mystic did not allow campers or counselors to have phones.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

But Matthew and Wendy thought about just

[Narrator/Reporter]

getting in their car and driving to

[Matthew Childress]

Chloe So initially I was skeptical, thinking that yes, it may have flooded, but I'm sure everything is okay and do we need to get in the car and actually drive for five hours? My fear was, is we would drive there and then we'd be driving back.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

But the concerned text messages from friends and family members kept coming.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And to Matthew, the urgency of the situation became clear.

[Matthew Childress]

So we quickly grabbed bags, threw basically overnight clothes, and also packed a small bag for my daughter just in case she might need to come home with us, threw it all in the car, and shortly thereafter we were on the road.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Matthew aimed the car west on I10. Along the way, Wendy tried reaching Chloe again. Still nothing.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Then after an hour on the road, the phone rang. On the line was a representative from Camp Mystic.

[Matthew Childress]

She called to let us know that she was calling all families that had children that were unaccounted for. And she let us know that she had just called all the camper's parents and that we were the final people to be called was we were the counselor's parents to let us know that Chloe was unaccounted for. Clearly, our anxiety went through the roof. I was definitely driving faster than I probably should have been driving on the freeway, and I believe it was raining off and on. My sweet wife was telling me to slow down and be careful along the way. But all I could do was get there as quickly as I could to try to contribute something to help and find the girls.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

You're listening to after the Flood, a podcast from the Texas newsroom and PBS's Frontline. I'm Dominic Anthony Walsh. I'll be your host for this five episode series. My day job, though, is being a reporter at Houston Public Media, the local NPR station. I mostly cover city government, but this time last year, that changed dramatically.

[News Reporter]

Heartbreaking numbers coming out of Central Texas.

[Ramiro Rodriguez]

This has just been an unprecedented historical flooding event.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

There.

[News Reporter]

Now, the enormity of the disaster is nearly impossible to bear.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Starting on July 4, 2025, floodwaters ripped through this part of the state, catching people by surprise. More than 130 people died, many of them children. The vast majority of those deaths, 119, happened in Kerr County. For people who lived through the disaster and those who lost friends and family, the devastation was unimaginable.

[Joe Herrera]

Everything is gone.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

And that was just the beginning.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I went to Kerr county to cover the flood. I spoke with residents and tourists.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

I visited places destroyed by the flooding and tried to make sense of it all for our listeners. And in the 12 months since, my colleagues and I have kept coming back. Throughout our reporting, we've met dozens of people kind enough to share their stories. They told us about that day, the early morning chaos as the waters rose.

[Bob Canales]

I remember seeing them standing by that tree you're looking at. That was the last time I saw that fine young man with his family.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

But mostly their stories are about all that came afterwards. The shock, the long slog through recovery, the struggles they faced are still facing today as they rebuild their lives. This podcast is about their stories and about the questions they have that we all have. Why did this happen? How could this happen with almost no warning? And could it happen again?

[Reporter/Interviewer]

The argument is, is this unprecedented? Is this something that we've seen before? Well, the truth of the matter is it's kind of in between.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Before we continue, a quick note. This podcast will be tough to hear at times. These are extremely difficult stories dealing with death and trauma, so please take care while listening. In this episode, we're going to cover what happened on July 4th. But before we get into that, you need to know a little about this part of the state. The Hill country is what it sounds rolling hills that stretch hundreds of miles

[Narrator/Reporter]

west of San Antonio and Austin, just

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

outside those bustling Central Texas cities. The Hill country is almost all nature limestone cliffs and canyons, winding rivers and creeks.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Texas live oak and bald cypress trees.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

No dense urban spaces in sight. The people follow the water, specifically the Guadalupe river, which starts here and runs

[Narrator/Reporter]

all the way to the Gulf coast

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

in Kerr county. The river flows west to east with a roughly 15 mile stretch running through the small communities of Hunt, Ingraham and right through the city of Kerrville. Hunt and Ingraham are tiny, with only a couple thousand residents between them. Half of Kerr County's total population, about 25,000 people live in Kerrville.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Throughout the early morning hours of July 4th, people up and down this stretch of the Guadalupe experienced devastating flooding. But not all at the exact same time. The flooding started in Hunt, which is home to many popular summer camps, including Camp mystic, then surged down the river toward Kerrville. Between Hunt and Ingraham sits the neighborhood of Bumblebee Hills.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

It's a community of about 30 single family homes, which actually makes it one of the denser areas along the river.

[Narrator/Reporter]

July 4th should have been a day

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

long party there last year. River tubing, backyard grills, fireworks the day before July 3, Miles Murayama was getting ready. He'd set up a bouncy house in

[Narrator/Reporter]

his backyard in Bumblebee Hills for his grandkids.

[Miles Murayama]

The third July was a beautiful evening it was beautiful, nice, you know, sunset was nice. Everything was real calm.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Up the hill, his neighbor Ramiro Rodriguez, who everyone calls Ram, was planning a more low key celebration.

[Ramiro Rodriguez]

Remember I was trying to gather something where we can do maybe make some hamburgers. I remember seeing my co worker at HEB and he was like, we're gonna have 7 inches of rain, so you better watch out. And I was like, well, we need it.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

It had been a really dry summer. Across the street from Ram's house, Lilia and Joe Herrera were taking it easy. Since Joe had been sick, an unexpected twist that derailed their plans. If not for that, their house would have been full.

[Lilia Herrera]

Well, we had planned to have about maybe 10 people come in and visit us for the 4th of July.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

4th of July, they would come in

[Lilia Herrera]

on the 3rd and help us get dinner, lunch and stuff ready and more people come in on the 4th. But on Tuesday, that week before, I had Covid so I canceled the plans. Thank God, I canceled the plans.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

On the night of July 3rd, Joe sat by his front window and watched as a stream of headlights lit up the road along the Guadalupe river.

[Lilia Herrera]

Cars pulling trailers, RVs and SUVs coming into town.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

To Joe, it made sense.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This wasn't just any Independence Day this year.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

It fell on a Friday. Folks were coming to this slice of

[Narrator/Reporter]

paradise to celebrate a three day holiday weekend.

[Lilia Herrera]

It's gonna be a busy fourth of July. My God, look at all this. Look at all this traffic.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Then it began to rain.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What you're about to hear is what

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

happened to Joe, Lilia, Miles and Ram. As the waters rose, their homes are

[Narrator/Reporter]

about 500ft from the river's edge and

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

form sort of a triangle. Ram's house sits up higher than the others on a small hill. Miles lives down the hill and across

[Narrator/Reporter]

the street are Lilia and Joe, who live closest to the riverbank.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

That night, as July 3rd became July

[Narrator/Reporter]

4th, Joe watched the headlights from the vacation weekend traffic.

[Lilia Herrera]

I was up at one o' clock in the morning. I heard the rain coming. I heard it coming down hard.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

It wasn't unusual for Joe to be up at 1am not only was he fighting off Covid, but Joe also has Parkinson's, something he says can make it difficult to fall asleep.

[Lilia Herrera]

I looked at my rain gauge, it was seven and a half inches and that's 45 minutes. That's a lot of rain. Something's going on here.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Around this same time across the street, Miles got out of bed.

[Miles Murayama]

I woke up at about one o' clock and he. It was just stormy. Raining. We've been through it before.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

It was coming down pretty hard. But at that point, Miles wasn't too concerned. Like many people in Kerr county, he knew rain was in the forecast overnight, but nothing Miles heard about the storm before going to bed gave him cause for alarm.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And he didn't know the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the area at 1:14am Miles was focused

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

on his grandson, the one he'd set up the bouncy house for earlier. He woke up nervous about the loud weather, the rumbles of thunder, the downpour pummeling the roof.

[Miles Murayama]

So I stayed up with my grandson. I don't know, maybe about an hour, a little more. Then I got sleepy and he got sleepy. So we went back to sleep and up the hill.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Ram was awake, too, along with his son.

[Ramiro Rodriguez]

It was real early, really, really early. I remember the. I think around two, that's when the power went out.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Ram tried to fall back asleep, but his son was terrified of the dark, so he stayed up with him.

[Ramiro Rodriguez]

I could hear the thunder. I could hear the rain pouring. And then out of nowhere, hear the dogs barking. I have two dogs. I could hear him just barking crazy.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Then he heard banging on the front door. When Ram opened it, he found a family who'd been staying at a vacation rental down the hill on the a house right on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

[Ramiro Rodriguez]

They were just terrified and shooken up and they were telling me that the neighborhood was getting flooded. So I was like, what? And I looked down and yeah, sure enough, the water was rising in the area.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

He'd never seen anything like this. Around 3am Miles wife got a call

[Miles Murayama]

from Joe, my neighbor across the street, Joe and Lily Herrera.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

They needed help.

[Miles Murayama]

I woke up, got my flashlight, you know, try to head to Joe's house. As I got to the front door, there was water leaking in my house. When I opened up the door, the water came in. The water was right above my kneecap.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

As water rushed in, Miles trudged outside where he could barely comprehend what was happening. He says he was in awe, shocked to see the Guadalupe river at his house, which is normally about a football field away from the river's edge, and the beam of his flashlight, he saw water raging through his neighborhood. Across the street, Miles saw Lilia and Joe's house closer to the river starting to flood.

[Miles Murayama]

I tried to cut across to Joe's house, and I didn't make it too far. And the water got a hold of me and knocked me down. It took me to my backyard. Once I got to My backyard. I knew I had to get up and seek cover, so I got up and I took off and I seek shelter behind my house.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

The river was surging. Joe and Lilia heard what they describe as three big waves, an immense amount of water crashing.

[Lilia Herrera]

Terrible sight.

[Joe Herrera]

That's when Joe says, we gotta get out of here.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Joe told his wife to climb up to the attic. Because of his Parkinson's, he didn't think he'd be able to follow her up.

[Joe Herrera]

Save yourself. Don't save me. And that's when we heard Ram from

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

his house on higher ground. Ram looked downhill and realized Joe and Lilio were in trouble. He went to help.

[Ramiro Rodriguez]

It was real fast, like I couldn't even imagine what was going on through my head.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Ram tied a strap around Joe's waist and pulled Joe out of the water towards higher ground. Lilia held on too.

[Ramiro Rodriguez]

And then I remember walking up the hill. It was just a quick, quick reaction. Honestly, it couldn't. It was an impulse, impulsive moment, you know.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Miles struggled through the water to join Ram, Joe and Lilia. From Ram's house, they all watched as the Guadalupe continued to rise below them.

[Miles Murayama]

I couldn't believe that the river had crested this high and the river was in our neighborhood.

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

Kerr County 911 was location emergency.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

At about 4:40am Emergency calls from Bumblebee Hills residents started rolling into the county's dispatch center.

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

We're working on getting those that are affected by the flood rescued. We do have water rescue headed to Hunt and Ingram. Trying to help. Right now, the best thing that you can do is get as high of ground as you possible on top of the roof of the house, vehicle attic. Okay, we'll.

[Aaron Parsley]

We'll do that.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

The water continued rising.

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

It's up to my waist in the house. Yes, ma', am. I understand. We are working on trying to get everybody to see y'.

[Aaron Parsley]

All.

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

We have water rescues and rising division, Bumblebee Hill subdivision. There is an elderly woman up on her roof. Her mother. We'll let them know. We've gotten multiple calls from people off of Bumblebee. We'll let them know. Well, please hurry. She's elderly and I don't know how much longer she can hang on. The water's getting closer to her on her roof.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

On the morning of July 4, 2025, up to 11 inches of water fell in just a few hours over the Texas hill country. In some areas, the Guadalupe river rose as much as 38ft above its banks, a record high.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This is after the flood coming up after the Break.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

We follow the floodwaters downriver and we'll

[Narrator/Reporter]

reconnect with Matthew and Wendy Childress. We'll be right back.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

I'm Dominic Anthony Walsh, and this is after the flood. Episode 1 the Day of We just followed Joe, Lilia, Ram and Miles as they escaped the rising water in their neighborhood, Bumblebee Hills. The water then headed downriver toward Kerrville. Especially vulnerable were riverside RV parks and campsites along the way. And there were a lot of them, including Blue Oak RV Park. Before the flood, Blue Oak looked like many of the small parks scattered across the hill country. Gravel roads wound between rows of campers and travel trailers. There were fire pits and folding chairs. Some campers had just arrived at Blue Oak for the long holiday weekend, but Jake Richards and his wife had been staying at the park at that point for about three months.

[Jake Richards]

This turned into home really quickly, but yeah, it's beautiful out here.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Jake and his wife were two of the 28 campers staying at Blue Oak that day. All their RVs and travel trailers were lined up along the river's banks and set on a small island nestled midstream. Lorena Guillen and Bob Canales, the couple that owns the park, were up early the morning of July 4th and started wondering if all the rain would be dangerous for their campers.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Lorena reached out to the sheriff's non emergency line at 2:08am about an hour after the National Weather Service issued that flood alert but before officials were giving residents clear directives.

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

Kerr County Sheriff's Office.

[Caller at Blue Oak RV Park]

I'm here at the Blue Oak RV park and I have a few camper stains right next to the Guadalupe. How bad is it? The levels of the Guadalupe right now,

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

we don't have that information.

[Caller at Blue Oak RV Park]

Okay, but is it flooding or do you know anything about it? Because I need to see if I need to start evacuating.

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

No, I'm not. I'm not even sure if it's flooding.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

A call from someone in the park just two and a half hours later at 4:30am paints a very different picture.

[Kerr County 911 Dispatcher]

Kerr County 911. What is a location or emergency? I don't know. I need rescue. I think I'm at the Blue Oak RV Park. I have a man screaming for help, help, help us.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

By then, Bob Canales was scrambling to start evacuations.

[Bob Canales]

We jumped in and started knocking on doors to all the campers, telling them, hey, you got to get out. There's a tremendous flood, flash flood warning and hazard coming.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Jake Richards was awake in his RV and heard the commotion.

[Jake Richards]

It was mostly like, screaming that their homes were being swept away and everything so quickly. Like, the water was up to the bottom level already, like, starting to sweep the RVs away from the bottom level. So I woke my wife up as soon as I saw what was happening outside. We got out of our RV in about two minutes, I think, and the water was already kind of up to the wheels.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

He grabbed a few shirts and a pair of shorts. His wife, Julia, a musician, grabbed her guitars. The couple had just enough time to get their car to higher ground. Then they could only watch as the rising water swallowed their rv, carrying it down the river along with houses and cabins.

[Jake Richards]

There was a thought there for a moment where it's like, okay, we'll save the homes and stuff that are up here. Because nobody expected it to be as. As devastating as it was. And that Hope lasted about 60 seconds.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

As campers hurried uphill away from the rising waters, RV park owner Bob Canales waited in the opposite direction. He headed towards the park's small river island, where a family of four was stranded. Bob remembered the couple, their two young sons and family dog checking in the previous evening just hours earlier. Now, though, Bob saw the river raging around them. And as he struggled to get closer, it was dark.

[Bob Canales]

Only had a flashlight in one hand, and you're already knee deep in water, and they were even deeper on the other side.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

The father was clinging onto his young boys. Bob tried to convince him to throw him the baby that was in his arms. He wouldn't.

[Bob Canales]

And I understand why he didn't do it, because what if the baby didn't make it? What if I didn't get the. But so instinctively, I stepped off the sidewalk in an attempt to help him, but the water was too powerful.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

The current swept bob nearly 100ft downstream before he grabbed hold of a retaining wall at the edge of the campground. He pulled himself up and staggered through the dark floodwaters. But the family was gone.

[Bob Canales]

I remember seeing him standing by that tree you're looking at there with the lights on. And that was the last time I saw that fine young man with his family.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

That young man was John Burgess of Liberty, Texas. He and his wife, Julia Anderson burgess, and their two sons, ages 5 and 21 months, died that day. Despite some very close calls, the other campers at Blue Oak RV park that morning survived. But at an RV park just across the road, a staggering 37 people were killed. Jake Richards counts himself lucky more than anything. He remembers how fast it all happened. At one point, the Guadalupe was rising about 2ft per minute.

[Jake Richards]

The screaming for people who are losing their stuff turned into screaming for people who are fighting for their lives at that point. So you start to hear just like different screams. These like blood curdling screams of families getting washed away from upstream. You get like kids and everything, and then it just stops. And that's the most haunting sound in the world is that silence.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

From 3 to 5am Emergency calls poured

[Narrator/Reporter]

into the county's dispatch center as the

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

wall of water moved toward Kerrville.

[Aaron Parsley]

Do you need police, fire or ems? I need everything, sir. My house is so flooded.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

The calls paint a grim picture. Hundreds of people trapped along the river, unable to get to higher ground.

[Aaron Parsley]

We're up on the second floor now. My house is under.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

On the morning of July 4, the sun rose on Kerr county at 6:40am and residents got the full picture of what the flood had done at the Blue Oak RV Park, Formerly grassy campsites were now unrecognizable. Trucks, cars, and RVs were wedged into brush or nowhere to be seen. That view extended all along the Guadalupe River. Twisted trees, debris everywhere. Toys and clothes strewn across the soggy ground. Upriver in Bumblebee Hills, Joe and Lilia Herrera took in the devastation around their home.

[Miles Murayama]

Wow.

[Joe Herrera]

We came to the house and we're like, oh, my God.

[Lilia Herrera]

Saw the mud in here, stunk so bad. We hit the cross and the fence was gone. And across the river and all the trees.

[Joe Herrera]

It was something you'll never forget.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Miles Mariama was there too, and noticed one of his neighbors and her family on the roof of their home. He's not sure, but it's likely she was the older woman who was the subject of that 911 call we heard earlier.

[Miles Murayama]

So once we made sure they were safe, we continued into the neighborhood.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Back here in the daylight, he realized his cars were missing from the driveway. They had been swept down the street and onto a fence. Volunteer firefighters arrived from Harper, a town about 20 miles away, and they helped Miles evacuate some of his neighbors. Despite several white knuckle situations, miraculously, no one in Bumblebee Hills was swept away. But now they needed somewhere to go.

[Miles Murayama]

So the evacuation process was to take them to Ingram Elementary School. That's where everything was set up.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

The school is about 10 minutes away from the neighborhood, and it would serve as a makeshift supply depot and reunification site for the next few days.

[Miles Murayama]

When they got out, you know, we started talking, you know, and everybody's mind is just racing, you know, still, like, whoa, we can't believe what just happened.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Early news of the missing and the dead began to spread. And Miles started asking a question he still asks himself.

[Miles Murayama]

Why, why, why, why? Fourth of July, wee hours in the morning. Why couldn't it be 4th of July during daylight where people have a chance? Maybe.

[Narrator/Reporter]

After a Camp mystic representative had called to tell them their daughter Chloe was missing, Matthew and Wendy Childress arrived in Kerr county sometime around 1 or 2 o'.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Clock.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They immediately headed to Ingraham elementary, the reunification site Miles Mariama had visited earlier that morning.

[Matthew Childress]

During that whole time frame, I was still in denial that this was something that was actually real happening to us.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Matthew kept thinking about how strong his daughter was. She was an athlete. He called her the machine.

[Matthew Childress]

And I had every confidence that she had found a way to survive. And telling myself that she's hanging onto a tree, you know, taking care of some camper somewhere. And she hasn't just, she hasn't been found yet. And so all I could do was keep my hopes up as high as I could that she was fine.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Matthew and Wendy waited for hours.

[Matthew Childress]

As that day progressed, more and more families would arrive into the gym, all folks waiting on news for when their children would arrive. And more and more information would seep out to our friends that were there, that our daughter was unaccounted for. So God bless them. There were lots of, you know, parents giving us, you know, uncomfortable kind of hugs and, you know, hopeful wishes that Chloe would be found.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

He was tense but still optimistic. Then after 4pm the first small group of campers arrived at the reunification site. Chloe wasn't with them.

[Matthew Childress]

And it really struck me hard in my gut, in my belly of the horror and terror that may be laying ahead for us, that I may never see her again.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

By the end of the day, Texas governor Greg Abbott was in Kerr County.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Well, thank you everybody for taking time to be be here for us to update a nation that really wants to find out what's going on and the responses taking place here in center Port of Texas.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

By now, over 12 hours had passed since the height of the flooding, and officials didn't have much concrete information to share.

[Ramiro Rodriguez]

I want to tell y' all that

[Texas Governor Greg Abbott]

we will be working around the clock 247 till every person is found. What I can confirm at this point are about 24 fatalities. We're not going to be giving any names out at this time. We're still notifying.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Next to Ken, the small towns of Kerr county were under a national spotlight. It was the top story for anyone who turned on the Evening news on July 4th.

[News Reporter]

Heartbreaking numbers coming out of Central Texas.

Now the enormity of the disaster is nearly impossible to bear.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Residents were reeling as emergency responders took over the area. Homes destroyed, loved ones missing. And reporters were starting to ask questions.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Is Camp mystic the only camp that's under this sort of duress?

[Ramiro Rodriguez]

What's the threshold to send out an

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

alert to people to get out of their house?

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Do you trust the National Weather Service? This is done by trusting us.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

But for Matthew and Wendy Childress, there was only one question they cared about. Where was their daughter Chloe?

[Matthew Childress]

All the parents slowly departed because they picked up their children, and all the folks that were left were the parents of the unaccounted for children. Through that evening, we probably laid down for maybe an hour and a half, two hours trying to close our eyes. But I don't remember if, remember if I ever actually dozed off. But I remember staring at the ceiling, mostly because all I could think about was Chloe. But I also began to get so concerned that I was going to receive phone calls. Receiving a phone call meant that bad news was happening.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Our story continues in episode two of after the Flood, which will be available on July 1st. Wherever you get your podcasts, I'm Dominic Anthony Walsh.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Coming up next time on after the Flood.

[Matthew Childress]

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and I pulled it out and I showed everyone that was sitting in front of me that it was a Kerrville number.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

And we'll take our first step into the days after the flood when responders were scrambling and questions were swirling.

[News Reporter]

County officials really spend all day trying to figure out what happened at Camp mystic, which, you know, is just kind of illustrative of the chaos of a disaster of this scale.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This episode was written by me, Sarah Gruno, Lucio Vasquez, and Rachel Ozier Lindley.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Our editors were Rachel Ozier Lindley and Elizabeth McQueen.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Anna Campbell is our executive producer and Elizabeth McQueen is our producer.

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

Our editors at Frontline are Aaron Texera and Mia Zukukandl.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Our music is by Renee Chavez and apm, and our audio producers are Casey Cheek, Jake Pearlman and Matt Largey. Our multimedia editor is Deborah Cannon and Michael Minassi is our multimedia producer. Our fact checker is Anna Alvarado, and our attorney is Thomas Leatherberry. Aaron Geisler oversees our marketing and our

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

cover was designed by Miley Carballo.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Corey McLaggin is the executive editor of the Texas News Newsroom. Special thanks to Lauren McGahey. The Texas Newsroom is a collaboration among NPR and the public radio stations in

[Dominic Anthony Walsh]

the state, including Houston Public Media, KUT

[Narrator/Reporter]

in Austin, Texas, Public Radio in San Antonio, and KERA in North Texas. This project received editorial and financial support from Frontline's Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the John S. And James L. Knight Foundation.