Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / President Trump in the Texas Hill Country, Meeting w First Responders & Families who Lost Loved Ones

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President Trump in the Texas Hill Country, Meeting w First Responders & Families who Lost Loved Ones · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Center. It's nice to be back with you in studio.
0:03
Speaker 1: We're here in Texas. It has been a very tough
0:06
Speaker 1: last week. You spent a lot of time with victims families,
0:11
Speaker 1: you spend a lot of time with first responders, You
0:13
Speaker 1: spent time with local elected officials, and even with the
0:16
Speaker 1: President United States American Kerrville. There's such sad stories that
0:20
Speaker 1: have come out of this tragedy, but also a lot
0:22
Speaker 1: of hope for just humanity and seeing people come together.
0:27
Speaker 2: Well, it's been just over a week since the horrific
0:29
Speaker 2: flooding in Kerr County and throughout the Hill Country had
0:34
Speaker 2: a devastating impact. We are still searching at this point
0:38
Speaker 2: for bodies. To date, one hundred and twenty nine people
0:42
Speaker 2: have been confirmed killed in that flooding. Many of those
0:45
Speaker 2: were children. They're an additional one hundred and seventy three
0:48
Speaker 2: people that we know of that are still missing. Search
0:52
Speaker 2: and rescue teams are out searching right now. Unfortunately, the
0:55
Speaker 2: Hill Country is right now as you and I speak,
0:57
Speaker 2: under another flash flood warning, so they've suspended some of
1:00
Speaker 2: the searches because there's there's heavy rains that are occurring
1:03
Speaker 2: there right now. I could tell you I just today
1:07
Speaker 2: spoke with a family whose little girls remains were discovered yesterday.
1:13
Speaker 2: We're at a stage now, we're far enough away that
1:15
Speaker 2: that that if you have someone missing, the odds are
1:18
Speaker 2: becoming almost unavoidable, that that at this point it's a
1:22
Speaker 2: search for remains and in some instances partial remains. The
1:27
Speaker 2: damage that was done from a massive wall of water,
1:31
Speaker 2: from trees and cars and debris is horrific. And we're
1:36
Speaker 2: in the we're in the process of picking up and
1:39
Speaker 2: coming back together. On Friday, I joined President Trump in
1:44
Speaker 2: going to the Hill Country. We flew down together on
1:46
Speaker 2: Air Force One. The President and I met with first responders,
1:50
Speaker 2: met with families, We had a round table. It was powerful.
1:53
Speaker 2: The first Lady came as well, we're going to take
1:55
Speaker 2: you in inside what happened there, what we learned, and
2:00
Speaker 2: what's going to happen next.
2:01
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3:41
Speaker 1: mentioned Friday that you flew down with the President of
3:44
Speaker 1: the First Lady. You guys were in Washington, DC at
3:46
Speaker 1: that point. You flew back into Texas. You were there
3:49
Speaker 1: early in the week as well, And I think one
3:51
Speaker 1: of the things that people don't see is the amount
3:54
Speaker 1: of compassion many times that the President and the First
3:56
Speaker 1: Lady have in these types of scenarios. Donald Truck is
4:00
Speaker 1: a guy that actually has a huge heart. He loves helping,
4:04
Speaker 1: he loves listening to people that are going through tough times.
4:07
Speaker 1: We've seen that through his whole career. What was it
4:09
Speaker 1: like being with him and telling him about what you'd
4:11
Speaker 1: seen earlier in the week in.
4:12
Speaker 2: Texas well, Listen, I was very glad he decided to come,
4:14
Speaker 2: and I'm glad he decided to come when he did,
4:17
Speaker 2: which was Friday, a week after there had been some
4:20
Speaker 2: discussion about his coming earlier, say Monday or Tuesday. And
4:23
Speaker 2: the reason he decided not to is that when he
4:25
Speaker 2: comes in, they shut down the airspace, and the president
4:28
Speaker 2: coming to town shuts downs the roads. It's a huge
4:32
Speaker 2: logistical nightmare. I think the White House made the right
4:34
Speaker 2: decision that when you have active search and rescue going
4:37
Speaker 2: a million different directions, it's not helpful to have the
4:40
Speaker 2: President come in right in the middle of it. A
4:43
Speaker 2: week later, after much of the search and rescue has happened.
4:46
Speaker 2: That's the right time, when everyone is dealing with the grief,
4:49
Speaker 2: for him to come in. And so I met him
4:52
Speaker 2: at Andrews Air Force Base and we took off from there.
4:55
Speaker 2: I will say, on kind of a lighter note, there
4:57
Speaker 2: was a moment as we were getting ready to take
4:59
Speaker 2: off of the play that I sent you.
5:01
Speaker 1: A picture and I appreciate that picture.
5:04
Speaker 2: So I was in the conference room at Air Force one,
5:07
Speaker 2: the President was boarding. We're getting ready to take off,
5:09
Speaker 2: and there's a TV screen right there in the conference
5:11
Speaker 2: room and Boom, who smiling mug was there. But you
5:15
Speaker 2: were on Fox News that morning you were talking on
5:18
Speaker 2: Fox News, and so I pulled out my phone and
5:20
Speaker 2: snapped a picture of you on Air Force One. You
5:23
Speaker 2: joined us for the morning. I was glad of it.
5:25
Speaker 1: We flew together, just you were there in real life,
5:28
Speaker 1: and I was on the screen. I'll take whatever and
5:29
Speaker 1: get I showed the picture of my kids, by the way,
5:31
Speaker 1: and they were like, that's Air Force One. Was like,
5:33
Speaker 1: that's Air Force One. Daddy hasn't been on there in
5:34
Speaker 1: twenty four years, but still the coolest plane in the world.
5:37
Speaker 2: So we flew down Friday morning. The President was on
5:40
Speaker 2: the plane. Milania the first lady came on the plane,
5:42
Speaker 2: and then we also had John Cornyan joined us, Wesley
5:45
Speaker 2: Hunt joined us, and then there were several cabinet members
5:47
Speaker 2: who came. Brooke Rawlins, a Texan, the head of Secretary
5:51
Speaker 2: of Agriculture, Scott Turner, another Texan, the Secretary of HUDD.
5:57
Speaker 2: We also had Kelly Loaflow, the administrator of the Small
6:01
Speaker 2: Business Administration. So we all flew down, spent quite a
6:05
Speaker 2: bit of time talking with the President, talking with the
6:06
Speaker 2: President about what was going on on the ground, just
6:08
Speaker 2: how bad it was. And then when we landed, President
6:13
Speaker 2: Trump took a helicopter tour and examined some of the
6:17
Speaker 2: devastation and met some of the first responders on the ground.
6:21
Speaker 2: We flew in chinook helicopters down to Kerrville where we
6:27
Speaker 2: met with first responders and we heard the latest in
6:30
Speaker 2: terms of the search and rescue, how they're systematically going
6:34
Speaker 2: through different areas with helicopters, with drones, with ground search
6:41
Speaker 2: and rescue, with dogs that are searching. They put in
6:46
Speaker 2: place a burn band because there's debris everywhere, but you
6:49
Speaker 2: don't want to accidentally burn the remains of someone who
6:51
Speaker 2: was killed, so they're holding off. Before any debris can
6:55
Speaker 2: be burned, they've got to clear through it and make
6:58
Speaker 2: sure that there are no remains within it. They usually
7:01
Speaker 2: send in a cadaver dog to make sure of that.
7:05
Speaker 2: And then we sat and did a round table with
7:08
Speaker 2: President Trump and with local leaders. And I will tell you,
7:12
Speaker 2: I think the President first lady did a really effective job.
7:16
Speaker 2: Here's President Trump early on in that roundtable talking about
7:21
Speaker 2: the federal response and all the heroic rescues we saw here.
7:25
Speaker 2: Give a listen.
7:26
Speaker 3: Administration is doing everything in his power to help Texas.
7:29
Speaker 3: And I can tell you that and the governor will
7:32
Speaker 3: be the first to tell you that when the request
7:36
Speaker 3: was made for the emergency funds, Christy, I think we
7:39
Speaker 3: gave it within about two minutes, maybe less, and they
7:42
Speaker 3: had everything they needed right right immediately. So we've deployed
7:45
Speaker 3: over four hundred first responders and assisted or enabled more
7:48
Speaker 3: than fifteen hundred rescues. Amazing fifteen hundred customers in Border
7:55
Speaker 3: Protection and the US Coast Guard have deployed numerous search
7:58
Speaker 3: and rescue crews and they're they're all over the territory.
8:03
Speaker 1: It really is amazing to see how the government came together.
8:07
Speaker 1: You witnessed it when you were down there Sunday Monday.
8:10
Speaker 1: You get to witness it again later in the week.
8:12
Speaker 1: But he's not exaggerating when he says everyone's working together
8:17
Speaker 1: to try to find people and help those that were
8:20
Speaker 1: devastated by this flood.
8:21
Speaker 2: Well, that's right, and it very much is a cooperative
8:24
Speaker 2: effort between the local government, both the city and county,
8:28
Speaker 2: and the state government and the federal government. And I
8:31
Speaker 2: will say Texas unfortunately has a lot of experience dealing
8:36
Speaker 2: with natural disasters, and I think between hurricanes and floods
8:41
Speaker 2: and tornadoes and wildfires, the Texas emergency Response team just
8:46
Speaker 2: has a lot of experience. It's not our first rodeo,
8:49
Speaker 2: and so they respond very effectively in terms of marshaling assets.
8:55
Speaker 2: I can tell you in the first few hours of
8:56
Speaker 2: this flood, when I was talking to the governor and
8:59
Speaker 2: the Lieutenant governor and nim Kid who heads the Texas
9:02
Speaker 2: Department of Emergency Management, all of them at the time,
9:07
Speaker 2: they said they had every federal asset they needed. I
9:09
Speaker 2: spoke with President Trump that first day and I said,
9:11
Speaker 2: this is bad. We're going to need real help. He said,
9:14
Speaker 2: anything Texas needs, yes, yes, yes is the answer. And
9:18
Speaker 2: so we had that commitment, we had the resources surged
9:21
Speaker 2: on the ground, and a little bit later in the
9:23
Speaker 2: roundtable here here's an observation the President made about about
9:26
Speaker 2: what he had seen in Texas.
9:29
Speaker 3: You know two words, unity and competence. If you were
9:32
Speaker 3: to ask me two words that I've seen here, one
9:35
Speaker 3: is unity. The unity has been unbelievable. And then the competence.
9:39
Speaker 3: The competence of the Coast Guard and some of the
9:42
Speaker 3: people within the Post Guard that saved a lot of lives.
9:44
Speaker 3: They went out and they saved a lot of lives.
9:46
Speaker 3: But there were others other than the Coastguard. But I
9:48
Speaker 3: would say competence and unity. The way everyone has just
9:53
Speaker 3: pulled together. It's rare that you see this. Again. I've
9:58
Speaker 3: been to so many and I've seen big and fighting,
10:01
Speaker 3: and you know, just it doesn't work the same way.
10:04
Speaker 3: This has been amazing. This is and this is the
10:06
Speaker 3: biggest because I've never seen one like this. Neither is
10:08
Speaker 3: anybody else.
10:09
Speaker 1: By the way, He's right. I go back and I
10:11
Speaker 1: remember when I was at the White House when Katrina happened.
10:15
Speaker 1: We saw that bickering he's mentioning, and I listened and
10:18
Speaker 1: watched it firsthand. On August to twenty sixth, August twenty seventh,
10:21
Speaker 1: August twenty eighth, Hurricane hits, the twenty ninth, the devastation
10:24
Speaker 1: where you had just because of politics, you had certain
10:27
Speaker 1: people in the Mayor's office, in the Governor's office, and
10:30
Speaker 1: then the White House and the reserves, and it was like,
10:33
Speaker 1: why there are people that are hurting, And I'm so
10:35
Speaker 1: thankful to you mention this because this is where we
10:37
Speaker 1: got so many things right this past week.
10:39
Speaker 2: Well, and I'll tell you, in visiting with some of
10:42
Speaker 2: the senior officials in the state who deal with emergencies,
10:45
Speaker 2: over and over and over again. One of them told
10:48
Speaker 2: me said, of everything we've seen, this is the worst.
10:52
Speaker 2: And I got to say, I agree with that. And
10:53
Speaker 2: I've been on the ground for many, many disasters, tragedies,
10:58
Speaker 2: with tragedies with very significant loss of life. So you're grieving,
11:03
Speaker 2: but I got to say, they're just something different about
11:06
Speaker 2: little kids. Amen, the little girls in the bubble in camp,
11:12
Speaker 2: the eight and nine year old third graders whose lives
11:15
Speaker 2: were lost. Every one of us as parents, every loss
11:20
Speaker 2: of life is a tragedy, but this touches really deep.
11:26
Speaker 2: The roundtable, the President asked me to express my thoughts.
11:30
Speaker 2: Here's what I had to say to the President on Friday. Well,
11:33
Speaker 2: miss President, I want to say thank you for being here. First, lady,
11:36
Speaker 2: thank you for being here where we are right now.
11:39
Speaker 2: The Hill Country is a very special part of the state.
11:43
Speaker 2: It is universally considered the most beautiful part of the state.
11:46
Speaker 2: You've got rolling hills, You've got these incredible, peaceful, wonderful rivers,
11:51
Speaker 2: the Guadalupea River. Just about all of us have been
11:54
Speaker 2: swimming in that river, floating in that river. And one
11:56
Speaker 2: of the things that's really special about Kirk County is
12:00
Speaker 2: there forty summer camps here. This is a place where
12:02
Speaker 2: all across Texas our kids go. The Governor's daughter came
12:06
Speaker 2: every year to camp here. Both of you know our
12:10
Speaker 2: girls really well. Heidi. The week before this flood was
12:14
Speaker 2: here in Hunt picking up our daughter Catherine from camp.
12:18
Speaker 2: And Camp Mystic that faced such devastating loss is an
12:24
Speaker 2: institution in this state. It's one hundred years old, was
12:27
Speaker 2: founded in nineteen twenty six. And I'll tell you, in Texas,
12:31
Speaker 2: it's not just here that the hurt has felt. It's
12:33
Speaker 2: every part of the state. Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin,
12:37
Speaker 2: West Texas, East Texas. Texans have gone. And what's amazing
12:41
Speaker 2: is you see at the closing ceremonies of these camps.
12:44
Speaker 2: You see multiple generations. You'll see grandmothers and moms and
12:48
Speaker 2: little girls who have all gone to the same camp.
12:51
Speaker 2: And the pain that the state is feeling. And on Monday,
12:55
Speaker 2: I went and walked through Camp Mystic. In the center
12:59
Speaker 2: of the camp is a cabin called the bubble In
13:03
Speaker 2: where the littlest girls were staying. And in front of
13:07
Speaker 2: the bubble in are right now seventeen small white crosses
13:11
Speaker 2: in the ground, and each cross has the name of
13:14
Speaker 2: another little girl who lost her life. The final cross
13:18
Speaker 2: has the name of Dick Eastlin, the camp director who
13:22
Speaker 2: gave his life trying to save his girls. And the
13:25
Speaker 2: water rose in that camp and in that cabin eight
13:29
Speaker 2: feet high. You can see the water line eight feet high.
13:32
Speaker 2: It blew the windows out of the cabin and it
13:35
Speaker 2: swept those girls out. I will tell you, I've never
13:37
Speaker 2: seen anything more horrible in my life. And i just
13:40
Speaker 2: sat there crying. I saw mom and dad come up
13:43
Speaker 2: to one of those crosses, drop to their knees and
13:45
Speaker 2: kiss that cross, and the mom was weeping. I also
13:50
Speaker 2: want to tell you, and you said this, You talked
13:52
Speaker 2: about unity. The way this community, the way the state
13:55
Speaker 2: is coming together, is incredible. There are stories of heroisdom.
14:01
Speaker 2: I met a mom and dad who had a fourteen
14:04
Speaker 2: year old boy at Camp le Hunt, a boy's camp.
14:07
Speaker 2: Their fourteen year old son was awakened at three in
14:09
Speaker 2: the morning. The water was rising. The counselor said, let's
14:12
Speaker 2: go save the little boys. And they went down to
14:15
Speaker 2: the seven, eight nine year old boys and pulled them
14:17
Speaker 2: out of their camps through the crashing water. And this
14:20
Speaker 2: mom and dad were crying. Now their son survived, and
14:24
Speaker 2: I said, look, your son will always have this trauma.
14:26
Speaker 2: You will always have this trauma. But at the same time,
14:29
Speaker 2: your son will always know when he was fourteen years
14:32
Speaker 2: old that there are little boys and one day there
14:35
Speaker 2: are men who are alive because he had the courage
14:38
Speaker 2: as a fourteen year old to risk his life to
14:40
Speaker 2: save them. And so we are grateful you're here. And
14:44
Speaker 2: I will say something Chip referenced is very true. There's
14:47
Speaker 2: a video of a school bus full of campers from
14:50
Speaker 2: Mystic after this crisis, riding past the devastation and they
14:56
Speaker 2: are singing Christian hymns. And I promise you there's no
15:00
Speaker 2: a person here who can watch that video and not
15:02
Speaker 2: weep tears of sorrow, but also tears of joy. So
15:07
Speaker 2: we are grateful for the response, Governor, the first responders,
15:10
Speaker 2: everyone who's come together, and to all the moms and dads,
15:15
Speaker 2: just know we love you. The agony my street at home,
15:20
Speaker 2: every house has a green ribbon around it for the
15:22
Speaker 2: girls at Mystic, and that's true in a lot of
15:25
Speaker 2: streets all throughout Texas. And we will come through this
15:29
Speaker 2: one way or the other. I'll tell you the Hunt
15:31
Speaker 2: store right now, the sign says Hunt Store, except today
15:34
Speaker 2: it doesn't. It says Hunt Strong. They redid the sign.
15:37
Speaker 2: That's the spirit of who we are. Thank you Jed
15:40
Speaker 2: very much.
15:42
Speaker 1: The heroes that have come out of this, that fourteen
15:45
Speaker 1: year old. I have three boys. I know that my dad,
15:48
Speaker 1: when he was raising me, wanted me to be a
15:51
Speaker 1: strong young man that would do what that fourteen year
15:53
Speaker 1: old did. I want to raise my boys to be
15:55
Speaker 1: the same way. But for that family to know their
15:58
Speaker 1: son made a difference in literally save people's lives is
16:01
Speaker 1: an incredible I think story that of the good that
16:04
Speaker 1: has come out of such a horrific event. You also
16:06
Speaker 1: met other heroes. One that went viral this past week
16:10
Speaker 1: was it was it was a guy that was saving
16:12
Speaker 1: literally more than there. It was one hundred and sixty four lives.
16:15
Speaker 2: Yes, Scott Ruskin. He's a Coastguard swimmer. And and here
16:20
Speaker 2: you can see I met Scott when when I was
16:23
Speaker 2: down in uh down in the hill country. He's twenty
16:26
Speaker 2: five years old. And uh, you know we've talked before
16:30
Speaker 2: about how the Coastguard swimmers. These guys are badass. I mean,
16:33
Speaker 2: I mean, they're the analogy I use. It's it's like
16:35
Speaker 2: a Navy seal and a California surfer combined together, you know,
16:41
Speaker 2: and it's so accurate.
16:42
Speaker 1: I mean, it's so accurate.
16:43
Speaker 2: So Scott's comment, like it like in the press this week,
16:46
Speaker 2: was I'm just a dude. Yeah, I'm just a dude
16:48
Speaker 2: doing a job, which is a very swimmer thing to say.
16:53
Speaker 2: But the early morning of the flooding, they put him
16:56
Speaker 2: on the ground at Capt Mystic, Uh and he spent
17:00
Speaker 2: three and a half hours there with the girls on
17:02
Speaker 2: a field that was the highest point of Mystic. And
17:04
Speaker 2: he loaded one hundred and sixty five girls onto helicopters
17:08
Speaker 2: and they evacuated them on helicopters. They had about fifteen
17:12
Speaker 2: girls per helicopter and the girls, you know, you got
17:15
Speaker 2: to picture this scene. It's it's pitch black, it's still nighttime.
17:19
Speaker 2: The rain is helping her down. The girls are in
17:23
Speaker 2: their pajamas, they're missing shoes. Many of them are crying.
17:27
Speaker 2: They're scared. Some of them are looking for their friends.
17:32
Speaker 2: Some of them are looking for the young your younger
17:33
Speaker 2: sisters who they can't find. They're terrified. Some of them
17:37
Speaker 2: were singing Christian hymns and Scott was comforting each of them,
17:43
Speaker 2: putting them when I talked to him. He'd just gotten
17:46
Speaker 2: off the phone with a mom and dad who had
17:49
Speaker 2: called him with their daughter, and they said, you saved
17:53
Speaker 2: our daughter's life. They said she was scared out of
17:55
Speaker 2: her mind, and you held her hands, you picked her
17:58
Speaker 2: up and loaded her into helicopter. And as you did,
18:01
Speaker 2: you held her hands. You told her it's gonna be
18:03
Speaker 2: all right, You're gonna be okay. And this hero hero,
18:09
Speaker 2: and you know, laid back Swimmer, he was reduced to
18:15
Speaker 2: tears that heroism was happening day after day after day.
18:21
Speaker 1: You look at the last little over a week and
18:24
Speaker 1: you talk about we're still trying to find people. You
18:26
Speaker 1: talk about you know, I say this not really sarcastily.
18:30
Speaker 1: Finally the government got it right. The response was incredible.
18:34
Speaker 1: And seeing you work together, seeing how strong the people
18:37
Speaker 1: are in Texas, what was your takeaway even from Monday
18:41
Speaker 1: to Friday, being there and seeing how quickly people are
18:46
Speaker 1: still actively helping. They're still out there searching, they're still
18:49
Speaker 1: trying to help their fellow man and woman in Texas.
18:52
Speaker 2: Look, they're working hard, and you've got volunteers coming in
18:56
Speaker 2: like crazy. You got people coming in from all over
18:58
Speaker 2: the state that are contributing. The Community Foundation in Kirk
19:03
Speaker 2: County has received over thirty million dollars in contributions in
19:07
Speaker 2: just a week. They've already distributed over five million dollars.
19:11
Speaker 2: As they're trying to give money just to help help
19:13
Speaker 2: people get back on their feet, right on the ground
19:15
Speaker 2: and listen. There's also lots of confusion. I will say
19:19
Speaker 2: I've spoken now to quite a few parents and people
19:23
Speaker 2: who lost loved ones, and there's frustration. Early on, it's
19:27
Speaker 2: hard to get information. I'll tell you the moms and
19:30
Speaker 2: dads who had girls missing a mystic. I would be
19:32
Speaker 2: getting phone calls and texts do you know anything about
19:35
Speaker 2: where my daughter is? And what you want to answer? Yes,
19:38
Speaker 2: And the frustrating thing is is that you don't. And
19:41
Speaker 2: so you'd say, look, I'll try to connect you with
19:43
Speaker 2: the head of emergency management. I'll try to connect you
19:45
Speaker 2: with the sheriff, like the people on the ground, but
19:49
Speaker 2: in many cases they're just out search teams looking and
19:52
Speaker 2: until they find the remains, there's nothing to be told
19:56
Speaker 2: other than we're still looking. That frustration was I'll tell
20:01
Speaker 2: you there was an article just came out in Texas
20:03
Speaker 2: Monthly about what happened and I want to take a
20:06
Speaker 2: few minutes and actually read a significant portion of the article.
20:10
Speaker 2: The articles by a fellow named Aaron Parsley, and it's
20:13
Speaker 2: entitled The River House Broke. We rushed in the river,
20:16
Speaker 2: and he's telling a first hand story about his family
20:20
Speaker 2: that had a house right along the Waterla Loopy River.
20:24
Speaker 2: I want you just listen to this. Rosemary, the four
20:28
Speaker 2: year old, woke up first. She told my brother in
20:32
Speaker 2: law Lance that there was something on the roof. Seven
20:35
Speaker 2: of us were at my family's river house on the
20:37
Speaker 2: Guadalupe between Ingram and Hunt for the fourth Our little
20:42
Speaker 2: stretch of river is wide, green, cool, deep and slow.
20:46
Speaker 2: It's some of the best swimming anywhere in one of
20:48
Speaker 2: the most beautiful spots in Texas as far as I'm concerned.
20:52
Speaker 2: I've spent many peaceful afternoons there, floating and staring up
20:56
Speaker 2: at the cypress trees that tower over the water house,
21:00
Speaker 2: a one story cabin on stilts about fifty yards from
21:03
Speaker 2: the river up the steeply slope. Yard was built right
21:07
Speaker 2: after the nineteen eighty seven flood that devastated this region,
21:11
Speaker 2: killing ten teenagers. Concrete pillars put our family's place a
21:16
Speaker 2: few feet feet above what officials consider the one hundred
21:20
Speaker 2: year floodplain. More than once, I'd tried to imagine the
21:23
Speaker 2: water's rising that high, but it seemed impossible. I woke
21:29
Speaker 2: around three am to the sound of thunder and rain.
21:32
Speaker 2: My only thought was I hope it stopped so I
21:34
Speaker 2: could go on an early morning run. Shortly before four thirty,
21:38
Speaker 2: I would later learn Rosemary climbed down from the top
21:42
Speaker 2: bunk of the kid's bedroom and went to get her father.
21:46
Speaker 2: Lance stepped out of bed to see what was causing
21:48
Speaker 2: all the pounding and creaking. I stirred about that time too,
21:52
Speaker 2: and heard what I figured was the kids running around
21:54
Speaker 2: the house, excited by the storm. What's going on? I
21:58
Speaker 2: asked where trouble? Dad said, big trouble. I looked past them.
22:05
Speaker 2: The river was as high as the deck, twenty feet
22:10
Speaker 2: above the ground. We talked through our options. Getting onto
22:15
Speaker 2: the roof was impossible. We had no ladder and the
22:18
Speaker 2: eaves were about eight feet above the deck. Patrick weighed
22:22
Speaker 2: whether we could all climb through a window onto the
22:24
Speaker 2: live oak, whose branches were near the back of the house,
22:28
Speaker 2: then realized it wasn't reachable. Lance called nine one one,
22:33
Speaker 2: but the dispatcher said he didn't know when anyone could
22:37
Speaker 2: get to us. As we reassembled in the kitchen, the
22:41
Speaker 2: vinyl flooring under our feet started to bubble. Then water
22:46
Speaker 2: began to pool. My dad walked into the bedroom and
22:50
Speaker 2: saw the carpet floating off the floor. The river's musty
22:54
Speaker 2: scent permeated the house, mixed with what smelled like freshly
22:59
Speaker 2: chopped wood. My sister sat Rosemary and Clay on the
23:05
Speaker 2: kitchen island countertop. Rosemary was four and Clay was twenty
23:09
Speaker 2: months old. We discussed whether we could get them higher,
23:14
Speaker 2: maybe even on top of the cabinets in the small
23:16
Speaker 2: space below the ceiling. Then the roof over the porch
23:21
Speaker 2: crashed down and we heard glass shatter in my father's room,
23:26
Speaker 2: just off the kitchen. Rosemary asked, why did the window break?
23:33
Speaker 2: Clay started to cry. When the sliding glass doors open
23:36
Speaker 2: and water poured in. Lance ran to it, shoved it closed,
23:39
Speaker 2: and held it shut. The pendant lamps began to swing
23:43
Speaker 2: wildly over the kitchen counter. The house was shifting. It
23:48
Speaker 2: lurked sharply, and we all struggled to stay on our feet.
23:52
Speaker 2: It felt like walking down the aisle of a plane
23:56
Speaker 2: during strong turbulence. We're moving, We're moving, Patrick said. The
24:03
Speaker 2: realization was terrifying. The rushing, still rising water had lifted
24:09
Speaker 2: the house off its pillars. It was a float, and
24:14
Speaker 2: then it wasn't. I saw part of the deck rip away.
24:19
Speaker 2: I heard windows break from every corner, Cracks split the walls.
24:23
Speaker 2: We crashed into something, probably a tree. I don't know
24:27
Speaker 2: how long It took ten seconds, maybe fifteen, for the
24:31
Speaker 2: house to come apart. Alissa managed to keep both kids
24:35
Speaker 2: on the countertop, one hand on each, still trying to
24:37
Speaker 2: reassure them. As the house came undone, she grabbed one
24:41
Speaker 2: in each arm. This is the part that will forever
24:45
Speaker 2: haunt me. If I or anyone else had been closer
24:48
Speaker 2: to them, we would have helped her. We would have
24:51
Speaker 2: grabbed one of the kids. But we simply didn't know
24:55
Speaker 2: that we were about to be plunged into the water.
24:58
Speaker 2: We simply didn't now as we were thrust into churning water,
25:04
Speaker 2: into darkness. Our disintegrating house sucked us down into the river.
25:10
Speaker 2: The last thing I remember from inside the house was
25:12
Speaker 2: seeing the refrigerator coming at me. Patrick saw the countertop
25:17
Speaker 2: tear away from the kitchen island with Alyssa and the
25:21
Speaker 2: kids on it. As the river carried me downstream, I
25:26
Speaker 2: struggled to stay above water. I was surrounded by branches,
25:30
Speaker 2: by twisted metal, by uprooted trees, by countless smaller objects,
25:35
Speaker 2: bottles of sunscreen, books, couch cushions, coolers that came from
25:40
Speaker 2: inside our home or somebody else's. I realized I lost
25:45
Speaker 2: my shoes and my phone. I grabbed at every branch
25:48
Speaker 2: and every tree that was still standing. A few snapped
25:51
Speaker 2: off in my hands, leaving me with a fistful of leaves.
25:55
Speaker 2: I managed to briefly hold onto one, perhaps for a
25:57
Speaker 2: few seconds, until the force of the water and the
26:01
Speaker 2: constant assault from debris ripped me away. I latched onto
26:06
Speaker 2: a tree with branches large enough to support me and
26:09
Speaker 2: pulled myself out of the water. My breathing was frantic,
26:13
Speaker 2: but my mind was focused. I considered the possibility of death.
26:19
Speaker 2: I thought, if I survive, I'll be the only one.
26:23
Speaker 2: The tree began to crack, creak, and moan. Then it
26:28
Speaker 2: slowly fell into the river, and so did I. I
26:33
Speaker 2: reached for another tree and climbed as high as I could,
26:35
Speaker 2: a couple of feet above the rushing water. I stepped
26:38
Speaker 2: up to a higher branch, and then another. If this
26:41
Speaker 2: tree collapsed, I wasn't sure if I would fight to
26:46
Speaker 2: stay above the water again. I pleaded with the tree
26:50
Speaker 2: to hold me, to withstand the power of the river. Please,
26:55
Speaker 2: I whispered, please, Over the roar of the water and
27:00
Speaker 2: the crackling of the trees. I heard screaming. It was guttural, primal.
27:06
Speaker 2: Who's there? I called, I'm in a tree too. We
27:10
Speaker 2: have to hang on. Someone will help. It's Alyssa, my sister, screamed,
27:16
Speaker 2: I'm with Rosemary. Clay is gone. The memory of those
27:21
Speaker 2: words will never leave me. A combination of profound relief
27:26
Speaker 2: an unbearable sadness overwhelms me now, even as I type this.
27:30
Speaker 2: Alyssa and I kept yelling to each other, though neither
27:33
Speaker 2: of us could clearly make out what the other was saying.
27:37
Speaker 2: Be strong for Rosemary, I implored, you have to survive this. Intermittently,
27:43
Speaker 2: I could hear just one word, Clay, as Alyssa cried
27:48
Speaker 2: out for her son. Then I noticed Patrick running along
27:52
Speaker 2: the river bank. I couldn't believe he was there, fully dressed,
27:55
Speaker 2: wearing his tank top and shorts, his shoes somehow still
27:58
Speaker 2: on he had lost only his wedding ring. He told
28:01
Speaker 2: me later, Patrick, I'm here, I yelled. For the first time.
28:05
Speaker 2: I thought we had a shot at surviving. Patrick was
28:09
Speaker 2: the first normal thing since the house broke apart. It
28:12
Speaker 2: was like being alone on an alien planet and another
28:14
Speaker 2: human being randomly arrives. And then Lance came jogging up
28:18
Speaker 2: after him. They'd ended up in the same pecan tree,
28:21
Speaker 2: about two hundred feet away from the river bank and
28:23
Speaker 2: about two thousand feet from where our house once stood.
28:27
Speaker 2: Lance has a watch with a flashlight that he turned
28:29
Speaker 2: on after Rosemary woke him up. Patrick said he spotted
28:34
Speaker 2: the beam after he climbed into the tree. They were
28:36
Speaker 2: only a few yards apart, close enough that they could
28:39
Speaker 2: talk without yelling. Lance kept repeating, my son, my daughter,
28:46
Speaker 2: there's no way. In the river's roiling churn. With Rosemary
28:52
Speaker 2: clinging to her neck while she paddled with one arm,
28:55
Speaker 2: Alissa had somehow managed to push her daughter onto a branch.
29:00
Speaker 2: Rosemary hugged with her arms and legs, lying flat. Alyssa
29:05
Speaker 2: stayed in the water just below her, gripping the tree's trunk,
29:09
Speaker 2: and as the waters were seated, she stood uncomfortably on
29:11
Speaker 2: a branch below her. Alyssa would tell me five days
29:15
Speaker 2: later that Rosemary wanted to play I spy while they
29:21
Speaker 2: waded in the tree. Patrick waded into the water to
29:25
Speaker 2: intercept a blue kayak that was floating by an older
29:29
Speaker 2: couple watching from a house on a nearby hill. Brought
29:32
Speaker 2: Lance and Patrick an inflatable inner tube, and they decided
29:35
Speaker 2: the tube was the better option to catch Rosemary, more
29:39
Speaker 2: control softer landing. After that, Rosemary's rescue happened quickly. Patrick
29:47
Speaker 2: and Lance rigged the inner tube with a green garden
29:49
Speaker 2: hose they found and tied it around a down tree.
29:52
Speaker 2: Lance waded into the water, positioning the tube beneath his daughter.
29:57
Speaker 2: I stood downriver, ready to catch Rosemar if she missed
30:02
Speaker 2: the target and got caught in the stream. Alissa urged
30:06
Speaker 2: us to hurry, saying she didn't think she could hold
30:09
Speaker 2: onto the tree much longer. She had to pry Rosemary's
30:13
Speaker 2: hands from the branch. Rosemary, terrified, started to cry. Then
30:21
Speaker 2: my sister cradled her daughter and dropped her twenty feet
30:25
Speaker 2: into the river where her father was waiting. She landed
30:30
Speaker 2: directly in the middle of the inner tube, and we
30:32
Speaker 2: all cheered. Lance carried his daughter to shore. My sister
30:37
Speaker 2: jumped into the water right after, and I grabbed her,
30:39
Speaker 2: put my arm around her, and together we walked to safety.
30:43
Speaker 2: Alissa collapsed on the river bank, crying out for Clay.
30:47
Speaker 2: Rosemary became calm when she reached dry land, but her
30:53
Speaker 2: face had a blue cast. We were all shivering. We
30:58
Speaker 2: told Rosemary how brave she'd in and that she was
31:02
Speaker 2: now safe and it was going to be okay.
31:06
Speaker 1: That's the reality of what it was like for so
31:09
Speaker 1: many down there, and it happened. That article describes it,
31:13
Speaker 1: I think perfectly, so quickly.
31:16
Speaker 2: I want you to take a look at this picture.
31:20
Speaker 2: This is Rosemary and Clay. Rosemary survived, Clay did not.
31:25
Speaker 2: This family, like so many Texas families, is rejoicing at
31:30
Speaker 2: the lives that were saved and is forever grieving at
31:34
Speaker 2: the lives that were lost. And this family, like so
31:38
Speaker 2: many Texas families, needs their friends, their loved ones, to
31:43
Speaker 2: hold them tight. They need God's blessing and mercy and grace.
31:49
Speaker 2: And I will tell you everyone in Texas is standing
31:53
Speaker 2: with this family, is standing with all of the parents
31:57
Speaker 2: at Mystic, is standing with all the little girl girls
32:00
Speaker 2: who lost friends just today I was visiting with parents
32:04
Speaker 2: who had two daughters at Mystic, One survived, one did not.
32:09
Speaker 2: They talked about the surviving daughter and the guilt and
32:13
Speaker 2: grief that every one of the survivors feels. Survivors guilt,
32:17
Speaker 2: Why did my friend? Why did my sister die and
32:20
Speaker 2: I didn't? And those girls it's going to take a
32:23
Speaker 2: whole lot of love and a whole lot of time
32:25
Speaker 2: for them to walk through that grief. We'll do that.
32:29
Speaker 2: That's who Texans are. But these are hard times.
32:33
Speaker 1: There are so many different organizations doing amazing work helping
32:36
Speaker 1: those in Texas. If you can help, make sure you help.
32:43
Speaker 1: There's a lot of them. Pick the one that connects
32:45
Speaker 1: with you and your family and your heart. But there
32:47
Speaker 1: are people that need help, and if you can do that,
32:50
Speaker 1: they'd be amazing. Sooner. I will see you back here again,
32:52
Speaker 1: real soon