A 21-year-old Texas woman sent a heartbreaking text message to her family just before floodwaters swept through the house where she was staying, pleading for assistance as the raging waters carried her away.
Floodwaters rose with terrifying speed as the Guadalupe River raged through Central Texas over the July 4th weekend, engulfing homes, camps, and lives in its path.
Beginning the night before the holiday, “torrential rains” caused “the river to rise to the height of a two-story building in less than an hour, flooding parts of Kerr County,” according to AFP. More than two dozen children and counselors from an all-girls Christian camp are among the at least 107 confirmed dead across six counties as of July 9, according to NBC.
Numerous others are still unaccounted for, and as the search goes on, the number of fatalities is predicted to increase.
Joyce Badon, age 21, and her three friends, Ella Cahill, Reese Manchaca, and Aiden Heartfield, were among those reported missing. They were spending the July 4 weekend at a country home by the river.
That house was gone by the wee hours of the morning.
Last communication Ty Badon, Joyce’s father, told CNN that the family last spoke with the group over the phone with Aiden’s father, who owns the home where they were staying.
“They were on the phone, we were informed. The house “is no longer there,” he added, adding that the phone died.
According to Badon, Aidan said to his father, “Hey, I have to go, I have to help Ella and Reese. The 21-year-old’s father recalled his last interaction with the group, saying, “They just got washed away,’ and then a few seconds later the phone just went dead, and that’s all we know.”
“Flash flood”
Kellye, Joyce’s mother, posted an emotional message on Facebook asking people to pray for her daughter.
Their cars were washed away by a flash flood that occurred. She added that “Aidan Heartfield called his dad as it happened,” and that “he [and two] others got washed away by debris.” “It happened so quickly with so much water, they could not get in the attic,” she said.
According to Kellye, Joyce was the last person Aiden’s father spoke to.
“We pray for safety for JC and her friends,” the mother concluded the post from July 4. We anticipate that we will be able to pick up my daughter and her friends in Hunt, Texas, today.
Numerous victims were discovered
Teams of volunteers sifted through the rubble and looked along the riverbanks for Joyce and her companions; sadly, some discovered other people’s bodies.
One of the bodies, encircled by so much debris, was eight to ten feet up in a tree. Louis Deppe, a volunteer in charge of the search for the Badon family, stated, “The more eyes, the better, because not a single person could see it.”
Joyce’s father discovered a body as well.
I assumed it was a mannequin as my son and I were strolling. Ty stated, “It was a young boy, maybe eight or ten years old, and he was dead.” “When we stumbled across him, we were simply walking and doing the same thing.”
Split and conquer
Tina Hambly, Joyce’s friend’s mother, also participated in the search in the hopes of finding the college pals still alive.
Hambly informed AFP, “We’re doing a seven-mile stretch.” “We’re giving it our all, and there are seven teams. just sort of conquering and dividing.
“But, to be honest, some strangers have shown up, even though we are friends and families,” she continued.
Joyce discovered
Joyce’s family unfortunately got the news they had been dreading on July 7.
In an interview with NBC News, her father confirmed that their daughter’s body had been located. Her mother, Kellye Badon, later paid a moving homage to their “lovely” daughter in a Facebook post, remembering the young life lost too soon.
“This morning, God showed us the path to follow!” Kellye wrote. “We discovered our beautiful daughter, who has been a blessing to us for 21 years! We hope that she will soon be able to locate her three friends. We appreciate the prayers and support from EVERYONE. God is good.
She posted again a few hours later, this time including a picture of a rainbow in the sky over the Badons’ house.
“All is well with my soul,” Joyce Catherine wrote in the heartbreaking message, “telling us from heaven.”
Last words
As the rushing waters threatened to sweep her away, Joyce sent one last text, pleading for assistance, according to Louis Deppe, a volunteer in charge of the search.
According to People, Deppe told AFP, “The last message (her family) received on [Joyce’s] cellphone was ‘we’re being washed away,’ and the phone went dead.”
Reese’s body was also found, but Aiden and Ella are still unaccounted for, according to reports.
