() As the floodwaters recede and the search for more than 170 people still missing continues, survivors of the central Texas floods are opening up about their harrowing battles to escape the water.
” Live” spoke with four survivors who are struggling to come to terms with what they experienced.
Kyle Ames climbed onto his roof
Kyle Ames was at home asleep when he said he was awoken by his two children screaming.
“I stepped down into water. Immediately, you know, it is already up above my ankles, almost to my knees,” Ames said. “It took me a minute to process it. I couldn’t believe it.”
As furniture floated through the living room, Ames pried the front door open to find a roaring river in his yard.
“My mom saw my girlfriend’s car floating away, and I said, ‘We got to get on the roof,’” Ames recounted.
The family spent about two hours on their roof before the floodwater began to recede, allowing Ames to climb down to help neighbors. During that time, Ames struggled to keep his children calm.
“They were either adamant that we were going to die or that, you know, they’re asking, ‘Are we going to die?’ And, I mean, you know, what else does a father do but just try to stay calm,” he said. “We’re up to the point where there’s been so much loss; we’re not really worried about salvaging anything except for the house.”
Christian Fell clung to a meter box
When water from the Guadalupe River began pouring into the house, Christian Fell said he had no choice but to swim through a broken window.
“Once I got outside, it was just chaos, like all I could hear was just the sound of rushing water going past me. It sounded like rapids,” Fell said. “I just climbed up onto that meter box, and I was just holding onto that for dear life.”
Fell said he clung to the meter box for three hours before climbing down.
“When I saw the police officer walking through the street, and that’s when the water had finally subsided and I realized it was safe to climb down,” Fell said.
After climbing down, Fell said he was able to make a call to his parents, who had been staying in a house up the road.
“I actually called my mom’s phone, but my dad picked up, and he was just like, almost in tears, just happy to hear that I was alive, because he was sure he believed at that point that I was dead,” Fell said.
As central Texas continues its search for those who remain missing, Fell said his thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones.
“I’m completely fine. Now it’s the people who lost a family member or a loved one, or you know, a child, that I’m more worried about than myself,” he said.
Kadee Saunders and Bud Bolton: Children were ‘screaming’
When the floodwaters tore into their RV park in Kerrville, Texas, Kadee Saunders and Bud Bolton had only moments to get to higher ground.
“Getting a warning when our home is already gone, that’s when we got the warning,” Bud Bolton said.
But while Bolton and Saunders were able to get to higher ground, neighbors in surrounding RVs were unable to, leaving them to watch helplessly as families were swept away.
“That’s the hardest part of everything. Even though we lost everything, the hardest part of it all is hearing those children screaming, and you can’t help them,” Kadee Sauders said. “You feel hopeless, you know there is nothing you can do.”
Using equipment from his job, Bolton and Saunders are now working to help their neighbors search for their missing loved ones.
“I know 27 that were lost, me personally, just me alone,” Bolton said. “We’re just going to keep digging. I’m not worried about my stuff or all that. I’ll sleep in the bed of my pickup, I don’t care. I just got to keep my equipment, and we’ve got to keep this stuff going. We’ve got to find closure for these hurting families.”
