The family of a Texas woman who lost her life while trying to save a teenager from disastrous flash flooding has initiated what is believed to be the initial lawsuit regarding the tragedy that resulted in 118 deaths.
Jayda Floyd, a probation officer aged 22 from Odessa, was at the HTR TX Hill Country Resort in Kerrville with her fiancé, police officer Bailey Martin, 23, and his family when the Guadalupe River overflowed its banks early on July 4.
The family’s lawsuit, valued at $1 million, claims that the RV park did not notify or evacuate the guests as waters rose more than 20 feet in just two hours, as mentioned in a lawsuit that KSAT obtained.
The historic flooding swallowed entire families and left 26 campers missing at that same site- more than any other location.
Floyd managed to push her fiancé’s teenage stepsiblings onto the roof of their RV—saving their lives.
However, she and Martin were washed away and died.
When warnings finally came, they were from other campers and not resort staff, the lawsuit states.
The legal document notes, ‘Survivors report being woken by a car horn, and quickly attempted to escape as the water levels rapidly rose from ankle to waist height within minutes.’
The estate of Jayda Floyd believes this is the pioneering lawsuit associated with the catastrophic flooding on July 4 along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas.
Floyd was swept away and died alongside her police officer fiancé, Bailey Martin, 23
The Floyd family’s attorneys argue that even with knowledge of potential flooding risks, including severe flooding, the defendants kept operating close to the Guadalupe River.
Floyd worked with the Ector County Juvenile Probation Department as a probation officer.
She was working on her master’s in psychology at the University of Texas-Permian Basin, with the hope of helping at-risk youth.
Her relatives are asking for $1 million from the different entities connected to the riverside recreational land.
The Davis Companies Inc., investors of the HTR TX Hill Country; HTR Kerrville, which owns the land of the resort; Blue Water Development, believed to be the company that operates the resort; and Ilana Callahan, the general manager of the campground are all named in the legal filing.
HTR did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyDail.com.
A telephone recording greets callers, letting them know that the camp is closed for future reservations.
More people went missing from the HTR RV park than form another other single location impacted by the flooding, reported the Kerr County Lead.
Floyd and her fiancé died together, however, his family is not currentlu involved in the lawsuit
HTR TX Hill Country RV Park in Kerrville, Texas is currently closed, a telephone recording informs callers
Jayda Floyd worked for the Ector County Juvenile Probation department and was also seeking her master’s degree in Odessa, Texas
Campers were overwhelmed when floodwaters surged more than 20 feet in less than two hours at HTR, local officials told the paper.
Most of guests at the park were out-of-towners, and were likely unfamiliar with the Guadalupe and its tendency to flood.
Many had traveled to Hill Country for the holiday weekend from other cities in the state like Dallas, League City, San Angelo and San Antonio to catch a fireworks extravaganza staged by the city of Kerrville over the river
Entire families went missing from the site.
In other cases, some people were able to make it out while those they were camping with were trapped or swept away.
