A heartbroken local says a father who was clinging to a tree with his children during the devastating Texas floods refused to let them go — and was swept away with them.
Lorena Guillen, owner of the Blue Oak RV Park in Kerr County, said her husband was in the water pleading with the man to hand over the kids, according to the New York Post.
“My husband was trying to help — he begged, ‘Please throw me your baby!’ But the father held on tight,” Guillen recalled Monday. “Then they were all swept away.”
The father, identified as John Burgess of Liberty, Texas, was later confirmed dead, according to KWTX. He has been identified as the younger brother of country star singer Pat Green per The Sun. Pat Green posted a heartfelt tribute to his brother on Instagram.
John Burgess’ wife, Julia, and their two young sons remain missing, while the couple’s daughter—who had been staying at a nearby summer camp—was found safe. The family had traveled to the Blue Oak RV Park to celebrate the July 4 holiday. According to park owner Lorena Guillen, the children had been excited for the trip. All 28 RVs at the park that morning were destroyed in the flood, and Guillen said the screams of terror as they were swept away will haunt her forever.
“We heard people screaming throughout the night,” she said. “The cabins from the RV park next door came floating, and they were getting smashed against the trees.
” ‘Help me! Help me!’ — that was the main thing. You heard a lot of screaming, it was just too much,” Guillen said.’
The RV park owner said she had just closed Howdy’s Bar, her other business, around 12:45 a.m. Friday when the rain began to pour. Not long after, she received a flash flood warning.
By 2:30 a.m., unable to sleep, she walked to the edge of the river and saw nothing alarming. She called the sheriff’s department to ask about the water levels and whether evacuation was needed, but they had no updates.
About an hour later, she and her husband were woken up by the lights of rescue crews arriving at the RV park.
“My husband and I ran down. By then, the first level of the RVs were already washing away. The river went up about 10 feet at that time. A family of five was stranded because they were the ones closest to the river. Their RV was floating away. It was pitch black, it was so dark,” she said.
The couple rushed to alert RV occupants by banging on doors, trying to get everyone to safety as the floodwaters rose. On Sunday, eight bodies were found on their property, and two girls were discovered trapped beneath debris. At the neighboring RV park, around 40 people were reported missing.
The flooding caused widespread destruction—exposed wires, destroyed cars, and torn-up trees now litter the area where RVs once stood, after the Guadalupe River surged 27 feet in just 45 minutes.
Guillen believes a better warning system is needed to prevent future tragedies but doesn’t fault the authorities, saying the lack of funding and resources for flood sensors and alarms left officials with limited options. She noted that even lifelong residents couldn’t recall a flood this severe.
