{"id":8201,"date":"2025-07-08T09:20:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T09:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inhealthyzone.com\/?p=8201"},"modified":"2025-07-08T09:20:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T09:20:47","slug":"texas-dad-refused-to-let-go-of-his-babies-during-flood-and-all-were-swept-away-witness-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inhealthyzone.com\/?p=8201","title":{"rendered":"Texas dad refused to let go of \u2018his babies\u2019 during flood \u2014 and all were swept away, witness says"},"content":{"rendered":"

KERRVILLE, Texas \u2014 A stricken dad clinging to a tree while holding \u201chis babies\u201d during the floods refused to toss the kids to residents, and they were all soon swept away, a shattered local said Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband was in the water trying to ask them, \u2018Please throw me your baby!\u2019 The man was holding tight to his babies, and he just got swept away,\u201d said Lorena Guillen, owner of the Blue Oak RV Park in Kerr County, the region hardest-hit by the state\u2019s catastrophic flooding last week.<\/p>\n

The tragic dad, John Burgess, who lived in Liberty, Texas, is among the confirmed dead, KWTX reported.<\/p>\n

\"\"
John Burgess died while holding onto his children during the floods at Blue Oak RV Park in Kerr County, Texas during the flood last week.
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His wife Julia and two young sons are still missing, while the couple\u2019s daughter, who was staying in a nearby summer camp, is safe.<\/p>\n

The family had come to the RV park for the July 4 holiday, Guillen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids were so excited to be here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Guillen said all 28 of the RVs at the packed park that fated morning were destroyed \u2014 and she\u2019ll never forget the screams of terror that accompanied them being washed away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard people screaming throughout the night,\u201d she said. \u201cThe cabins from the RV park next door came floating, and they were getting smashed against the trees.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lorena Guillen, the owner of the Blue Oak RV Park, said her husband asked Burgess to throw her baby to him during the flood, but he got swept away by the water.
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\u201d \u2018Help me! Help me!\u2019 \u2014 that was the main thing. You heard a lot of screaming, it was just too much,\u201d Guillen said.<\/p>\n

The RV park owner recalled closing local Howdy\u2019s Bar, her other business, around 12:45 Friday morning just as it started to rain hard.<\/p>\n

She received a possible flash flood warning notification shortly afterward, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 2:30 [a.m.], I couldn\u2019t sleep. I went all the way to the edge of the water, and I looked down at the river, and it was fine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
An RV destroyed by the flood at Blue Oak RV Park.
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\"\"
All 28 of the RVs at the park were destroyed.
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\u201cI called the sheriff\u2019s department at that time, and they had no information how the river levels were. I asked them, \u2018Do I need to evacuate?\u2019 and they said, \u2018We have no information right now, we don\u2019t know.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n

An hour later, she and her husband were woken by the lights from the rescue team at the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Katherine Ferruzzo, 19, has not been found since the flood.
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\"\"
Pickup trucks destroyed by the flooding at Blue Oak.
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Debris getting cleaned up from the park after the storm.
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The couple started banging on the doors of RVs to wake up the occupants and get them to safety.<\/p>\n

Eight bodies were recovered from her property Sunday, while two girls were stuck underneath rubble, and the RV park next door had 40 missing people, she said.<\/p>\n

Exposed wires, mangled vegetation and smashed up cars now line the river where the RVs once stood after the Guadelupe River rose an astonishing 27 feet in just 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u00a9 oliviasworld95 \/ Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Workers removing debris from Blue Oak RV Park.
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\"\"
Rescue workers on a boat near Blue Oak RV Park.
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Guillen called for a better warning system in future to enable people to get to safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand why we don\u2019t have alarms blaring in every single property or every mile down the road,\u201d she said. \u201cBut something needs to change. Hopefully I\u2019ll never get to see this in my lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite that, she doesn\u2019t blame authorities for the once-in-a-lifetime event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they did the best they could with what they had. The river flooding authorities not having a budget enough to have censors and alarms installed \u2014 that\u2019s the part that should have been changed. Without having a budget or resources, their hands are tied as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody ever remembers a flood this bad. I have friends who are 90 years old and they don\u2019t remember a flood that bad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KERRVILLE, Texas \u2014 A stricken dad clinging to a tree while holding \u201chis babies\u201d during the floods refused to toss the kids to residents, and they were all soon swept away, a shattered local said Monday. \u201cMy husband was in the water trying to ask them, \u2018Please throw me your baby!\u2019 The man was holding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-articles"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nTexas dad refused to let go of \u2018his babies\u2019 during flood \u2014 and all were swept away, witness says -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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