Carl Jeter called first responders to rescue a woman from the flooded Guadalupe River.
CENTER POINT, Texas — After hearing a young woman scream for her life on the flooded Guadalupe River on July 4, Carl Jeter and his son Josh called first responders to rescue her and then comforted Devyn Smith as she waited for relatives to come to her aid in Center Point.
The harrowing incident, and the overwhelming loss of life in the region touched their hearts so profoundly they had a banner made to memorialize the event.
The sign, which is now attached to the towering Cypress tree where Smith took refuge for hours, is flanked by flags.
It reads: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18”
Carl said “We had the banner made up, bought the flags, brought them over and stuck them up so people could see and reflect and think about all the all the things that are going on just trying to make a happy thought I guess,” adding they know Devyn will need a long time to recover.
“She spent numerous days in the hospital. Her family is obviously distraught over this because they’ve lost five family members that didn’t survive,” Carl said.
The family identifies the lost as Devyn’s sister Kyndall Ramos and her mom and stepdad, Tasha and Joel Ramos; as well as her aunt and uncle, Michelle and Cody Crossland.
Carl said members of Devyn’s extended family have been on the ground for days, searching the dozen miles or so between the point where the family was swept away and the place where Devyn was found clinging to a tree.
“They’ve come by two times to thank us and visit with us. We sat on the deck for two hours the other day after they were done for the day searching and we just we’ve hugged. We’ve cried. We’ve embraced,” Carl said, adding Devyn is still vulnerable. “I think she’s doing better emotionally but she’s got a long road to go and it’s gonna be tough when reality sets in,” Carl said.
Carl said all the relatives have made what feels like a forever family kind of connection.
“They’ve talked to me and they want me to be a part of their life and want to be a part of my life and I’m in! I’m good!” Carl said.
While the river is a wasteland for miles, Carl said he and his family are buoyed by the thought of so many caring people flooding into the region to help.
“I mean there’s hundreds, thousands, they’ve been here every day since then,” Carl said, adding “Even our volunteer fire department, which took seven feet of water inside of it, and we’re cleaning up and getting going and doing what needs to be done, you know, doing the Lord’s work.”
Josh said he made a social media post about the needs of the Center Point VFD and he was shocked by what happened next, as his phone blew up with so many offers of support he couldn’t respond to them all.
“There’s been people come from all corners of the state from North Carolina, from Oklahoma, from Louisiana, from everywhere,” Josh said.
Josh said the amount of heavy equipment that has been brought into the area is astounding.
“Some guys at San Angelo Big Country Equipment contacted me pretty much immediately and I guessed $50 million worth of equipment, and it’s well north of that now. I mean every day they have more and more equipment coming here,” Josh said.
And it’s not just machinery.
Josh said “I had some friends come down yesterday and in two days they probably had close to $100,000 worth of donations in a trailer and I met him in Kerrville and we drove in to Hunt and delivered them to the Hunt Volunteer Fire Department.”
The fact that there’s much more flowing into the disaster zone is comforting. Josh said “The outpouring of love and support from everywhere is remarkable and unbelievable! It’s hard to grasp. Hard to grasp.”
Josh said if tears flow now, it’s because of gratitude.
“Everybody here is here for the right reasons. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is or what your religion is or whether you’re red or blue or any of that, it’s just people wanna help people,” Josh said.
Stephanie Jeter, said while sadness still permeates the river, she hopes people will actively try to seek out good things.
“We need to look for the people that are helping, the little glimmers of happiness and good in all of this because that’s all we could do because life goes on,” Stephanie said, adding “Sadly, we’ll be missing some people, but it will go on.”
With the threat of more rain in the overnight forecast, the family said they will be extra vigilant in the days ahead.