Multiple people have died in the “catastrophic” flooding in the Hill Country area.
SAN ANTONIO — Cheryl Nunn planned to spend the holiday weekend with her family in their travel trailer in the Hill Country, but now she’s left watching their camper float down the Guadalupe River.
Friday morning, Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. announced that the Hill Country had suffered “catastrophic” local flooding that has killed at least 13 people. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelley confirmed the fatalities.
Nunn, a Boerne resident, said her family has owned the small property between Comfort and Center Point for nearly 50 years, a place full of good memories.
“It’s just very heartbreaking,” Nunn said.
She had just parked their camper at the property on Monday and not even a week later, everything was gone.
“We just got it out Monday. We just got back from a long trip and we left it out Monday. We came back Tuesday and we were coming back today to stay for the weekend,” Nunn said.
She said it all happened so fast they didn’t even have time to grab their personal belongings.
“We were just ready for the weekend. So, there goes all that stuff that we had brought here,” Nunn said.
Despite the devastating loss, Nunn is thankful that her family members are safe.
“Those are possessions. They can be replaced, but hopefully no one’s lost their life. I mean, we’ll recover. It’s going to be hard but, yeah, we weren’t in the trailer when that happened, and I really feel for people that are in their permanent homes that are experiencing this,” Nunn said.
Five to 10 inches of rain had fallen before sunrise due to slow-moving and intense storms in Kerr and Kendall counties, which remain under a Flash Flood Warning until at least 7p.m. Friday.
Arnold Hoekstra’s, a resident of the area for nearly 55 years, stood on high ground as his mobile home sits in the same flood waters that swept away Nunn’s travel trailer.
Hoekstra recalled how the water came up quickly, leaving little to no time to react.
“It’s a terrible thing. Really terrible. Hope nobody dies, that’s the main thing because it comes so quick, very quick,” Hoekstra said. “Yeah it’s a mess. That’s bad.”
Hoekstra said he had previously pulled the motor home further up to avoid flooding but to no avail.
“I thought I was gonna be safe here, but I’m going underwater too. That’s my motor home sitting in the water. We pulled it up there and it’s still in the water,” Hoekstra said.
Hoekstra said he moved to the area in 1971 and recalled a similar devastating flood back in 1977 but said Friday’s flood is much worse.
“It’s not over yet,” he said.
When asked what he was going to do after losing his mobile home, Hoekstra chuckled.
“I gotta go down and clean it up and do it again,” he said.
The Kerr County Sheriff’s Office said it had responded to “multiple calls for high-water rescues.”