“Chloe,” the dog of Jeff and Tanya Ramsey, was found alive near the river. Now, a team is zeroing in on that same area in hopes of finding Jeff.
KERR COUNTY, Texas — Monday marked one month since the deadly Fourth of July floods that took more than 100 lives in the Texas Hill Country, primarily in the hard-hit communities of Kerr County.
A search team has intensified its search efforts to find a Lewisville, Texas, man who is one of two people still missing.
“Chloe,” the dog of Jeff and Tanya Ramsey, was found alive near the Guadalupe River. Now searchers are focusing their efforts in that same area, hoping to find Jeff.
“We’re still looking for him, Jeff Ramsey. He’s still missing. They didn’t recover him yet,” said Nina Brooks, founder and president of Search & Support San Antonio.
Brooks says Ramsey was a friend of one of their team members, so for them this mission is personal.
“We try our very best to locate him, without making any promises, of course. We are exhausting all our resources,” Brooks said. “We had cadaver dog out here today. We dig, we dive, we search and we also climb if you have to.”
Family members tell our sister station WFAA that the Ramseys were staying at a cabin along the river at the HTR Campgrounds.
As the floodwaters rose, Jeff called other family members staying on the opposite side of the river and told them to evacuate.
Eric Steele, Jeff’s brother-in-law, said they may not have survived had they not gotten that call. He credited the couple as heroes.
Days after the flood, search teams recovered Tanya’s body.
The family says the couple’s dog Chole was found alive near the river, giving the search team a clue where to search.
“Some dogs, they like to flee and run. But usually, if they had a very close relationship with the owner, they will try to stick around and even find their owner,” said Brooks.
With information from the Ramsey family, the search team is focused on a one-mile area along the river.
They believe they are on the right track, having found pieces of what they believe belong to the 2013 Airstream Bambi camper owned by the couple.
“It’s a hint that we’re not totally off or at the wrong place to search,” said Brooks.
The family also tells WFAA there will be a memorial for the couple this weekend, whether Jeff is found or not.
Bolstering Search & Support San Antonio’s efforts is a collaboration with a San Antonio company called Diverse Construction Group, which is providing heavy equipment to help pick through large debris piles.
Brooks says they believe partnering up with other organizations, companies and agencies is beneficial to the families of missing victims.
Diverse Construction Group has been involved in search and recovery operations since the first days after the flood, and they have a GoFundMe to help with costs.