A family of nine had gathered for what was supposed to be a fun-filled 4th of July weekend, which quickly turned into a fight for their lives.🙏
KERR COUNTY, Texas — We are getting new glimpses of the devastation in Kerr County and the destruction left behind reflects just how quickly and ferociously the floodwaters came in late last week.
A family of nine had gathered for what was supposed to be a fun-filled 4th of July weekend, which quickly turned into a fight for their lives.
“It’s hell … but we’re alive, God was with us every second and provided what we needed,” said 83-year-old Penny Deupree.
An incredible story of survival for this Hunt, Texas matriarch and her family.
“Right there’s the escape hatch,” said Penny Deupree. “I was the hardest one to squeeze. That was the problem. I couldn’t diet fast enough to get out there, but anyways.”
Penny was the first to wake up and sense something wrong in the early morning hours of July 4th.
“I got up to go to the bathroom. And when I went to the bathroom, I flushed it,” said Penny. “And it goes…And I went, again, you know, we’re having plumbing problems, so I laid down for a few minutes and I went. You know, it’s rained a lot. I think maybe I better check the front of the house. That’s what… It was just flooding already.’
Her daughter, Keri Wilt, who lives two miles down the road, explains how all nine people staying at the house managed to escape.
“So they gathered everybody up into the sleeping loft – this is where the grandkids slept, right, they all got up to there and you can see as you pan around where the water level was,” said Keri. “Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, each one of them had a buoy and we’re just hitting it and trying to get out.”
“Who was holding the babies,” CNN reporter Pamela Brown asked. “This is insane. I can’t believe they survived.”
“Uh, their parents, so they had a whole system getting them to safety,” said Keri. “It’s, it’s not insane, it’s a miracle.”
Seven adults, two babies, and two dogs, trapped in the attic with the water is rising quickly. They knew the only way to get out was somehow to burst through a wall and so they just grabbed something. All they had in the pitch black was a baby monitor light to guide them. The three men worked diligently to punch through the wall of the attic.
They knew that most of their possessions were gone, but they’re left with the most important thing.
“We have nine lives,” said Keri. “We have everybody safe. Everybody’s healthy, not barely a scratch on anybody.”
And a connection to their family history… While a little battered and bruised, is another story to tell.
“My great-great-grandmother is Frances Hodgson Burnett,” said Keri. “She’s the author of The Secret Garden, Little Boy, A Little Princess, and 50 other books, and my mother was the keeper of her stuff, so she remained actually hanging here throughout. She got waterlogged of course, but she’s OK.”
“A lot of laughter was had in this house…,” said Keri.
And plenty of laughter still to come… “You’re exactly right,” said Penny.
“We found my Dad’s ashes,” said Keri, pointing to a box with a few drinks sitting on top.
“Oh my gosh… should we move the Dr. Peppers off of him,” said Brown. “Give him some dignity here,” said Penny.
Even if it’s sitting around in a circle by the rubble … Because they’re still on this side of earth — and together.
“He’d find that amusing I think,” said a family member.
“You must’ve thought at one point that you were going to die?”
“No… I didn’t… no. Cause that’s not an option, right? Is it,” said Penny.
Penny’s house is unlivable after the flood.
Penny has moved in with her daughter for now … who says she’s thrilled to have a new roommate.
The Deupree family does have a GoFundMe to help with the rebuilding process.