Verdict with Ted Cruz - July 14, 2025


President Trump in the Texas Hill Country, Meeting w First Responders & Families who Lost Loved Ones


Episode Stats

Misogynist Sentences

9

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.660 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.420 Senator, it's nice to be back with you in studio.
00:00:08.100 We're here in Texas.
00:00:09.600 It has been a very tough last week.
00:00:12.060 You spent a lot of time with victims, families.
00:00:15.640 You spent a lot of time with first responders.
00:00:17.860 You spent time with local elected officials.
00:00:20.140 And even with the President of the United States of America in Kerrville,
00:00:22.980 there's such sad stories that have come out of this tragedy,
00:00:25.800 but also a lot of hope for just humanity
00:00:29.360 and seeing people come together.
00:00:31.480 Well, it's been just over a week since the horrific flooding
00:00:34.060 in Kerr County and throughout the Hill Country
00:00:36.740 had a devastating impact.
00:00:40.440 We are still searching at this point for bodies.
00:00:43.960 To date, 129 people have been confirmed killed in that flooding.
00:00:49.060 Many of those were children.
00:00:50.840 There are an additional 173 people that we know of that are still missing.
00:00:56.140 Search and rescue teams are out searching right now.
00:00:58.460 Unfortunately, the Hill Country is right now, as you and I speak,
00:01:01.820 under another flash flood warning.
00:01:03.600 So they've suspended some of the searches
00:01:05.140 because there's heavy rains that are occurring there right now.
00:01:09.060 I can tell you, I just today spoke with a family whose little girl's remains
00:01:15.160 were discovered yesterday.
00:01:17.200 We're at a stage now, we're far enough away that if you have someone missing,
00:01:22.420 the odds are becoming almost unavoidable that at this point it's a search for remains
00:01:28.700 and in some instances partial remains.
00:01:31.340 The damage that was done from a massive wall of water, from trees and cars and debris
00:01:37.680 is horrific, and we're in the process of picking up and coming back together.
00:01:44.980 On Friday, I joined President Trump in going to the Hill Country.
00:01:49.700 We flew down together on Air Force One.
00:01:52.160 The president and I met with first responders, met with families.
00:01:55.360 We had a roundtable.
00:01:56.800 It was powerful.
00:01:58.080 The first lady came as well.
00:01:59.720 We're going to take you in inside what happened there,
00:02:02.820 what we learned, and what's going to happen next.
00:02:05.960 Yeah, it's a lot to cover today.
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00:03:45.420 Senator, you mentioned Friday that you flew down with the President and the First Lady.
00:03:49.680 You guys were in Washington, D.C. at that point.
00:03:51.420 You flew back into Texas.
00:03:53.220 You were there early in the week as well.
00:03:55.300 And I think one of the things that people don't see is the amount of compassion
00:03:59.280 many times that the President and the First Lady have in these types of scenarios.
00:04:03.700 Donald Trump is a guy that actually has a huge heart.
00:04:06.540 He loves helping.
00:04:09.000 He loves listening to people that are going through tough times.
00:04:11.760 We've seen that through his whole career.
00:04:13.280 What was it like being with him and telling him about what you'd seen earlier in the week in Texas?
00:04:17.340 Well, listen, I was very glad he decided to come.
00:04:19.420 And I'm glad he decided to come when he did, which was Friday a week after.
00:04:23.740 There had been some discussion about his coming earlier, say, Monday or Tuesday.
00:04:27.980 And the reason he decided not to is that when he comes in, they shut down the airspace.
00:04:31.860 And the President coming to town shuts down the roads.
00:04:35.240 It's a huge logistical nightmare.
00:04:37.780 I think the White House made the right decision that when you have active search and rescue
00:04:41.620 going a million different directions, it's not helpful to have the President come in right in the middle of it.
00:04:47.300 A week later, after much of the search and rescue has happened, that's the right time
00:04:51.480 when everyone is dealing with the grief for him to come in.
00:04:54.440 And so I met him at Andrews Air Force Base, and we took off from there.
00:04:59.860 I will say, on kind of a lighter note, there was a moment as we were getting ready to take
00:05:03.800 off of the plane that I sent you a picture.
00:05:06.300 And I appreciate that picture.
00:05:08.400 So I was in the conference room on Air Force One.
00:05:11.460 The President was boarding.
00:05:12.620 We're getting ready to take off.
00:05:13.860 And there's a TV screen right there in the conference room.
00:05:16.440 And boom, whose smiling mug was there?
00:05:19.280 But you were on Fox News that morning.
00:05:21.360 You were talking on Fox News.
00:05:23.660 And so I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of you on Air Force One.
00:05:27.700 You joined us for the morning.
00:05:28.940 I was glad of it.
00:05:29.700 We flew together.
00:05:31.080 Just you were there in real life, and I was on the screen.
00:05:33.260 I'll take whatever I can get.
00:05:34.300 I showed the picture of my kids, by the way.
00:05:35.940 And they were like, that's Air Force One.
00:05:37.480 I was like, that's Air Force One.
00:05:38.480 Daddy hasn't been on there in 24 years, but it's still the coolest plane in the world.
00:05:41.700 So we flew down Friday morning.
00:05:43.720 The President was on the plane.
00:05:45.500 Melania, the First Lady, came on the plane.
00:05:47.140 And then we also had John Cornyn joined us.
00:05:49.440 Wesley Hunt joined us.
00:05:50.420 And then there were several cabinet members who came.
00:05:52.040 Brooke Rollins, a Texan, the head of Secretary of Agriculture.
00:05:56.800 Scott Turner, another Texan, Secretary of HUD.
00:06:01.640 We also had Kelly Loeffler, the administrator of the Small Business Administration.
00:06:07.160 So we all flew down, spent quite a bit of time talking with the President,
00:06:10.880 talking with the President about what was going on on the ground, just how bad it was.
00:06:13.900 And then when we landed, President Trump took a helicopter tour and examined some of the devastation
00:06:22.100 and met some of the first responders on the ground.
00:06:25.800 We flew in Chinook helicopters down to Kerrville, where we met with first responders,
00:06:33.700 and we heard the latest in terms of the search and rescue, how they're systematically going through
00:06:39.160 different areas with helicopters, with drones, with ground search and rescue, with dogs that are searching.
00:06:49.540 They put in place a burn ban because there's debris everywhere,
00:06:53.220 but you don't want to accidentally burn the remains of someone who was killed.
00:06:57.260 So they're holding off before any debris can be burned.
00:07:00.320 They've got to clear through it and make sure that there are no remains within it.
00:07:04.820 They usually send in a cadaver dog to make sure of that.
00:07:09.180 And then we sat and did a roundtable with President Trump and with local leaders.
00:07:16.020 And I will tell you, I think the President and First Lady did a really effective job.
00:07:21.240 Here's President Trump early on in that roundtable talking about the federal response
00:07:27.060 and all the heroic rescues we saw.
00:07:29.400 Here, give a listen.
00:07:29.940 The administration is doing everything in its power to help Texas.
00:07:34.280 And I can tell you that, and the governor will be the first to tell you that when the request was made
00:07:40.780 for the emergency funds, Christy, I think we gave it within about two minutes, maybe less.
00:07:46.100 And they had everything they needed, right?
00:07:47.900 Right.
00:07:48.280 Immediately.
00:07:49.100 So we've deployed over 400 first responders and assisted or enabled more than 1,500 rescues.
00:07:56.600 Amazing.
00:07:57.080 1,500 Customers and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard have deployed numerous search
00:08:02.620 and rescue crews.
00:08:03.720 And they're all over the territory.
00:08:07.360 It really is amazing to see how the government came together.
00:08:11.360 You witnessed it when you were down there Sunday, Monday.
00:08:14.780 You get to witness it again later in the week.
00:08:16.940 But he's not exaggerating when he says everyone's working together to try to find people and help
00:08:24.080 those that were devastated by this flood.
00:08:25.840 Well, that's right.
00:08:27.040 And it very much is a cooperative effort between the local government, both the city
00:08:31.380 and county, and the state government and the federal government.
00:08:34.700 And I will say, Texas, unfortunately, has a lot of experience dealing with natural disasters.
00:08:42.240 Hurricanes.
00:08:42.400 And I think between hurricanes and floods and tornadoes and wildfires, the Texas Emergency
00:08:49.900 Response Team just has a lot of experience.
00:08:52.300 It's not our first rodeo.
00:08:53.580 And so they respond very effectively in terms of marshalling assets.
00:08:59.440 I can tell you, in the first few hours of this flood, when I was talking to the governor
00:09:02.940 and the lieutenant governor and Nim Kidd, who heads the Texas Department of Emergency Management,
00:09:09.060 all of them, at the time, they said they had every federal asset they needed.
00:09:13.280 I spoke with President Trump that first day.
00:09:15.240 And I said, this is bad.
00:09:16.820 We're going to need real help.
00:09:18.160 He said, anything Texas needs, yes, yes, yes, is the answer.
00:09:22.300 And so we had that commitment.
00:09:23.900 We had the resources surged on the ground.
00:09:26.600 And a little bit later in the roundtable, here's an observation the president made about
00:09:30.500 what he had seen in Texas.
00:09:33.440 You know, two words, unity and competence.
00:09:36.100 If you were to ask me, two words that I've seen here.
00:09:39.980 One is unity.
00:09:40.880 The unity has been unbelievable.
00:09:42.380 And then the competence, the competence of the Coast Guard and some of the people within
00:09:47.220 the Coast Guard that saved a lot of lives.
00:09:49.260 They went out and they saved a lot of lives.
00:09:51.140 But there were others other than the Coast Guard.
00:09:53.160 But I would say competence and unity, the way everyone has just pulled together.
00:09:58.680 It's rare that you see this.
00:10:01.120 Mr. President.
00:10:01.880 Again, I've been to so many and I've seen bickering and fighting and, you know, just
00:10:07.040 it doesn't work the same way.
00:10:08.440 This has been amazing.
00:10:09.300 This is and this is the biggest because I've never seen one like this.
00:10:12.480 Neither has anybody else, by the way.
00:10:14.420 He's right.
00:10:15.100 I go back and I remember when I was at the White House, when Katrina happened, we saw that
00:10:20.220 bickering he's mentioning.
00:10:21.440 And I listened and watched it firsthand on August the 26th, August 27th, August 28th.
00:10:26.880 Hurricane hits the 29th.
00:10:28.520 The devastation where you had just because of politics, you had certain people in the mayor's
00:10:33.020 office and in the governor's office and then the White House and the reserves.
00:10:36.800 And it was like, why?
00:10:37.880 There are people that are hurting.
00:10:39.200 And I'm so thankful that you mentioned this because this is where we got so many things
00:10:43.000 right this past week.
00:10:44.380 Well, and I'll tell you, in visiting with some of the senior officials in the state who deal
00:10:48.700 with emergencies over and over and over again, one of them told me, said, of everything we've
00:10:54.480 seen, this is the worst.
00:10:56.340 And I got to say, I agree with that.
00:10:58.100 And I've been on the ground for many, many disasters, tragedies, tragedies with very significant
00:11:05.260 loss of life.
00:11:06.760 So you're grieving.
00:11:07.980 But I got to say, they're just something different about little kids.
00:11:11.880 Amen.
00:11:12.000 The little girls in the bubble in camp, the eight and nine-year-old third graders whose
00:11:19.580 lives were lost.
00:11:21.620 Every one of us as parents, every loss of life is a tragedy.
00:11:26.260 But this touches really deep.
00:11:30.520 The round table, the president asked me to express my thoughts.
00:11:34.500 Here's what I had to say to the president on Friday.
00:11:36.640 Well, Mr. President, I want to say thank you for being here.
00:11:40.180 First Lady, thank you for being here.
00:11:43.040 Where we are right now, the hill country, is a very special part of the state.
00:11:47.300 It is universally considered the most beautiful part of the state.
00:11:51.260 You've got rolling hills.
00:11:52.460 You've got these incredible, peaceful, wonderful rivers.
00:11:56.140 The Guadalupe River, just about all of us have been swimming in that river, floating in
00:12:00.460 that river.
00:12:00.920 And one of the things that's really special about Kirk County is there are 40 summer camps
00:12:05.820 here.
00:12:06.140 This is a place where all across Texas our kids go.
00:12:09.880 The governor's daughter came every year to camp here.
00:12:13.580 Both of you know our girls really well.
00:12:15.940 Heidi, the week before this flood, was here in Hunt picking up our daughter Catherine from
00:12:21.440 camp.
00:12:22.880 And Camp Mystic, that faced such devastating loss, is an institution in this state.
00:12:30.540 It's 100 years old.
00:12:32.100 It was founded in 1926.
00:12:33.880 And I'll tell you in Texas, it's not just here that the herd has felled.
00:12:37.600 It's every part of the state, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, West Texas, East Texas.
00:12:43.220 Texans have gone.
00:12:44.200 And what's amazing is you see at the closing ceremonies of these camps, you see multiple
00:12:49.980 generations.
00:12:50.660 You'll see grandmothers and moms and little girls who have all gone to the same camp.
00:12:54.940 And the pain that the state is feeling, and on Monday I went and walked through Camp Mystic.
00:13:02.860 In the center of the camp is a cabin called the Bubble Inn, where the littlest girls were
00:13:09.360 staying.
00:13:10.660 And in front of the Bubble Inn are, right now, 17 small white crosses in the ground.
00:13:16.640 And each cross has the name of another little girl who lost her life.
00:13:21.680 And the final cross has the name of Dick Eastland, the camp director who gave his life trying to
00:13:27.660 save his girls.
00:13:29.500 And the water rose in that camp, and in that cabin, eight feet high.
00:13:34.760 You can see the water line eight feet high.
00:13:37.240 It blew the windows out of the cabin, and it swept those girls out.
00:13:40.680 I will tell you, I've never seen anything more horrible in my life, and I just sat there
00:13:44.820 crying.
00:13:46.440 I saw a mom and dad come up to one of those crosses, drop to their knees, and kiss that
00:13:50.840 cross.
00:13:52.280 And the mom was weeping.
00:13:54.200 I also want to tell you, and you said this, you talked about unity.
00:13:58.300 The way this community, the way the state is coming together is incredible.
00:14:02.980 There are stories of heroism.
00:14:05.060 I met a mom and dad who had a 14-year-old boy at Camp La Junta, a boys' camp.
00:14:11.780 Their 14-year-old son was awakened at 3 in the morning.
00:14:14.820 The water was rising.
00:14:15.840 The counselor said, let's go save the little boys.
00:14:18.980 And they went down to the 7, 8, 9-year-old boys and pulled them out of their camps through
00:14:23.280 the crashing water.
00:14:24.500 And this mom and dad were crying.
00:14:26.420 Now, their son survived.
00:14:28.360 And I said, look, your son will always have this trauma.
00:14:30.920 You will always have this trauma.
00:14:32.200 But at the same time, your son will always know when he was 14 years old that there are
00:14:37.860 little boys and one day there are men who are alive because he had the courage as a 14-year-old
00:14:43.940 to risk his life to save them.
00:14:46.540 And so we are grateful you're here.
00:14:48.300 And I will say something Chip referenced is very true.
00:14:51.700 There's a video of a school bus full of campers from Mystic after this crisis riding past the
00:14:59.800 devastation.
00:15:00.540 And they are singing Christian hymns.
00:15:03.200 And I promise you there's not a person here who can watch that video and not weep.
00:15:08.500 Tears of sorrow, but also tears of joy.
00:15:11.320 So we are grateful for the response.
00:15:13.800 Governor, the first responders, everyone who's come together.
00:15:18.100 And to all the moms and dads, just know we love you.
00:15:20.380 The agony, my street at home, every house has a green ribbon around it for the girls at Mystic.
00:15:28.940 And that's true in a lot of streets all throughout Texas.
00:15:31.820 And we will come through this one way or the other.
00:15:34.660 I'll tell you, the Hunt Store right now, the sign says Hunt Store, except today it doesn't.
00:15:38.880 It says Hunt Strong.
00:15:40.180 They redid the sign.
00:15:42.300 That's the spirit of who we are.
00:15:44.460 Thank you, Ted, very much.
00:15:46.820 The heroes that have come out of this, that 14-year-old, I have three boys.
00:15:51.340 I know that my dad, when he was raising me, wanted me to be a strong young man that would
00:15:56.960 do what that 14-year-old did.
00:15:58.380 I want to raise my boys to be the same way.
00:16:00.860 But for that family to know their son made a difference and literally saved people's lives
00:16:04.700 is an incredible, I think, story of the good that has come out of such a horrific event.
00:16:10.140 You also met other heroes.
00:16:12.100 One that went viral this past week was a guy that was saving literally more than, I think
00:16:17.980 it was 164 lives.
00:16:19.400 It's amazing.
00:16:20.100 165, yeah.
00:16:20.480 Scott Ruskin.
00:16:21.180 He's a Coast Guard swimmer.
00:16:24.240 And here you can see, I met Scott when I was down in the Hill Country.
00:16:30.560 He's 25 years old.
00:16:32.780 And, you know, we've talked before about how the Coast Guard swimmers, these guys are badass.
00:16:37.180 I mean, the analogy I use, it's like a Navy SEAL and a California surfer combined together.
00:16:45.200 And it's so accurate.
00:16:46.880 I mean, it's so accurate.
00:16:48.020 So Scott's comment, like in the press this week, was, I'm just a dude.
00:16:52.060 Yeah, I'm just a dude doing a job.
00:16:54.020 Which is a very swimmer thing to say.
00:16:56.720 Yeah.
00:16:57.340 But the early morning of the flooding, they put him on the ground at Cat Mystic.
00:17:02.260 And he spent three and a half hours there with the girls on a field that was the highest point of Mystic.
00:17:08.600 And he loaded 165 girls onto helicopters.
00:17:13.280 And they evacuated them on helicopters.
00:17:16.000 They had about 15 girls per helicopter.
00:17:18.900 And the girls, you know, you've got to picture this scene.
00:17:21.260 It's pitch black.
00:17:22.260 It's still nighttime.
00:17:23.440 The rain is...
00:17:24.500 Still coming.
00:17:25.220 ...pelting down.
00:17:26.760 The girls are in their pajamas.
00:17:28.860 They're missing shoes.
00:17:30.720 Many of them are crying.
00:17:32.320 They're scared.
00:17:33.760 Some of them are looking for their friends.
00:17:36.600 Some of them are looking for their younger sisters who they can't find.
00:17:40.000 They're terrified.
00:17:41.360 Some of them were singing Christian hymns.
00:17:45.140 And Scott was comforting each of them, putting them...
00:17:48.560 When I talked to him, he'd just gotten off the phone with a mom and dad who had called him with their daughter.
00:17:56.780 And they said, you saved our daughter's life.
00:17:58.920 They said she was scared out of her mind.
00:18:01.080 And you held her hands.
00:18:02.640 You picked her up and loaded her into a helicopter.
00:18:05.400 And as you did, you held her hands.
00:18:07.040 You told her, it's going to be all right.
00:18:08.300 You're going to be okay.
00:18:09.160 And this hero and, you know, laid-back swimmer, he was reduced to tears.
00:18:21.440 That heroism was happening day after day after day.
00:18:39.160 You look at the last little over a week and you talk about we're still trying to find people.
00:19:01.160 You talk about, you know, I say this not really sarcastically, finally the government got it right.
00:19:06.140 The response was incredible.
00:19:07.640 And seeing people work together, seeing how strong the people are in Texas.
00:19:12.920 What was your takeaway even from Monday to Friday, being there and seeing how quickly people are still actively helping?
00:19:22.220 They're still out there searching.
00:19:23.800 They're still trying to help their fellow man and woman in Texas.
00:19:26.820 Look, they're working hard.
00:19:28.160 And you've got volunteers coming in like crazy.
00:19:31.520 You've got people coming in from all over the state that are contributing.
00:19:34.960 The Community Foundation in Kirk County has received over $30 million in contributions in just a week.
00:19:42.920 They've already distributed over $5 million as they're trying to give money just to help people get back on their feet right on the ground.
00:19:50.320 And listen, there's also lots of confusion.
00:19:53.040 I will say I've spoken now to quite a few parents and people who lost loved ones.
00:19:59.400 And there's frustration early on.
00:20:01.660 It's hard to get information.
00:20:03.160 I'll tell you, the moms and dads who had girls missing at Mystic, I would be getting phone calls and texts.
00:20:08.800 Do you know anything about where my daughter is?
00:20:11.100 And what you want to answer yes, and the frustrating thing is that you don't.
00:20:15.620 And so you'd say, look, I'll try to connect you with the head of emergency management.
00:20:19.320 I'll try to connect you with the sheriff, like the people on the ground.
00:20:23.500 But in many cases, they're just out search teams looking.
00:20:26.680 And until they find the remains, there's nothing to be told other than we're still looking.
00:20:32.900 That frustration was real.
00:20:34.700 Well, I'll tell you, there was an article just came out in Texas Monthly about what happened.
00:20:40.700 And I want to take a few minutes and actually read a significant portion of the article.
00:20:44.680 The article is by a fellow named Aaron Parsley, and it's entitled The River House Broke, We Rushed in the River.
00:20:51.160 And he's telling a firsthand story about his family that had a house right along the Waterloo River.
00:20:58.640 I want you just to listen to this.
00:20:59.740 Rosemary, the four-year-old, woke up first.
00:21:05.400 She told my brother-in-law, Lance, that there was something on the roof.
00:21:09.860 Seven of us were at my family's river house on the Guadalupe, between Ingram and Hunt, for the fourth.
00:21:15.920 Our little stretch of river is wide, green, cool, deep, and slow.
00:21:20.400 It's some of the best swimming anywhere and one of the most beautiful spots in Texas, as far as I'm concerned.
00:21:26.520 I've spent many peaceful afternoons there.
00:21:28.840 Floating and staring up at the cypress trees that tower over the water.
00:21:34.120 The house, a one-story cabin on stilts about 50 yards from the river, up the steeply sloped yard,
00:21:40.960 was built right after the 1987 flood that devastated this region, killing 10 teenagers.
00:21:48.240 Concrete pillars put our family's place a few feet above what officials consider the 100-year floodplain.
00:21:55.340 More than once, I'd tried to imagine the waters rising that high, but it seemed impossible.
00:22:02.680 I woke around 3 a.m. to the sound of thunder and rain.
00:22:06.520 My only thought was I hope it stops so I can go on an early morning run.
00:22:11.140 Shortly before 4.30, I would later learn,
00:22:13.760 Rosemary climbed down from the top bunk of the kids' bedroom and went to get her father.
00:22:20.800 Lance stepped out of bed to see what was causing all the pounding and creaking.
00:22:24.640 I stirred about that time, too, and heard what I figured was the kids running around the house,
00:22:29.700 excited by the storm.
00:22:30.780 What's going on, I asked.
00:22:33.940 We're in trouble, Dad said.
00:22:36.220 Big trouble.
00:22:37.740 I looked past them.
00:22:39.880 The river was as high as the deck, 20 feet above the ground.
00:22:46.560 We talked through our options.
00:22:49.100 Getting onto the roof was impossible.
00:22:51.740 We had no ladder, and the eaves were about 8 feet above the deck.
00:22:55.260 Patrick weighed whether we could all climb through a window onto the live oak whose branches were near the back of the house,
00:23:02.140 then realized it wasn't reachable.
00:23:05.240 Lance called 911, but the dispatcher said he didn't know when anyone could get to us.
00:23:13.180 As we reassembled in the kitchen, the vinyl flooring under our feet started to bubble.
00:23:19.740 Then water began to pool.
00:23:21.980 My dad walked into the bedroom and saw the carpet floating off the floor.
00:23:27.320 The river's musty scent permeated the house, mixed with what smelled like freshly chopped wood.
00:23:35.820 My sister sat rosemary and clay on the kitchen island countertop.
00:23:42.580 Rosemary was 4 and clay was 20 months old.
00:23:45.220 We discussed whether we could get them higher,
00:23:47.920 maybe even on top of the cabinets in the small space below the ceiling.
00:23:53.620 Then the roof over the porch crashed down,
00:23:57.720 and we heard glass shatter in my father's room, just off the kitchen.
00:24:02.940 Rosemary asked,
00:24:04.460 Why did the window break?
00:24:07.380 Clay started to cry.
00:24:08.440 When the sliding glass doors opened and water poured in,
00:24:12.420 Lance ran to it, shoved it closed, and held it shut.
00:24:15.900 The pendant lamps began to swing wildly over the kitchen counter.
00:24:20.300 The house was shifting.
00:24:22.040 It lurched sharply, and we all struggled to stay on our feet.
00:24:27.080 It felt like walking down the aisle of a plane during strong turbulence.
00:24:31.740 We're moving.
00:24:34.480 We're moving, Patrick said.
00:24:37.400 The realization was terrifying.
00:24:40.100 The rushing, still-rising water had lifted the house off its pillars.
00:24:46.960 It was afloat, and then it wasn't.
00:24:51.020 I saw part of the deck rip away.
00:24:53.520 I heard windows break from every corner.
00:24:56.020 Cracks split the walls.
00:24:58.100 We crashed into something, probably a tree.
00:25:00.240 I don't know how long it took.
00:25:02.320 Ten seconds, maybe fifteen, for the house to come apart.
00:25:07.860 Alyssa managed to keep both kids on the countertop,
00:25:10.600 one hand on each, still trying to reassure them.
00:25:13.680 As the house came undone, she grabbed one in each arm.
00:25:17.880 This is the part that will forever haunt me.
00:25:20.960 If I or anyone else had been closer to them, we would have helped her.
00:25:25.500 We would have grabbed one of the kids,
00:25:27.320 but we simply didn't know that we were about to be plunged into the water.
00:25:32.580 We simply didn't know.
00:25:35.500 As we were thrust into churning water,
00:25:38.240 into darkness,
00:25:40.340 our disintegrating house sucked us down into the river.
00:25:44.620 The last thing I remember from inside the house
00:25:46.980 was seeing the refrigerator coming at me.
00:25:49.840 Patrick saw the countertop tear away from the kitchen island
00:25:54.280 with Alyssa and the kids on it.
00:25:57.720 As the river carried me downstream,
00:25:59.940 I struggled to stay above water.
00:26:02.840 I was surrounded by branches,
00:26:04.500 by twisted metal,
00:26:05.780 by uprooted trees,
00:26:07.140 by countless smaller objects,
00:26:09.640 bottles of sunscreen,
00:26:10.980 books,
00:26:11.760 couch cushions,
00:26:12.580 coolers,
00:26:13.300 that came from inside our home
00:26:15.660 or somebody else's.
00:26:17.820 I realized I had lost my shoes
00:26:20.140 and my phone.
00:26:21.960 I grabbed at every branch
00:26:23.300 and every tree that was still standing.
00:26:24.940 A few snapped off in my hands,
00:26:27.380 leaving me with a fistful of leaves.
00:26:29.660 I managed to briefly hold onto one,
00:26:31.900 perhaps for a few seconds,
00:26:33.580 until the force of the water
00:26:35.260 and the constant assault from debris
00:26:37.060 ripped me away.
00:26:40.040 I latched onto a tree
00:26:41.480 with branches large enough to support me
00:26:43.200 and pulled myself out of the water.
00:26:45.260 My breathing was frantic,
00:26:47.840 but my mind was focused.
00:26:50.040 I considered the possibility of death.
00:26:53.200 I thought if I survive,
00:26:55.060 I'll be the only one.
00:26:57.940 The tree began to crack, creak, and moan.
00:27:02.200 Then it slowly fell into the river.
00:27:05.460 And so did I.
00:27:07.100 I reached for another tree
00:27:08.500 and climbed as high as I could,
00:27:09.800 a couple of feet above the rushing water.
00:27:11.380 I stepped up to a higher branch
00:27:14.080 and then another.
00:27:15.660 If this tree collapsed,
00:27:17.320 I wasn't sure
00:27:18.620 if I would fight to stay above the water again.
00:27:23.080 I pleaded with the tree to hold me,
00:27:25.560 to withstand the power of the river.
00:27:28.960 Please, I whispered.
00:27:31.160 Please.
00:27:33.000 Over the roar of the water
00:27:34.300 and the crackling of the trees,
00:27:36.100 I heard screaming.
00:27:36.820 It was guttural, primal.
00:27:40.680 Who's there, I called.
00:27:43.100 I'm in a tree too.
00:27:44.340 We have to hang on.
00:27:45.360 Someone will help.
00:27:47.100 It's Alyssa,
00:27:48.780 my sister screamed.
00:27:51.100 I'm with Rosemary.
00:27:53.380 Clay is gone.
00:27:55.160 The memory of those words will never leave me.
00:27:58.140 A combination of profound relief
00:28:00.100 and unbearable sadness overwhelms me now,
00:28:03.200 even as I type this.
00:28:05.180 Alyssa and I kept yelling to each other,
00:28:07.800 though neither of us could clearly make out
00:28:09.600 what the other was saying.
00:28:11.580 Be strong for Rosemary,
00:28:13.640 I implored.
00:28:14.340 You have to survive this.
00:28:17.000 Intermittently,
00:28:17.960 I could hear just one word.
00:28:20.460 Clay.
00:28:22.140 As Alyssa cried out for her son.
00:28:25.000 Then I noticed Patrick running along the riverbank.
00:28:27.720 I couldn't believe he was there,
00:28:29.340 fully dressed,
00:28:30.160 wearing his tank top and shorts,
00:28:31.660 his shoes somehow still on.
00:28:33.060 He had lost only his wedding ring,
00:28:35.460 he told me later.
00:28:37.080 Patrick, I'm here, I yelled.
00:28:39.220 For the first time,
00:28:40.240 I thought we had a shot at surviving.
00:28:42.860 Patrick was the first normal thing
00:28:44.460 since the house broke apart.
00:28:46.240 It was like being alone on an alien planet
00:28:48.460 and another human being randomly arrives.
00:28:51.580 And then Lance came jogging up after him.
00:28:54.340 They'd ended up in the same pecan tree,
00:28:56.280 about 200 feet away from the riverbank
00:28:58.000 and about 2,000 feet
00:28:59.220 from where our house once stood.
00:29:00.760 Lance has a watch with a flashlight
00:29:03.500 that he'd turned on
00:29:04.520 after Rosemary woke him up.
00:29:07.320 Patrick said he spotted the beam
00:29:08.840 after he climbed into the tree.
00:29:10.680 They were only a few yards apart,
00:29:12.560 close enough that they could talk without yelling.
00:29:15.900 Lance kept repeating,
00:29:18.140 my son,
00:29:19.040 my daughter,
00:29:20.100 there's no way.
00:29:22.860 In the river's roiling churn,
00:29:24.760 with Rosemary clinging to her neck
00:29:27.520 while she paddled with one arm,
00:29:30.220 Alyssa had somehow managed
00:29:31.480 to push her daughter onto a branch,
00:29:33.820 which Rosemary hugged
00:29:35.640 with her arms and legs,
00:29:37.840 lying flat.
00:29:39.700 Alyssa stayed in the water just below her,
00:29:41.620 gripping the tree's trunk.
00:29:43.400 And as the waters receded,
00:29:44.800 she stood uncomfortably
00:29:45.940 on a branch below her.
00:29:48.520 Alyssa would tell me five days later
00:29:50.560 that Rosemary
00:29:52.340 wanted to play
00:29:53.960 I Spy
00:29:54.660 while they waded in the tree.
00:29:58.460 Patrick waded into the water
00:30:00.000 to intercept a blue kayak
00:30:01.380 that was floating by.
00:30:03.120 An older couple
00:30:04.140 watching from a house
00:30:05.100 on a nearby hill
00:30:06.020 brought Lance and Patrick
00:30:08.020 an inflatable inner tube
00:30:09.300 and they decided the tube
00:30:10.500 was the better option
00:30:11.340 to catch Rosemary.
00:30:13.140 More control,
00:30:14.840 softer landing.
00:30:15.660 After that,
00:30:18.020 Rosemary's rescue
00:30:18.880 happened quickly.
00:30:21.180 Patrick and Lance
00:30:21.960 rigged the inner tube
00:30:22.960 with a green garden hose
00:30:24.140 they found
00:30:24.660 and tied it around
00:30:25.460 a downed tree.
00:30:27.220 Lance waded into the water,
00:30:28.620 positioning the tube
00:30:29.440 beneath his daughter.
00:30:31.580 I stood downriver,
00:30:33.420 ready to catch Rosemary
00:30:34.620 if she missed the target
00:30:37.080 and got caught in the stream.
00:30:39.660 Alyssa urged us to hurry,
00:30:42.100 saying she didn't think
00:30:42.980 she could hold onto
00:30:43.720 the tree much longer.
00:30:45.660 She had to pry
00:30:46.860 Rosemary's hands
00:30:48.080 from the branch.
00:30:51.060 Rosemary,
00:30:52.720 terrified,
00:30:54.440 started to cry.
00:30:56.100 Then my sister
00:30:56.900 cradled her daughter
00:30:57.860 and dropped her
00:30:59.460 20 feet into the river
00:31:00.560 where her father
00:31:02.120 was waiting.
00:31:03.660 She landed directly
00:31:05.040 in the middle
00:31:05.620 of the inner tube
00:31:06.360 and we all cheered.
00:31:09.100 Lance carried
00:31:09.860 his daughter to shore.
00:31:11.100 My sister jumped
00:31:11.920 into the water
00:31:12.460 right after
00:31:13.040 and I grabbed her,
00:31:14.220 put my arm around her
00:31:15.140 and together
00:31:15.540 and together
00:31:15.560 we walked to safety.
00:31:17.800 Alyssa collapsed
00:31:18.660 on the riverbank
00:31:19.460 crying out for Clay.
00:31:22.220 Rosemary became calm
00:31:23.800 when she reached dry land
00:31:26.260 but her face
00:31:28.200 had a blue cast.
00:31:30.020 We were all shivering.
00:31:32.420 We told Rosemary
00:31:33.580 how brave she'd been
00:31:34.680 and that she was now safe
00:31:37.520 and it was going
00:31:38.980 to be okay.
00:31:39.540 That's the reality
00:31:41.680 of what it was like
00:31:43.560 for so many down there
00:31:44.560 and it happened
00:31:45.580 there's that article
00:31:46.780 describes it
00:31:47.880 I think perfectly
00:31:48.700 so quickly.
00:31:50.440 I want you to take a look
00:31:51.880 at this picture.
00:31:55.000 This is Rosemary and Clay.
00:31:57.660 Rosemary survived,
00:31:58.700 Clay did not.
00:32:00.000 This family
00:32:00.820 like so many Texas families
00:32:02.360 is rejoicing
00:32:04.440 at the lives
00:32:05.140 that were saved
00:32:05.940 and is forever grieving
00:32:08.340 at the lives
00:32:08.860 that were lost
00:32:09.760 and this family
00:32:12.000 like so many Texas families
00:32:13.580 needs their friends,
00:32:16.760 their loved ones
00:32:17.660 to hold them tight.
00:32:19.040 They need God's blessing
00:32:20.580 and mercy
00:32:21.400 and grace
00:32:22.240 and I will tell you
00:32:24.500 everyone in Texas
00:32:26.540 is standing with this family,
00:32:28.940 is standing with all
00:32:29.680 of the parents
00:32:30.340 at Mystic,
00:32:33.040 is standing with all
00:32:33.900 the little girls
00:32:34.660 who lost friends.
00:32:36.700 Just today
00:32:37.540 I was visiting
00:32:38.240 with parents
00:32:39.180 who had two daughters
00:32:40.680 at Mystic,
00:32:41.340 one survived,
00:32:42.080 one did not.
00:32:43.440 They talked about
00:32:44.160 the surviving daughter
00:32:45.180 and the guilt
00:32:47.580 and grief
00:32:48.520 that every one
00:32:49.400 of the survivors
00:32:50.140 feels,
00:32:50.880 survivor's guilt,
00:32:51.880 why did my friend,
00:32:52.780 why did my sister die
00:32:53.940 and I didn't
00:32:55.140 and those girls,
00:32:56.920 it's going to take
00:32:57.680 a whole lot of love
00:32:58.600 and a whole lot of time
00:32:59.440 for them to walk
00:33:00.280 through that grief.
00:33:01.600 We'll do that.
00:33:03.520 That's who Texans are
00:33:04.960 but these are hard times.
00:33:08.280 There are so many
00:33:08.900 different organizations
00:33:09.880 doing amazing work
00:33:10.860 helping those
00:33:11.720 in Texas.
00:33:13.560 If you can help,
00:33:15.560 make sure you help.
00:33:17.560 There's a lot of them.
00:33:18.820 Pick the one
00:33:19.320 that connects with you
00:33:20.560 and your family
00:33:21.140 and your heart
00:33:21.660 but there are people
00:33:22.500 that need help
00:33:23.140 and if you can do that
00:33:24.520 they'd be amazing.
00:33:25.440 As soon as I will see you
00:33:26.100 back here again real soon.
00:33:27.100 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:33:31.320 Guaranteed Human.