{"id":30326,"date":"2025-07-08T21:36:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T21:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=30326"},"modified":"2025-07-08T21:36:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T21:36:55","slug":"texas-dad-killed-in-floods-while-holding-onto-his-babies-as-they-were-swept-away-witness-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=30326","title":{"rendered":"Texas dad killed in floods while ‘holding onto his babies’ as they were swept away, witness says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A dad was tragically killed in the Texas floods while ‘holding onto his babies’ as they were swept away, a witness has said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deadly flash floods<\/a> rampaged across central Texas<\/a> and Kerr County last week, as families celebrated Independence Day on Friday, July 4.<\/p>\n

A month’s worth of rain<\/a> fell in just a matter of hours while the swelling of the Guadalupe River rose to a dangerous level of 26 feet in around 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

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The floods swept away entire mobile homes, cars<\/a> and even cabins that many were residing in on vacation<\/a> for the holidays.<\/p>\n

It has since been confirmed that the catastrophe claimed the lives of at least 105 people, including 28 children, as search and rescue efforts reached the fifth day for the dozens still missing.<\/p>\n

Now, heartbreaking tales are emerging out of the mourning community, from grief-stricken parents<\/a> to witnesses who saw people being swept away.<\/p>\n

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The flash floods destroyed vehicles (Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

John Burgess was one such victim who is believed to have been taken and killed by the waters while ‘holding tight’ to his babies, the owner of the RV park where his family was staying has revealed, reports<\/a> PEOPLE.<\/p>\n

The father had been staying in Texas Hill County with his wife<\/a>, Julia Anderson Burgess, and their two boys when the floods occurred.<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to KWTX, the family had visited the camp from Liberty, Texas, to collect their eldest daughter from another camp that had not been affected by the floods.<\/p>\n

Lorena Guillen, owner of the Blue Oak RV Park, recalled the father<\/a> desperately clutching his two sons while clinging to a tree.<\/p>\n

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John and Julia’s bodies have tragically been found (Facebook\/John Burgess)<\/cite><\/div>\n

\u201cMy husband was in the water trying to ask them, \u2018Please throw me your baby!\u2019 The man was holding tight to his babies, and he just got swept away,” she said<\/a> to the New York Post.<\/p>\n

Guillen said the Burgess’, like many families, had come for the Fourth of July celebrations, adding: \u201cThe kids were so excited to be here.”<\/p>\n

She also revealed all 28 of the RV’s parked at the camp were destroyed and recalls the harrowing moments they were swept away in the pitch-black darkness.<\/p>\n

“We heard people screaming throughout the night,\u201d she continued. \u201cThe cabins from the RV park next door came floating, and they were getting smashed against the trees.”<\/p>\n

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The scene of the flood along the Guadalupe River (Eric Vryn\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

\u201d\u2018Help me! Help me!\u2019 \u2014 that was the main thing. You heard a lot of screaming, it was just too much,\u201d Guillen added.<\/p>\n

Tragically, the bodies of John, a graduate of China Spring High School in the Waco area, and his wife, a former teacher at Belton\u2019s Lakewood Elementary<\/a>, have since been recovered, reports<\/a> WLUC.<\/p>\n

However, their two sons remain missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe neighbors around here, we\u2019ve all been praying and everything, and it\u2019s just a sad, sad situation. I just can\u2019t hardly believe it,” a neighbor, Winnie Taylor, told the outlet.<\/p>\n

A fundraiser to rebuild the now-devastated Blue Oak RV Park has since raised $1,599 at the time of writing.<\/p>\n

The GoFundMe can be donated to here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Featured Image Credit: John Burgess\/Facebook<\/cite><\/p>\n

Topics:\u00a0Texas floods<\/a>, Community<\/a>, Texas<\/a>, US News<\/a>, Weather<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      A dad was tragically killed in the Texas floods while ‘holding onto his babies’ as they were swept away, a witness has said. Deadly flash floods rampaged … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30329,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30326\/revisions\/30329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}