St. Joseph native, now Kerrville resident recalls deadly flooding: ‘It’s devastating’

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- As heavy storms brought more than a summer's worth of rain in one night to central Texas, less than 500 yards separated Traejun Johnson's hillside apartment in Kerrville, Texas, from the rapidly surging Guadalupe River.

The 28-year-old Johnson, a native of St. Joseph and graduate of Central High School and Missouri Western State University, was preparing for another day of work at YoungLife Camp about an hour's drive southwest, well aware of forecasted rains but unaware of the extent of massive flooding less than a quarter of a mile away.

"I was like one of a few people that we're going to go to camp that day. I typically get up at like 5:30 a.m.," said Johnson, who moved to Kerrville two and a half years ago. "I step outside my apartment and I'm like, 'Oh, it's raining hard,' ... It's dark still because it's storming"

What he witnessed as he reached the bottom of the hill immediately put him in a heightened state of adrenaline: His leasing office flooded, the sight of water surging over the banks of the Guadalupe River and flooded streets, unlike anything he had ever seen.

The river had risen from 3 feet to more than 30 feet in a matter of just 45 minutes in certain areas, killing 130 people as of Friday, July 11, with Kerr County experiencing the highest number of fatalities, with 103 people dead.

"I didn't realize it because the way that my apartment complex is, it's kind of like on a hill," he said. "I started driving. I knew it was serious, and I could see the water rushing in. I'm constantly looking to my right because the river's on my right and I'm like, 'Okay, this is bad.'

As the magnitude of the situation came into focus, Johnson immediately raced to find his girlfriend Faith, who lived just minutes away in an apartment only blocks away from the Guadalupe River, even closer than him.

Johnson said it was at that moment panic started to set in.

"I pull onto a road called Guadalupe Street, which the river runs right next to and it is overflowing into the street. This is when I started to panic," he said. "Her house probably has water coming in it and she's not awake ... I knew how close her house was to the river."

He recalled the tense and "scary" moments as he attempted to find a clear path to her apartment amid torrential rains and darkness, blocked by floodwaters and first responders evacuating people from homes, all while trying to reach her by phone to confirm she was safe.

“I finally get on the phone with her, and I'm like, ‘Faith. Get up. The river's flooding. You need to get everybody out,'" he said. "I have a truc,k so for me to not be able to get to her in my truck was a little scary."

He stayed on the phone with her for 10 minutes as she raced to pack up whatever belongings she could. Johnson watched from a distance as she was rushed out with a huge group of people by first responders, eventually taking refuge in a nearby Walmart.

The two were left wondering how bad the situation might get.

“It's just a state of like, I don't know, where do we go? Right. What do we do?”

A co-worker of Johnson would later offer them shelter at a nearby home at higher elevation where they waited it out for the rest of the day, a lifeline the two are extremely thankful for.

A short time later, news reports started pouring in about catastrophic flooding for surrounding communities along a 40-mile stretch of the river, which ended up reaching its second-highest level on record.

“That's when I started to check my phone a little bit. And I was like, 'Oh Camp Mystic got hit. Oh, Hunt and Ingram are like pretty much under water,'" he said. "Once I started realizing how high it was here, I was like, 'Oh, it's devastating up there.'" 

Johnson was astounded to learn of the level of destruction and loss of life caused by the floods, particularly the speed with which flood waters swept away entire cabins and homes, leaving so many with little to no time to escape.

Johnson's apartment complex ended up sustaining flood damage that was limited to the bottom side of the first floor.

"Very, very fortunate that I was able to just wake up and have time to properly evacuate properly ... to get to safety, very, very thankful that where I live was at a higher elevation," he said. “Hearing how fast it rose and in how short amount of time, there's no time to get out. Especially at the dead of night. You're sleeping."

The devastation at Camp Mystic particularly hits home for Johnson, whose long been involved with youth summer camps in Texas and Missouri.

Johnson made the move from St. Joseph to central Texas to continue his career with YoungLife and its LoneHollow Ranch in Vanderpool, Texas, located just an hour southwest of Camp Mystic.

"These camps have been here for so long, so I think that adds a level of depth to the hurt that has happened because it's a lot of parents, a lot of grandparents have come to the to these camps that were affected," Johnson said. “If our camp was on a big river system like the Guadalupe Bay. We would have been swept away. Just knowing where our camp is positioned, I'm just thankful for that."

With more than 150 people still missing and roughly $18 billion to $22 billion in total damage and economic loss, Johnson is spending most of his off days volunteering with cleanup efforts, whether it's tearing out drywall and insulation from flood-ravaged homes or moving furniture.

We're over a week in now, and they're still doing search and rescue. We're going to be cleaning up for a while, over a year … there's just so much to clean up," he said. "We're going to give our time and help clean up the community. We've been a part of it.”