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 didn't know how bad the situation would get.
“It's just a state of like, I don't know where do we go? Right. What do we do?”
News-Press NOW will update this story.
