Heroes of The Hill Country Floods [PHOTOS]
Early morning on Friday, July 4, heavy rains caused water levels in the creeks and rivers of Texas Hill Country to reach historic levels, leading to severe flooding that devastated several communities. Throughout the tragedy and in its wake, many brave heroes put their lives on the line to save as many people as they could find, with the search for the missing ongoing. As of Tuesday afternoon, at least 108 people have lost their lives.
RELATED STORY: Pray For Hill Country: 60 Photos of The Deadly Central Texas Floods
RELATED STORY: How You Can Help Texas Hill Country Recover
Even as the water levels have since returned closer to normal, hazards like fallen trees, debris, heat, snakes and rainfall have made recovery efforts difficult. Despite this, over 450 first responders and countless volunteers have assisted in rescue and recovery efforts. These are some of the heroes of Hill Country:
Richard “Dick” Eastland
Richard “Dick” Eastland was the owner and camp director of Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp in Kerr County, which his family has owned and operated since 1939. Tragically, Eastland lost his life as a result of the flooding while leading several of his campers to safety, according to survivor accounts. He was 74.
Julian Ryan
Julian Ryan, a father of two young boys, was helping his family escape their home once he and his fiancé awoke to ankle-deep water in their home, in Ingram, TX, according to ABC7. Within moments the water surged up to their waists, so the couple opted to place their kids onto a floating mattress.
Unable to escape from their bedroom door, as the water had forced it shut, Ryan was mortally wounded in an effort to help his family escape their home. His family was able to escape with their lives, but Ryan succumbed to his injuries. He was 27.
Scott Ruskan
Scott Ruskan is a rescue swimmer for the U.S. Coast Guard, and the branch’s response to the flooding was his first mission, according to Yahoo.com. At 7AM on Friday, July 4, Ruskan’s team at U.S. Coast Guard’s Air Station Corpus Christi received a call to respond, and flew through what he described as “some of the worst flying we’ve ever dealt with.”
What was typically a one-hour flight turned into at least seven, when his team eventually landed at Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River. He was left at the camp to assist the U.S. Army National Guard in getting around 200 people, mostly young kids, to safety. This included getting people into rescue helicopters and flying them to safety, and then going back and leading groups of 10 to 15b people at a time out of the flood zone.
While many have hailed Ruskan for his heroics, he credits the campers in the rescue operation:
“The real heroes, I think, were the kids on the ground,” Ruskan said in an interview on Good Morning America. “Those guys are heroic, and they were dealing with some of the worst times of their lives, and they were staying strong. That helped inspire me to get in there and help them out.”
Samuel Cummings
Samuel Cummings is a recent college graduate living in Corpus Christi, TX, grew up in Kerrville, TX, and felt the need to help out in the rescue and recovery efforts, according to NBC News. The 22-year-old hopped in his Ford truck on Sunday night and drove to the disaster zone.
Cummings would spend Monday wading through flood waters, digging through debris and traversing through the flood-ravaged landscape in a desperate effort to find signs of life.
Brandie and Jared Masters
Residing in Mountain Head, TX, Brandie and Jared Masters left their home to help search for survivors and the dead. While Jared dug through debris with an excavator on Monday, Brandie was on the ground looking for any signs of potential survivors, according to NBC News. The pair plan to potentially sleep in their car as they continue to help out on the scene.
Dennis Price
Dennis Price, the founder and CEO of Heroes for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that deploys veterans, first responders and other volunteers to areas in the wake of disasters, has aided in recovery efforts with his team. On Monday, they located four bodies and retrieved them for identification, so they could be returned to their families.
Price described many of the harrowing scenes his team found, including dozens of smashed RVs stacked against trees:
“It’s a massive tragedy,” Price told NBC News. “We feel for the families. We feel for all these people, and we keep them in our prayers. That’s why we support every way we can.”
Glenn Juenke
Glenn Juenke, a night guard at Camp Mystic, was on duty when the flood waters began to rush into the camp. he acted quickly and began placing girls in the building called “Wiggle Inn” on mattresses, guiding them to safety amid the flood waters, according to CNN.
“I witnessed firsthand the courage and faith that your daughters displayed during some of the most terrifying moments of their young lives,” Juenke said in an interview with CNN. “Each of those sweet girls (were) cold, wet, and frightened — but they were also incredibly brave. They trusted me, and we leaned on each other through a long, harrowing night together inside their cabin.”
Efforts Don’t Go Unnoticed
From volunteers on the ground, in the water and on horseback, to the National Guard, Coast Guard, police, fire rescue and so many more, their efforts in saving lives and retrieving those that lost their doesn’t go unnoticed. These brave individuals have more than made a difference during and in the wake of one of the worst natural disasters in Texas history.
