NEED TO KNOW
- Leo Romero Jr. who turns 19 on July 9, said his father, stepmother and 2-year-old brother are still missing after floods swept away their home in Kerrville, Texas, on July 4
- The 19-year-old said flood waters began surging underneath his home at around 6 a.m. and shortly after, he and his family were swept away with the current after the roof in their home collapsed
- This comes after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shared that 109 people have died while 161 people are still missing amid the catastrophic floods
A 19-year-old man is holding out hope that his family will be found after they were swept away by the Texas floods, which have left over 100 dead and over 160 people still missing.
Leo Romero Jr., who turned 19 on Wednesday, July 9, told local outlet KSAT-TV that his father Leo Romero, stepmother Natalia Venzor and 2-year-old little brother Carlos Romero, are still part of the list of those missing in the wake of catastrophic flooding that has swept across central Texas.
Romero recalled to the outlet that he was unable to sleep in his home in Kerrville, Texas, on July 3 and the following day, at around 6 a.m., is when he began to hear the floodwaters rising underneath his home. He said he woke up his family.
“It was bad, but at that moment, we didn’t think what happened was going to happen,” he recalled to KSAT-TV.
He said as the floodwaters finally entered their home through vents, his father told him and his stepmother to climb onto a couch and hold on to the curtains. In the meantime, his father, whose birthday is also July 9, held his toddler son up as the floodwaters rose. The roof of their home eventually collapsed and their home was swept away.
“Next thing I know, the house is gone, [and] I’m in the water,” Romero Jr. recalled. “I think I just hit a lot of rubble, parts of houses, trees and stuff like that.”
“I thought that was it. I don’t want to say I accepted it, but I thought I was going to die,” he added.
He said he tried to hold on to debris as the currents swept him away and after hours of being trapped in the floodwaters, he was eventually rescued by firefighters. However, his immediate family members were still not found.
The 19-year-old was transferred to Peterson Regional Medical Center in Kerrville, where he is currently recovering. A GoFundMe was started in order to help raise money to help Romero Jr. replace items like clothes and electronics and to help raise money for his education as he recovers from the “trauma.”
“I’m glad I’m safe,” Romero Jr. told KSAT-TV. “But it hurts knowing that I don’t know anything about my family.”
However, he noted that he wasn’t going to give up hope, saying, “We have the whole family searching. Neighbors, search.”
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shared the latest numbers as a result of the catastrophic flooding in a press conference on Tuesday, July 8, saying, 109 people have died, while 161 people are missing.
“The primary job right now continues to be locating everybody who was affected by this flood,” he continued. “We will not stop until every missing person is accounted for.”
Amid criticism over how the response to the flooding was managed, authorities confirmed state lawmakers will also meet for a special session in about two weeks, during which they’ll address strategies to handle natural disasters going forward.
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