Texas father swept away while holding his children during deadly flash flood, eyewitness says

John Burges was trying to protect his children when a flash flood tore through their RV park in Kerr County. His wife and two sons are missing, while their daughter survived.

A Texas father was swept away while clutching his children as catastrophic flash floods struck Kerr County over the Fourth of July weekend, killing more than 100 people and leaving many still unaccounted for.

John Burges, a resident of Liberty, had taken his family to the Blue Oak RV Park for the holiday. As floodwaters surged in the darkness, he clung to a tree with his children, refusing to let them go. Moments later, the river overwhelmed them.

“My husband was in the water trying to ask them, ‘Please throw me your baby!’” said Lorena Guillen, the RV park owner, in an interview with the New York Post. “The man was holding tight to his babies, and he just got swept away.”

Ongoing search for survivors

Burges’ wife, Julia, and their two sons remain missing. Their daughter, who had been staying at a nearby summer camp, is safe. Guillen recalled that the family had arrived for the weekend, and the children had been excited to be there.

The flooding destroyed the RV park overnight. Guillen described the panic and destruction as cabins floated away and screams echoed through the night.

“We heard people screaming throughout the night,” she said. “The cabins from the RV park next door came floating, and they were getting smashed against the trees. ‘Help me! Help me!’ — that was the main thing. You heard a lot of screaming, it was just too much.”

Camp also hit hard

Nearby Camp Mystic, a girls’ summer camp, confirmed that 27 children and counselors had died. Eleven more remain missing.

“Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy,” the camp stated, adding that they remain in close contact with authorities as search efforts continue.

Among those who died was camp director Dick Eastland, who was reportedly trying to save children during the flood.

“If he wasn’t going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for,” his grandson wrote on Instagram.

As the river rose by nearly 10 feet, entire families were caught without warning. Guillen said she and her husband were unable to sleep and rushed to the river’s edge as RVs were swept away in the dark.

“It was pitch black, it was so dark,” she said. “A family of five was stranded… Their RV was floating away.”

The full toll of the disaster is still unfolding. Search and rescue teams continue to comb through debris and flooded areas. Officials have not yet released a complete list of victims.

In communities across Texas, families are grappling with the scale of loss and the fear that loved ones may never be found.

The flood took lives in seconds, leaving behind silence and ruin. For many families like the Burgeses, the search continues—not just for those still missing, but for answers and healing in the face of unbearable loss.