Texas dad, wife and 2 children lost to flood waters as he refused to ‘throw’ his sons to safety from tree

KERR COUNTY, TEXAS: A July 4th holiday turned into heartbreak at Blue Oak RV Park when a sudden flash flood swept through the area, claiming several lives. One of the victims, John Burgess of Liberty, Texas, was last seen clinging to a tree while holding his children as floodwaters surged. 

According to Lorena Guillen, the RV park’s owner and eyewitness to the tragedy, rescuers pleaded with Burgess to throw them the children, but he refused, and moments later, the flood swept the family away.

Authorities later confirmed Burgess’s death. His wife, Julia, and their two young sons are still missing, while the couple’s daughter, who was staying at a nearby summer camp, is safe.

 Eyewitness recounts how Texas dad refused to throw his children to safety

A heart-wrenching scene unfolded during last week’s devastating floods in Kerr County, Texas, when a father clung to a tree with his children, refusing to let them go despite desperate pleas from nearby residents.

According to Lorena Guillen, her husband was in the water urging the man to throw the children to safety, but the father held on tightly until the current swept them all away.

"My husband was in the water trying to ask them, ‘Please throw me your baby!’ The man was holding tight to his babies, and he just got swept away."

The man, identified as John Burgess of Liberty, Texas, was later confirmed dead. His family had traveled to the RV park to celebrate the July 4th holiday. “The kids were so excited to be here,” Guillen recalled.

She described the chaos that followed, saying all 28 RVs at the park were destroyed in the floodwaters. “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."

The most haunting thing was the cries for help, "Help me! Help me!’ — that was the main thing. You heard a lot of screaming, it was just too much."

Lorena Guillen details horrific events that occurred during Texas flooding

Guillen said she had received a possible flash flood warning after closing her nearby business around 12:45 am.

At about 2:30 am, unable to sleep, she went down to check the river. “It was fine,” she said.

Concerned, she called the sheriff’s office to ask if she should evacuate. She recalled, "I called the sheriff’s department at that time, and they had no information how the river levels were. I asked them, ‘Do I need to evacuate?’ and they said, ‘We have no information right now, we don’t know.’ “

Just an hour later, flashing lights from rescue teams woke her and her husband. “ By then, the first level of the RVs were already washing away. The river went up about 10 feet at that time. A family of five was stranded because they were the ones closest to the river. Their RV was floating away. It was pitch black, it was so dark."

She and her husband rushed from door to door, waking residents and urging them to flee. Despite their efforts, eight bodies were later recovered from the property. Two young girls were found trapped under debris. Guillen said the RV park next door reported 40 people missing.

The Guadalupe River had risen an astonishing 27 feet in just 45 minutes. Now, exposed wires, shattered cars, and broken trees line the riverbank where RVs once stood.

Guillen called for a more effective early warning system to prevent such tragedies. “I don’t understand why we don’t have alarms blaring in every single property or every mile down the road,” she said. “But something needs to change. Hopefully I’ll never get to see this in my lifetime.”

Still, she said she doesn’t place blame on local authorities. “I think they did the best they could with what they had. The river flooding authorities not having a budget enough to have censors and alarms installed — that’s the part that should have been changed. Without having a budget or resources, their hands are tied as well,” she said.

“Nobody even remembers a flood this bad. I have friends who are 90 years old and they don’t remember a flood that bad.”