July 25, 2025 • 27 mins
The devastating floods that recently swept through the Texas Hill Country have left an indelible mark on our communities. From Kerrville to Hunt to Ingram and everywhere in between, families have been torn apart, homes destroyed, and lives forever changed. As locals with deep connections to the Guadalupe River, we share our raw and unfiltered experience during this catastrophic event.
What happens when sirens blare but there isn't a cloud in the sky? What do you do when you're separated from loved ones as waters rise unpredictably, cutting off escape routes in minutes? We take you through our harrowing experience of being caught on opposite sides of floodwaters, communicating only through walkie-talkies as cell service failed, and watching helplessly as trees fell and roads disappeared under rushing water.
The unpredictability of nature became our harsh reality. As we explain in this deeply personal conversation, weather forecasts and preparation can only take you so far when mother nature unleashes her full force. We share the moment-by-moment decisions that had to be made to keep our guests and staff safe, even as we watched the landscape transform before our eyes.
But through darkness comes light. The Texas spirit shined brightly in the aftermath, with communities rallying together, neighbors helping neighbors, and strangers becoming family. From chainsaws clearing roads to helicopters delivering supplies, from Pat Green raising a million dollars to George Strait organizing benefits, the outpouring of support demonstrates why you "Don't Mess with Texas."
We've lost family. We've lost friends. And while we may never fully understand why this tragedy struck, we remain committed to honoring those lost by rebuilding stronger, supporting each other, and ensuring their legacies live on. We invite you to join us in supporting ongoing relief efforts through the QR codes and links we've shared.
Hill Country Strong isn't just a saying—it's who we are. Listen, share, and help us keep the momentum going for those who need it most.
https://cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I put a blessing on it.
Too real, that's a metaphoric.
We just put the I in iconic,buzzing like I'm electronic.
Ah yeah, I put a blessing on it.
See me dripping in it 24-7 onit.
I'm just being honest.
Ah, holy water dripping,dripping from my neck to my crap
song Q stepping on it live.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey everybody, it's Tiffany Foy, welcome to the
Ramblin' Gypsy podcast, and wehave been away for a couple of
weeks, weeks.
We want to talk about thehorrible things and floods that
have been going on in Texas andKerrville and Hunt and Ingram
and affected all of us inbetween above Canyon Lake and
(00:37):
above the dam, and then it alsoaffected us down below.
So, first of all, we want totake a moment and bow our heads,
have a little moment of silenceand pray for everybody that has
been involved.
So if you would please join usin doing so, thank you, thank
(01:10):
you very much for doing that.
We wanted to kind of touch baseand talk a little bit about how
we were affected here.
We obviously were not affectedin any way, shape form, um, as
the Texas Hill Country higher inthe Hill Country was um, we are
(01:32):
on the Guadalupe River.
Um, I have right there, right,yeah, so it's right here, right
behind us right there behind us.
But, um, I am born and raisedlocal in New Braunfels.
I've experienced many floods onthe Gwad.
I've learned a lot from how thesystems work.
I've learned a lot from whatcan and cannot happen.
(01:56):
Whether men can say one thing,things can happen the next.
Men can say one thing, thingscan happen the next.
Um, there's.
There's so many different waysthat you can view this whole
thing, um, which you've beenborn and raised local New
Braunfels.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
You grew up with the river right in your backyard,
yes, so you're a little bit moreconditioned to knowing what to
look for and you know when it'sgoing to get to a certain point
and you know water levels andall the things.
Me, I'm not born and raisedhere, so, learning as I go, I
guess, on everybody else who'slived here their entire life and
(02:38):
kind of knows, you know, seasonafter season, how things change
and how things go and therepeat of mother nature, and you
still it's still.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Every time it happens , it's a learning curve.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
It's always unpredictable.
Yeah, absolutely, mother natureitself is unpredictable, right.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
There's been so many people that have talked about
the sirens, and let's talk aboutthat for a moment.
With your first experience withthe sirens and I'm staring- at
one.
right now, it's literally rightthere in the backyard yes, and
we will do a, a screenshot andwe will show you that where the
sirens are on our part of theriver, there's literally one
(03:17):
that is maybe 100 yards fromfrom our location, right here,
and when they do the siren test,um, they normally will, they'll
send out emails.
They'll send out.
It's announced on the Countywebsite or Facebook or everybody
that has has properties up anddown the river.
So we kind of you get youralerts and yes community
bulletin we had.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I have not subscribed for such services yet.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So we had, um, they were doing normally and for
whatever reason, and I and Istill don't know exactly why
they changed the date or thetime or and I'm sure there was a
viable reason and like, I getgoing and going and whatever.
But, um, yeah, we, you, we haveto tell the story about how you
were out here Three weeks priorto the to.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
To the floods and they were doing their supposedly
routine testing.
It was not on the normal day ofthe week that they do their
testing.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They used to do them on Tuesdays.
So we were all expecting themon Tuesday, which is the perfect
time to do them, becausethere's really hardly anyone on
the river.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, very limited traffic.
It's just the locals and youknow the people that know or
work on River Road and at thatpoint you know it happens on
Tuesdays Tuesday noon to lunch.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
This was not a.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Tuesday.
This was not a Tuesday and so,mind you, there's really not
even a cloud in the sky.
But you know, I've heard thingsabout this dam, so the dam can
be opened or closed, or whathave you, and I don't know the
parameters, and I don't know ifthere's going to be a hey, the
dam's breaking or routineopening, or what have you.
(04:50):
So I'm at camp and it's quietat camp.
The guys are using the aircompressor, though, so the
sirens start going off.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And they were in the tube barn repairing tubes and
doing work in.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Couldn't hear the siren alert go off.
And so I'm over here, you know,taking emergency seriously and
you know all the things andfreaking out about it.
I can go and look in on theFacebook page and I'm going
looking, you know, on the countywebsite and, you know, trying
to figure out is this actuallyhappening Cause there's not a
cloud in the sky at this point?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
No, and we have our, we have our group texts, we have
with all of us that are here.
And then we also have thesewalkie talkies and I had I think
I have gone through every shape, form, fashion of walkies that
are, are available and withinreasonable pricing and what have
(05:43):
you?
And we have up and down RiverRoad.
You've got minimal to noservice from one end to the next
and some of them have to beconnected to Wi-Fi, some they
don't give an AM, some theywhatever.
There's all kinds of differentscenarios but for whatever
reason, right where we arelocated, we have absolutely the
worst cell service period.
It's absolutely horrible.
(06:04):
So I invest in these walkiesand we get them and I am at home
, yep and, and nick's radioingflipping completely out,
panicking.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Oh my god, the sirens are going off I don't know
protocol at this point, I don'tknow what we're gonna be doing
garrett, doesn't you message me?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
and riley, because riley gets the notifications and
garrett she's like and andgarrett doesn't even care.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And the ice machine people just came and they heard
it and they didn't even get inthe driveway and I can't get out
and then garrett has the brightidea where, well, if we see the
river start rising, we'll just,you know, hop on river road and
leave.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And I said you know it takes mind you, we haven't
had a drizzle, and it don'tmatter, it takes 15 minutes to
get off of river road and thewhole time you're running
parallel to the river.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So I said, garrett, no, absolutely fuck, not.
Yeah.
If that's the case, we're goingup top to the undisclosed
location and we're getting, youknow, yeah, as high up as we can
get out of this situation.
Yeah and he's like no, we'lljust run parallel to it.
The whole time I was likethat's not going to put us any
better off than what we alreadywere.
But I was stressing out, I wasI don't know.
(07:17):
I didn't know what to do withmy life.
Honestly.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
That was your first siren experience.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And I didn't know protocol.
So I did educate myself alittle bit.
You know, after I heard thesirens and I was like, okay,
well, get to higher ground andmake sure I have my keys with me
on my, with my tile.
So you know, if I need to, so Ican find you yeah, exactly If
you know, cell phone service orwhatever goes out or can't reach
me on the walkie or what haveyou?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
the walkie or what have you.
So that was a uh, so that was,that was prior to, and then, um,
we fast forward to the 4th ofJuly and the rain came.
And the rain came out ofnowhere and it came hard and it
came fast, and we've experiencedthat here multiple times to
(08:10):
where, in 2015, just forinstance, we were supposed to
have a slight drizzle and theweek prior to we were supposed
to have a full-on flood.
So everybody was prepped, wewere ready to go, we were ready
for it and we got absolutelynothing.
Can you?
We were ready for it, um, andwe got absolutely nothing.
(08:32):
Can you really ever be readyfor it?
Though?
You know, it's something that II don't think that a lot of
people realize is that and I'llhave to go back and and my
family will know, they'vethey've been on the river for 52
years that I don't know if itwas after the 98, the 2002 or
(08:53):
prior to when I they just saythere's no such thing as
insurance in a flood zone downhere.
So, whatever happens, whereveryou're in a flood zone, it is
what it is, and so, at ourparticular place, it's this
lower level that we have, and Iknow the way that the river goes
(09:15):
.
Obviously it doesn't gostraight.
There's bends, there's curves,there's ups, there's downs.
There's where it flows, whereit comes from.
We know that Kerrville feedsour water here.
Kerrville water when they get.
When we're in a drought, whenwe are starving for water, we
need Kerrville and comfort andthose areas up there to get rain
(09:37):
, because that's what goesstraight into our lake and so
that's what we know to watch.
And when we're getting rainhere, we know it needs to come
in slow increments.
Right, what happened?
So what happened in this dealwas obviously very, very rare.
(10:01):
Kerrville got hit.
They got hit hard.
Ingram Hunt, all the otherplaces all the way around got
hit hard and fast and the riverrose.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Continuously.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yes, it was an ongoing and there's no, I don't
care how you skin the cat and Iknow you can agree to disagree
with me on this deal, but I'veum, I've seen it, I've been a
part of it there.
Weathermen can only predict somuch.
(10:33):
We can only imagine, we canonly think that this is it.
Is it going to go left, shit, Idon't know.
It may go right, we don't know.
We've watched it move, we'vebeen prepared for things to
happen and nothing has happened.
And then, when they've saidwe've had a slight drizzle, boom
we were flowing at 5 000 cfsfor weeks, weeks and weeks upon
(10:58):
weeks.
um, it happens that quick andthat fast.
Can the sirens help?
Yeah, they absolutely can.
Can you bank on those?
No, no, well, in my opinion,what you do with your actions
once you hear the sirens.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
you know the guys were unbothered by the sirens
the first time I heard them,where I was ready to spring into
action if there was a truedrizzle, you know, and you had
the same mentality of oh yeah,it's just another siren.
You know, similar to people,that you just get complacent
because they've been somewherefor so long or, you know, they
don't realize the magnitude ofwhat could potentially?
(11:35):
Happen, or what's in the pathand what's truly coming, or,
like you said, what we don'tknow that's coming.
You know all theunpredictabilityability.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It's almost the same thing with the wildfire you
really don't know whichdirection it's going to go and
you don't know, and it can makea wild turn at any given time.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Mother nature is not to be fucked with, that's the
same thing pretty much with allnatural disasters it's the
unpredictability about it thatmakes them so catastrophic and
so you, you know, detrimental topeople and to towns and to
little communities.
Yeah, you know, and I thinkthat's what happened here is
it's a lot of littlercommunities and a lot of it is
(12:11):
and this it.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
We can't even light a candle to what happened.
No, in above, above the lakeand above the dam, and um, our
area down here caught a lot ofwrath, caught a lot of of
negativity.
People don't understand how,how it all works and it's and I
(12:40):
get that, um, media and thingscan be so deceiving.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Um well, I don't really think I understood the
magnitude of what just ourlittle part of the river had
experienced, and just here innew brumfels.
Obviously I had seen otherthings about curvil and and
whatnot, but when we were herein the moment, obviously I
didn't have my phone for almost24 hours and we were flooding
and doing all the things justbecause we were so hands-on with
(13:08):
what needed to happen here,with the water levels rising and
making sure that our campersand our guests and the neighbors
and whatever.
So I was really out of touchwith everything for quite a
couple of days, honestly, and ittook me a little bit to process
.
Once I finally did hop back onmy phone and see everything that
my family was seeing on socialmedia, to cause them to reach
(13:31):
out, and then, when I didn'trespond, why they were so
nervous and things like that ittook me a couple of days to sit
back and really be like wow,like we just got a tiny little
taste of what everybody else wasgetting and it was, yeah, and
it was wild.
It was wild, it was.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I can't even imagine what what others was, and I want
to explain to everybody howquick and how fast this could
happen.
So everything was already goingon in Kerrville and that whole
area there and absolutelyhorrendous and just mind
boggling.
And it still is like I don't it?
(14:11):
It definitely, and I'm going tobe brutally honest and you can
judge if you want to, but itmakes you test your faith and
try to figure out why were theselittle lives taken and why were
the good.
I lost family in this thing,lost immediate family, and it's
(14:32):
been brutally, brutally,brutally hard.
When that is all happeningthere and we're trying to
explain to people where we areand where we're located, that
we're going to be okay and thatwe're going to be safe because
our lake has been so low andthat's where all that is going
to come, and then, all of asudden, two days later or a day
(14:56):
later, whatever it was, we gothammered and then, boom, we were
flooding.
It's for a totally differentreason.
It had nothing to do with whatwas going on up there.
There were so many misconstruedstories that were going out as,
oh, they opened the dam and Imean we even had sheriff's
(15:18):
department on this side.
I couldn't get.
This is how quick and how fastit happens.
My youngest son we all left thehouse at the same time.
He left not the same time,sorry, I left maybe 10 minutes
behind him and he made itthrough.
There is one area that's noteven it is a low water crossing,
(15:39):
but it, it, it, it's um, anarea where the water comes from
top and goes all the way down,and I kept saying look, if we
get through this part, this part, this part, this part, we're
golden.
But there's gonna be this onearea and if we don't get past
there, we're done right.
And g3 made it.
(16:00):
But as soon as we hit it and I'mtelling you we were five to ten
minutes behind him it was over.
There was absolutely no way.
So I literally have beenthrough all of this and thank
god I had these radios.
The kids were on this side.
I'm stuck on the other side andI am chomping at the bits.
(16:23):
There's nothing I can do.
I am walking y'all through.
This is what needs to happen.
You got to get this, you got toget this.
You got to grab here.
You got to move.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
And thankfully we had the walkies because the cell
they would have gotten wet andit would have been a whole
situation.
And the cell service doesn'twork, especially when you're
stuck stationary on the roadbecause you can't go forward,
you can't go backward.
There's a tree down, there'sthe flooding on one direction
and you're the sheriff'sdepartment was on my side.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
The sheriff's department was on your side, I'm
I'm on the other side ofgushing waters.
They are here water.
I know exactly how the water isgoing to go.
For the most part, thesheriff's department had their
rigs pushed down.
They were new to this.
I kept saying look, here'swhat's going to happen.
When this stops coming off ofthe mountaintop, the water is
(17:10):
going to start rising from theriver and they're like really
seriously.
And I said, yep, boom.
Next thing we know, fiveminutes later, they're backing
up their rigs and they're like,holy shit, that happened so fast
.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well, that's what you don't see is, yes, you see the
runoff coming off the mountain,so like when behind us we had
waterfalls essentially comingoff the cliff, because there's
so much water coming so fast.
Well, some of that's gettingabsorbed into the ground, but
there's also underground runoff.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That's happening, that'll filter underneath layers
of soil all the way down andfill up the river after all of
the waterfalls.
So what was blocking me fromgetting to you guys was from
completely the other side, yes,so it was coming down and it was
gushing and it was goingstraight into the river, which
is where we needed it to go.
(17:56):
But as soon as the rain stoppedbecause it came so hard and so
fast then the water on the roadstarted receding.
So the officers and the whatnotthought okay, perfect,
everything's looking really good.
Well, once that stops, theriver rises.
And so I kept radioing the kidsand I said look, we're just
(18:18):
beginning, this is nothing.
And I said watch, what's aboutto happen.
You guys don't stop what you'redoing, make sure that everybody
is out.
You guys were so quick, so fast.
Y'all listened to everythingthat I said.
Y'all listened to everythingthat everybody else around us
that could get here to y'all.
Yeah, we couldn't get half ofour guests out.
On certain areas there wastrees down we had taken and
(18:43):
thank God we are so close withthe sheriff's department, right,
and God bless all of our firstresponders and we were radioing
them.
They had grabbed ahold of someof our staff's walkies that we
have got Just to be able tocommunicate on both sides of the
road we had grabbed ourchainsaws, our skidster, our
buggies, that we have our UTVs.
(19:04):
We were taking people to higherground.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I will say that's one of the things about being in a
town that's this close and youknow this is such a tight-knit
community.
You really see everybody pulltogether during times like that.
You know there's lack ofcommunication.
You really see everybody pulltogether during times like that.
You know there's lack ofcommunication.
Honestly, it felt, and it wassuch a weird eerie feeling after
(19:27):
the majority of it had hit andyou went back into town and
there was a lot of people justat their soccer games and living
their normal life and justdoing whatever.
But on River Road especially,anybody that was impacted hey,
can I borrow your chainsaw?
Hey, do you have extra gas toput in my?
You know, whatever do you, canwe, can we help get this tree
out of the road?
And you really get to see a lotof the good in people during
(19:50):
times like that, because you youdo see everybody at their worst
, so you get to see everybodycome together.
You get to see thecommunication that happens, the
neighbors coming from one sideof the street to the other.
You know, hey, I don't haveelectricity over here, but this
is what I do have.
I mean, we had the store openfor anybody that needed to to
grab a water bottle, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, it was pretty wild because you guys, I still
couldn't get to y'all for hourson end and we still had guests
that there was nowhere for themto go, because they both into
the road are completely blocked,so there's nowhere for anybody
to go.
So all we did was push them upto higher ground, as high as we
could get them to, where theywere stable and where everybody
I mean at that point there'snowhere for you to go right, you
(20:33):
gotta ride almost like a singlefile.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You gotta ride the way.
As soon as the road did open,everybody could file out in an
orderly fashion.
But right, I mean, there was nopoint in getting stuck on the
road when there was, you couldthere was a tree down here a
tree down here, yeah, one onpower lines, not to mention the
flooding on either side.
So even if you were able to getpast the tree, there's not
really a whole lot that you can,and there was three maneuver
(20:56):
through.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
So it was boom, boom, boom and boom, and in between
that there was just watergushing and rising yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
So you think in an emergency situation, you can be
prepared for something such asflooding, but there's a lot of
other considerations that youdon't think about like the trees
down or the power outage, orthe lack of self-observice as
much preparation as you thinkthat you can have, you can never
have enough.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Are you going to just come out and stop?
Absolutely not.
We have done so many differentthings.
We have put in quick releasesfor our pumps.
We have quick releases for theelectric.
We have run timing to see ifwe've got two guys.
How quick can we get at leastsome of this out?
What are our priorities?
Boom, boom, boom.
Basic fire drills that we havedone down here.
(21:45):
You can do all that you want todo, and I know that's so hard
for everyone to understand and Iknow that it's hard for me to
understand.
I don't understand so much ofthis, but at the same time I do.
But at the same time I dobecause I've been here, I've
been do, but at the same time Ido because I've been been here,
(22:05):
I've been, but it's, it's nevergoing to get any easier.
No, it's never going to go away.
This is thing, these are thingsthat are going to happen.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
These are, um, it just makes you reflective of of
your life and your people aroundyou and extra thankful for what
you do have and and honestlythankful for the, the
opportunities that we have to toserve others in different ways.
You know, with cleanup effortsand with you know, just overall,
(22:31):
everybody can do a little bitof something.
I think so, you know, andthat's it's been really cool.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I mean, I've I've seen a lot of of communities and
states and and what have youcome together.
But when they say, don't messwith Texas, wow, it really is.
Don't mess with Texas, becausewe literally will put everything
aside and come together.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Well, I think that was the name of.
One of the benefits is Texansfor Texas right and I don't
think.
I've heard something that'smore spot on, more perfect, you
know, than reaching out to yourfamilies and your neighbors and
your community, and there's beenso many tremendous people that
(23:18):
have come out to help, and it'sbeen so many tremendous people
that have come out to help, andjust an abundance of support
that's been out poured.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
It's been amazing.
I've had so many people come upand ask us you know, what can
we do?
What can we do to help?
I feel like the bigger peoplehave come together and have
brought in.
You've got Pat Green, who losthis family, and my gosh has done
a tremendous amount, raised amillion dollars.
(23:54):
You've got Rich O'Toole thathas jumped up and they're going
all over and I could just keepon listening and I could keep on
listening and keep on listeningand they're going all over and
I could just keep on listing andI could keep on listing and
keep on listing.
We just did a big benefit thislast weekend, did great, raised
58,000 plus, and it's stillgoing.
And we have George Straitthat's coming and doing his big
(24:15):
deal.
We have Robert O'Keefe that hasgot this huge deal, that's
going.
Robert O'Kane that has got thishuge deal, that's going.
Um, what we want to do is starta continuous benefit, but not
started until next year.
Right now I feel like they'reeverybody has got it handled.
Everybody is just comingtogether.
(24:35):
There are our helicopters, forheroes have been going.
They're cooking all over theplace, jake and the guys are
just doing, yeah, just doingamazing, and um, I think we keep
it going.
We will never, ever, ever, um.
Let these littles in thefamilies and everyone that has
(24:59):
been affected by this ever beforgotten.
Yes, you're lost and yes, wemiss you.
And will I ever understand this?
Probably not, Probably not.
I'm going to try to, aseverybody else is try to process
it.
Try to process it as best as wecan, but we will continue to
(25:20):
pray.
We will continue to try toprocess it as best as we can,
but we will continue to pray, wewill continue to move forward,
we will continue to build, wewill rebuild, we will become
stronger, we will try to figureout how to make something really
good out of this, and let's doit for honor the legacies of
(25:41):
everybody and for everybody thatwas affected in this and, um,
yeah, so you guys, we will beposting a QR code.
Um, that is for the wholecountry.
Strong, um it.
It goes directly to a greatfoundation.
We'll post all the informationon this episode.
(26:03):
I'd like to give a shout out toCarissa Bartas.
She made these shirts.
She is selling these.
We will put a link also.
You can get these.
These also go every bit of it.
She is working day and nightand we love you and thank you
for doing this.
This is one of our, our OGcustomers and clients that comes
(26:25):
and stays out here with us onthe Gwad and so, um, she's,
she's good people.
There's so many good peoplethat are that are doing, doing
what we we know how to do.
So, um, as much as we wouldlike to laugh about the things,
about the, the sirens going off,often, us damn near shitting
(26:47):
ourselves, and us getting in andtrying to to recoup what we
could recoup, um, the moral ofthis episode and the moral of
this story here is that, um,they are lost, but they will
never be forgotten and we willkeep this legacy going for you
guys, for our Texas family, forour Texas Hill Country family,
(27:08):
and we will always be HillCountry strong, and we love you
guys so much.
So thank you very much andlet's keep doing what we do.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Right, yeah, let's do it, cut, cool it I put a
blessing on it.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
See me dripping in it 24 7 on it.
I'm just being honest.
Holy water dripping, drippingfrom my neck to my crap song to
you stepping on it.
I put a blessing on it.
Too real, that's a metaphoric.
We just put the I in iconic,buzzing like I'm electronic.
Ah yeah, I put a blessing on it.
See me dripping in it 24-7 onit.
I'm just being honest.
Ah, holy water dripping,dripping from my neck to my crap
song Q stepping on it live.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey everybody, it's Tiffany Foy, welcome to the
Ramblin' Gypsy podcast, and wehave been away for a couple of
weeks, weeks.
We want to talk about thehorrible things and floods that
have been going on in Texas andKerrville and Hunt and Ingram
and affected all of us inbetween above Canyon Lake and
(00:37):
above the dam, and then it alsoaffected us down below.
So, first of all, we want totake a moment and bow our heads,
have a little moment of silenceand pray for everybody that has
been involved.
So if you would please join usin doing so, thank you, thank
(01:10):
you very much for doing that.
We wanted to kind of touch baseand talk a little bit about how
we were affected here.
We obviously were not affectedin any way, shape form, um, as
the Texas Hill Country higher inthe Hill Country was um, we are
(01:32):
on the Guadalupe River.
Um, I have right there, right,yeah, so it's right here, right
behind us right there behind us.
But, um, I am born and raisedlocal in New Braunfels.
I've experienced many floods onthe Gwad.
I've learned a lot from how thesystems work.
I've learned a lot from whatcan and cannot happen.
(01:56):
Whether men can say one thing,things can happen the next.
Men can say one thing, thingscan happen the next.
Um, there's.
There's so many different waysthat you can view this whole
thing, um, which you've beenborn and raised local New
Braunfels.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
You grew up with the river right in your backyard,
yes, so you're a little bit moreconditioned to knowing what to
look for and you know when it'sgoing to get to a certain point
and you know water levels andall the things.
Me, I'm not born and raisedhere, so, learning as I go, I
guess, on everybody else who'slived here their entire life and
(02:38):
kind of knows, you know, seasonafter season, how things change
and how things go and therepeat of mother nature, and you
still it's still.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Every time it happens , it's a learning curve.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
It's always unpredictable.
Yeah, absolutely, mother natureitself is unpredictable, right.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
There's been so many people that have talked about
the sirens, and let's talk aboutthat for a moment.
With your first experience withthe sirens and I'm staring- at
one.
right now, it's literally rightthere in the backyard yes, and
we will do a, a screenshot andwe will show you that where the
sirens are on our part of theriver, there's literally one
(03:17):
that is maybe 100 yards fromfrom our location, right here,
and when they do the siren test,um, they normally will, they'll
send out emails.
They'll send out.
It's announced on the Countywebsite or Facebook or everybody
that has has properties up anddown the river.
So we kind of you get youralerts and yes community
bulletin we had.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I have not subscribed for such services yet.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So we had, um, they were doing normally and for
whatever reason, and I and Istill don't know exactly why
they changed the date or thetime or and I'm sure there was a
viable reason and like, I getgoing and going and whatever.
But, um, yeah, we, you, we haveto tell the story about how you
were out here Three weeks priorto the to.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
To the floods and they were doing their supposedly
routine testing.
It was not on the normal day ofthe week that they do their
testing.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They used to do them on Tuesdays.
So we were all expecting themon Tuesday, which is the perfect
time to do them, becausethere's really hardly anyone on
the river.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, very limited traffic.
It's just the locals and youknow the people that know or
work on River Road and at thatpoint you know it happens on
Tuesdays Tuesday noon to lunch.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
This was not a.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Tuesday.
This was not a Tuesday and so,mind you, there's really not
even a cloud in the sky.
But you know, I've heard thingsabout this dam, so the dam can
be opened or closed, or whathave you, and I don't know the
parameters, and I don't know ifthere's going to be a hey, the
dam's breaking or routineopening, or what have you.
(04:50):
So I'm at camp and it's quietat camp.
The guys are using the aircompressor, though, so the
sirens start going off.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And they were in the tube barn repairing tubes and
doing work in.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Couldn't hear the siren alert go off.
And so I'm over here, you know,taking emergency seriously and
you know all the things andfreaking out about it.
I can go and look in on theFacebook page and I'm going
looking, you know, on the countywebsite and, you know, trying
to figure out is this actuallyhappening Cause there's not a
cloud in the sky at this point?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
No, and we have our, we have our group texts, we have
with all of us that are here.
And then we also have thesewalkie talkies and I had I think
I have gone through every shape, form, fashion of walkies that
are, are available and withinreasonable pricing and what have
(05:43):
you?
And we have up and down RiverRoad.
You've got minimal to noservice from one end to the next
and some of them have to beconnected to Wi-Fi, some they
don't give an AM, some theywhatever.
There's all kinds of differentscenarios but for whatever
reason, right where we arelocated, we have absolutely the
worst cell service period.
It's absolutely horrible.
(06:04):
So I invest in these walkiesand we get them and I am at home
, yep and, and nick's radioingflipping completely out,
panicking.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Oh my god, the sirens are going off I don't know
protocol at this point, I don'tknow what we're gonna be doing
garrett, doesn't you message me?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
and riley, because riley gets the notifications and
garrett she's like and andgarrett doesn't even care.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And the ice machine people just came and they heard
it and they didn't even get inthe driveway and I can't get out
and then garrett has the brightidea where, well, if we see the
river start rising, we'll just,you know, hop on river road and
leave.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And I said you know it takes mind you, we haven't
had a drizzle, and it don'tmatter, it takes 15 minutes to
get off of river road and thewhole time you're running
parallel to the river.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So I said, garrett, no, absolutely fuck, not.
Yeah.
If that's the case, we're goingup top to the undisclosed
location and we're getting, youknow, yeah, as high up as we can
get out of this situation.
Yeah and he's like no, we'lljust run parallel to it.
The whole time I was likethat's not going to put us any
better off than what we alreadywere.
But I was stressing out, I wasI don't know.
(07:17):
I didn't know what to do withmy life.
Honestly.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
That was your first siren experience.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And I didn't know protocol.
So I did educate myself alittle bit.
You know, after I heard thesirens and I was like, okay,
well, get to higher ground andmake sure I have my keys with me
on my, with my tile.
So you know, if I need to, so Ican find you yeah, exactly If
you know, cell phone service orwhatever goes out or can't reach
me on the walkie or what haveyou?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
the walkie or what have you.
So that was a uh, so that was,that was prior to, and then, um,
we fast forward to the 4th ofJuly and the rain came.
And the rain came out ofnowhere and it came hard and it
came fast, and we've experiencedthat here multiple times to
(08:10):
where, in 2015, just forinstance, we were supposed to
have a slight drizzle and theweek prior to we were supposed
to have a full-on flood.
So everybody was prepped, wewere ready to go, we were ready
for it and we got absolutelynothing.
Can you?
We were ready for it, um, andwe got absolutely nothing.
(08:32):
Can you really ever be readyfor it?
Though?
You know, it's something that II don't think that a lot of
people realize is that and I'llhave to go back and and my
family will know, they'vethey've been on the river for 52
years that I don't know if itwas after the 98, the 2002 or
(08:53):
prior to when I they just saythere's no such thing as
insurance in a flood zone downhere.
So, whatever happens, whereveryou're in a flood zone, it is
what it is, and so, at ourparticular place, it's this
lower level that we have, and Iknow the way that the river goes
(09:15):
.
Obviously it doesn't gostraight.
There's bends, there's curves,there's ups, there's downs.
There's where it flows, whereit comes from.
We know that Kerrville feedsour water here.
Kerrville water when they get.
When we're in a drought, whenwe are starving for water, we
need Kerrville and comfort andthose areas up there to get rain
(09:37):
, because that's what goesstraight into our lake and so
that's what we know to watch.
And when we're getting rainhere, we know it needs to come
in slow increments.
Right, what happened?
So what happened in this dealwas obviously very, very rare.
(10:01):
Kerrville got hit.
They got hit hard.
Ingram Hunt, all the otherplaces all the way around got
hit hard and fast and the riverrose.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Continuously.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yes, it was an ongoing and there's no, I don't
care how you skin the cat and Iknow you can agree to disagree
with me on this deal, but I'veum, I've seen it, I've been a
part of it there.
Weathermen can only predict somuch.
(10:33):
We can only imagine, we canonly think that this is it.
Is it going to go left, shit, Idon't know.
It may go right, we don't know.
We've watched it move, we'vebeen prepared for things to
happen and nothing has happened.
And then, when they've saidwe've had a slight drizzle, boom
we were flowing at 5 000 cfsfor weeks, weeks and weeks upon
(10:58):
weeks.
um, it happens that quick andthat fast.
Can the sirens help?
Yeah, they absolutely can.
Can you bank on those?
No, no, well, in my opinion,what you do with your actions
once you hear the sirens.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
you know the guys were unbothered by the sirens
the first time I heard them,where I was ready to spring into
action if there was a truedrizzle, you know, and you had
the same mentality of oh yeah,it's just another siren.
You know, similar to people,that you just get complacent
because they've been somewherefor so long or, you know, they
don't realize the magnitude ofwhat could potentially?
(11:35):
Happen, or what's in the pathand what's truly coming, or,
like you said, what we don'tknow that's coming.
You know all theunpredictabilityability.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It's almost the same thing with the wildfire you
really don't know whichdirection it's going to go and
you don't know, and it can makea wild turn at any given time.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Mother nature is not to be fucked with, that's the
same thing pretty much with allnatural disasters it's the
unpredictability about it thatmakes them so catastrophic and
so you, you know, detrimental topeople and to towns and to
little communities.
Yeah, you know, and I thinkthat's what happened here is
it's a lot of littlercommunities and a lot of it is
(12:11):
and this it.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
We can't even light a candle to what happened.
No, in above, above the lakeand above the dam, and um, our
area down here caught a lot ofwrath, caught a lot of of
negativity.
People don't understand how,how it all works and it's and I
(12:40):
get that, um, media and thingscan be so deceiving.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Um well, I don't really think I understood the
magnitude of what just ourlittle part of the river had
experienced, and just here innew brumfels.
Obviously I had seen otherthings about curvil and and
whatnot, but when we were herein the moment, obviously I
didn't have my phone for almost24 hours and we were flooding
and doing all the things justbecause we were so hands-on with
(13:08):
what needed to happen here,with the water levels rising and
making sure that our campersand our guests and the neighbors
and whatever.
So I was really out of touchwith everything for quite a
couple of days, honestly, and ittook me a little bit to process
.
Once I finally did hop back onmy phone and see everything that
my family was seeing on socialmedia, to cause them to reach
(13:31):
out, and then, when I didn'trespond, why they were so
nervous and things like that ittook me a couple of days to sit
back and really be like wow,like we just got a tiny little
taste of what everybody else wasgetting and it was, yeah, and
it was wild.
It was wild, it was.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I can't even imagine what what others was, and I want
to explain to everybody howquick and how fast this could
happen.
So everything was already goingon in Kerrville and that whole
area there and absolutelyhorrendous and just mind
boggling.
And it still is like I don't it?
(14:11):
It definitely, and I'm going tobe brutally honest and you can
judge if you want to, but itmakes you test your faith and
try to figure out why were theselittle lives taken and why were
the good.
I lost family in this thing,lost immediate family, and it's
(14:32):
been brutally, brutally,brutally hard.
When that is all happeningthere and we're trying to
explain to people where we areand where we're located, that
we're going to be okay and thatwe're going to be safe because
our lake has been so low andthat's where all that is going
to come, and then, all of asudden, two days later or a day
(14:56):
later, whatever it was, we gothammered and then, boom, we were
flooding.
It's for a totally differentreason.
It had nothing to do with whatwas going on up there.
There were so many misconstruedstories that were going out as,
oh, they opened the dam and Imean we even had sheriff's
(15:18):
department on this side.
I couldn't get.
This is how quick and how fastit happens.
My youngest son we all left thehouse at the same time.
He left not the same time,sorry, I left maybe 10 minutes
behind him and he made itthrough.
There is one area that's noteven it is a low water crossing,
(15:39):
but it, it, it, it's um, anarea where the water comes from
top and goes all the way down,and I kept saying look, if we
get through this part, this part, this part, this part, we're
golden.
But there's gonna be this onearea and if we don't get past
there, we're done right.
And g3 made it.
(16:00):
But as soon as we hit it and I'mtelling you we were five to ten
minutes behind him it was over.
There was absolutely no way.
So I literally have beenthrough all of this and thank
god I had these radios.
The kids were on this side.
I'm stuck on the other side andI am chomping at the bits.
(16:23):
There's nothing I can do.
I am walking y'all through.
This is what needs to happen.
You got to get this, you got toget this.
You got to grab here.
You got to move.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
And thankfully we had the walkies because the cell
they would have gotten wet andit would have been a whole
situation.
And the cell service doesn'twork, especially when you're
stuck stationary on the roadbecause you can't go forward,
you can't go backward.
There's a tree down, there'sthe flooding on one direction
and you're the sheriff'sdepartment was on my side.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
The sheriff's department was on your side, I'm
I'm on the other side ofgushing waters.
They are here water.
I know exactly how the water isgoing to go.
For the most part, thesheriff's department had their
rigs pushed down.
They were new to this.
I kept saying look, here'swhat's going to happen.
When this stops coming off ofthe mountaintop, the water is
(17:10):
going to start rising from theriver and they're like really
seriously.
And I said, yep, boom.
Next thing we know, fiveminutes later, they're backing
up their rigs and they're like,holy shit, that happened so fast
.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well, that's what you don't see is, yes, you see the
runoff coming off the mountain,so like when behind us we had
waterfalls essentially comingoff the cliff, because there's
so much water coming so fast.
Well, some of that's gettingabsorbed into the ground, but
there's also underground runoff.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That's happening, that'll filter underneath layers
of soil all the way down andfill up the river after all of
the waterfalls.
So what was blocking me fromgetting to you guys was from
completely the other side, yes,so it was coming down and it was
gushing and it was goingstraight into the river, which
is where we needed it to go.
(17:56):
But as soon as the rain stoppedbecause it came so hard and so
fast then the water on the roadstarted receding.
So the officers and the whatnotthought okay, perfect,
everything's looking really good.
Well, once that stops, theriver rises.
And so I kept radioing the kidsand I said look, we're just
(18:18):
beginning, this is nothing.
And I said watch, what's aboutto happen.
You guys don't stop what you'redoing, make sure that everybody
is out.
You guys were so quick, so fast.
Y'all listened to everythingthat I said.
Y'all listened to everythingthat everybody else around us
that could get here to y'all.
Yeah, we couldn't get half ofour guests out.
On certain areas there wastrees down we had taken and
(18:43):
thank God we are so close withthe sheriff's department, right,
and God bless all of our firstresponders and we were radioing
them.
They had grabbed ahold of someof our staff's walkies that we
have got Just to be able tocommunicate on both sides of the
road we had grabbed ourchainsaws, our skidster, our
buggies, that we have our UTVs.
(19:04):
We were taking people to higherground.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I will say that's one of the things about being in a
town that's this close and youknow this is such a tight-knit
community.
You really see everybody pulltogether during times like that.
You know there's lack ofcommunication.
You really see everybody pulltogether during times like that.
You know there's lack ofcommunication.
Honestly, it felt, and it wassuch a weird eerie feeling after
(19:27):
the majority of it had hit andyou went back into town and
there was a lot of people justat their soccer games and living
their normal life and justdoing whatever.
But on River Road especially,anybody that was impacted hey,
can I borrow your chainsaw?
Hey, do you have extra gas toput in my?
You know, whatever do you, canwe, can we help get this tree
out of the road?
And you really get to see a lotof the good in people during
(19:50):
times like that, because you youdo see everybody at their worst
, so you get to see everybodycome together.
You get to see thecommunication that happens, the
neighbors coming from one sideof the street to the other.
You know, hey, I don't haveelectricity over here, but this
is what I do have.
I mean, we had the store openfor anybody that needed to to
grab a water bottle, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, it was pretty wild because you guys, I still
couldn't get to y'all for hourson end and we still had guests
that there was nowhere for themto go, because they both into
the road are completely blocked,so there's nowhere for anybody
to go.
So all we did was push them upto higher ground, as high as we
could get them to, where theywere stable and where everybody
I mean at that point there'snowhere for you to go right, you
(20:33):
gotta ride almost like a singlefile.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You gotta ride the way.
As soon as the road did open,everybody could file out in an
orderly fashion.
But right, I mean, there was nopoint in getting stuck on the
road when there was, you couldthere was a tree down here a
tree down here, yeah, one onpower lines, not to mention the
flooding on either side.
So even if you were able to getpast the tree, there's not
really a whole lot that you can,and there was three maneuver
(20:56):
through.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
So it was boom, boom, boom and boom, and in between
that there was just watergushing and rising yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
So you think in an emergency situation, you can be
prepared for something such asflooding, but there's a lot of
other considerations that youdon't think about like the trees
down or the power outage, orthe lack of self-observice as
much preparation as you thinkthat you can have, you can never
have enough.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Are you going to just come out and stop?
Absolutely not.
We have done so many differentthings.
We have put in quick releasesfor our pumps.
We have quick releases for theelectric.
We have run timing to see ifwe've got two guys.
How quick can we get at leastsome of this out?
What are our priorities?
Boom, boom, boom.
Basic fire drills that we havedone down here.
(21:45):
You can do all that you want todo, and I know that's so hard
for everyone to understand and Iknow that it's hard for me to
understand.
I don't understand so much ofthis, but at the same time I do.
But at the same time I dobecause I've been here, I've
been do, but at the same time Ido because I've been been here,
(22:05):
I've been, but it's, it's nevergoing to get any easier.
No, it's never going to go away.
This is thing, these are thingsthat are going to happen.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
These are, um, it just makes you reflective of of
your life and your people aroundyou and extra thankful for what
you do have and and honestlythankful for the, the
opportunities that we have to toserve others in different ways.
You know, with cleanup effortsand with you know, just overall,
(22:31):
everybody can do a little bitof something.
I think so, you know, andthat's it's been really cool.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I mean, I've I've seen a lot of of communities and
states and and what have youcome together.
But when they say, don't messwith Texas, wow, it really is.
Don't mess with Texas, becausewe literally will put everything
aside and come together.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Well, I think that was the name of.
One of the benefits is Texansfor Texas right and I don't
think.
I've heard something that'smore spot on, more perfect, you
know, than reaching out to yourfamilies and your neighbors and
your community, and there's beenso many tremendous people that
(23:18):
have come out to help, and it'sbeen so many tremendous people
that have come out to help, andjust an abundance of support
that's been out poured.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
It's been amazing.
I've had so many people come upand ask us you know, what can
we do?
What can we do to help?
I feel like the bigger peoplehave come together and have
brought in.
You've got Pat Green, who losthis family, and my gosh has done
a tremendous amount, raised amillion dollars.
(23:54):
You've got Rich O'Toole thathas jumped up and they're going
all over and I could just keepon listening and I could keep on
listening and keep on listeningand they're going all over and
I could just keep on listing andI could keep on listing and
keep on listing.
We just did a big benefit thislast weekend, did great, raised
58,000 plus, and it's stillgoing.
And we have George Straitthat's coming and doing his big
(24:15):
deal.
We have Robert O'Keefe that hasgot this huge deal, that's
going.
Robert O'Kane that has got thishuge deal, that's going.
Um, what we want to do is starta continuous benefit, but not
started until next year.
Right now I feel like they'reeverybody has got it handled.
Everybody is just comingtogether.
(24:35):
There are our helicopters, forheroes have been going.
They're cooking all over theplace, jake and the guys are
just doing, yeah, just doingamazing, and um, I think we keep
it going.
We will never, ever, ever, um.
Let these littles in thefamilies and everyone that has
(24:59):
been affected by this ever beforgotten.
Yes, you're lost and yes, wemiss you.
And will I ever understand this?
Probably not, Probably not.
I'm going to try to, aseverybody else is try to process
it.
Try to process it as best as wecan, but we will continue to
(25:20):
pray.
We will continue to try toprocess it as best as we can,
but we will continue to pray, wewill continue to move forward,
we will continue to build, wewill rebuild, we will become
stronger, we will try to figureout how to make something really
good out of this, and let's doit for honor the legacies of
(25:41):
everybody and for everybody thatwas affected in this and, um,
yeah, so you guys, we will beposting a QR code.
Um, that is for the wholecountry.
Strong, um it.
It goes directly to a greatfoundation.
We'll post all the informationon this episode.
(26:03):
I'd like to give a shout out toCarissa Bartas.
She made these shirts.
She is selling these.
We will put a link also.
You can get these.
These also go every bit of it.
She is working day and nightand we love you and thank you
for doing this.
This is one of our, our OGcustomers and clients that comes
(26:25):
and stays out here with us onthe Gwad and so, um, she's,
she's good people.
There's so many good peoplethat are that are doing, doing
what we we know how to do.
So, um, as much as we wouldlike to laugh about the things,
about the, the sirens going off,often, us damn near shitting
(26:47):
ourselves, and us getting in andtrying to to recoup what we
could recoup, um, the moral ofthis episode and the moral of
this story here is that, um,they are lost, but they will
never be forgotten and we willkeep this legacy going for you
guys, for our Texas family, forour Texas Hill Country family,
(27:08):
and we will always be HillCountry strong, and we love you
guys so much.
So thank you very much andlet's keep doing what we do.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Right, yeah, let's do it, cut, cool it I put a
blessing on it.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
See me dripping in it 24 7 on it.
I'm just being honest.
Holy water dripping, drippingfrom my neck to my crap song to
you stepping on it.
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