KERR COUNTY, Texas – With at least 161 people still missing in Kerr County, first responders and volunteers continue to search for missing loved ones after the devastating Hill Country floods.
Andrews County Sheriff Rusty Stewart drove a KSAT crew to a disaster site in Ingram near State Highway 39 that had not been seen before. Stewart described that crews worked all day on Thursday to move debris from underneath the Cade Loop South bridge. Crews were able to move all the debris that was touching the underside of the bridge.
Now, the community will have to wait until the bridge is inspected before they can drive across it again.
Rescue efforts have required debris to be cleared because Stewart described it as being so difficult to find people due to the inability to see under the water.
He said his crews were 15 feet up in the air and could still not see well enough to notice the vehicles in the water until they got closer to the submerged cars.
“It does tug on your heartstrings a little bit [when] we find clothing when you see the little kids’ clothing,” Stewart said.
It’s a tiring effort spanning just one week so far and many more to come. The efforts have included countless volunteers, including Audra Miller, a San Antonian and wife of a former firefighter.
For decades, Miller has also helped communities in need.
“We helped with Katrina, we helped with Harvey,” Miller said, referring to well-known hurricanes in the south.
Miller works with the organization Crisis Cleanup.
“Crisis Cleanup, it connects families that need anything,” Miller explained. “If they need their houses mucked out, if they need trees taken down, we have a lot of older people that can’t do the work in their houses. So, if they get on crisiscleanup.org and create a ticket, we connect them with organizations that are signed up that will come out and do all that work for them for free.”
Miller said one of the areas in desperate need of help is Center Point, and that is where they have been focused for a couple of days. However, they want people in other areas to reach out so they know exactly who needs assistance and where.
“It’s just the families — they have loved ones that are missing,” Stewart said. “That’s what gets me ‘cause we’re out here, we’re tryna help them out and tryna find their loved ones or at least give them closure.”
More recent coverage of the Hill Country floods on KSAT:
