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\n Julian Ryan\u2019s final words to his mother as floodwaters quickly engulfed their trailer home were simply, \u201cI love you.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n He had made a split-second decision to thrust his arm through a window to help his fianc\u00e9e, two young kids and mom escape the catastrophic flood tearing through Kerr County, Texas, swallowing everything in its path.\n <\/p>\n
\n That last-ditch effort, an act of bravery, ultimately cost him his life. The glass had cut an artery in his arm.\n <\/p>\n
\n Ryan\u2019s mother held him as he bled and took his last breath, his sister, Connie Salas, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe went out a hero,\u201d Salas said.\n <\/p>\n
\n In the pitch-black, storm-lashed hours before dawn Friday, surging floodwaters unexpectedly ravaged the region, including a campsite filled with sleeping children. Four months\u2019 worth of rain fell in just hours and the nearby Guadalupe River rose over 20 feet, sweeping homes, cars, campers and cabins downstream.\n <\/p>\n
\n When the sunrise came and the storm softened, the full weight of the disaster came into view. Hundreds were missing, including over two dozen girls at a summer camp, and as minutes stretched into hours, hope gave way to grief.\n <\/p>\n
\n At least 80 people, including <\/strong>21 children, were killed in the catastrophic Texas floods<\/a> and the death toll continues to rise, according to local officials. Ryan\u2019s body wasn\u2019t recovered until waters receded, according to CNN affiliate KHOU.\n <\/p>\n \n Now Ryan\u2019s family and their heartbroken Texas community are reckoning with the depth of the tragedy \u2014 and searching for answers.\n <\/p>\n \n Here\u2019s what we know about the victims.\n <\/p>\n A father of two and his final heroic act<\/p>\n \n It had been an exhausting shift for Ryan. The 27-year-old dishwasher had finished working at a local restaurant before returning to his Ingram, Texas, home, The New York Times reported.\n <\/p>\n \n He was finally asleep when surging floodwaters crashed through their trailer home.\n <\/p>\n \n In a matter of seconds, their front door gave way, slammed open by the power of the river. Ryan and his fianc\u00e9e, with water rising to their chests, placed their 13-month-old and 6-year-old on the mattresses, which were floating, to keep them above the rising flood.\n <\/p>\n \n But the water kept rising. The bedroom door, sealed tight by the pressure on the other side, wouldn\u2019t budge.\n <\/p>\n \n In those terrifying moments, Ryan shattered a window in a final attempt to get his family out. The glass tore into his arm, leaving him critically injured, his fianc\u00e9e Christinia Wilson said.\n <\/p>\n \n She added the glass almost cut his arm clean off.\n <\/p>\n \n After multiple calls to 911 went unanswered, Ryan looked at them, she said, and told them, \u201c\u2018I\u2019m sorry, I\u2019m not going to make it. I love y\u2019all.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n His sister, who lived just steps away from him and also lost her home, told CNN there was no warning and no time to act. A flash flood emergency warning was issued for Kerr County at 4:03 a.m. about an hour before the raging Guadalupe River burst from its banks. The late-night warnings limited who could see them \u2013 and how quickly they could move to higher ground.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe had no time to physically save ourselves,\u201d Salas said. \u201cOur last words were, \u2018I\u2019m scared,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd he says, \u2018Me too.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The family is overwhelmed with grief and struggling to cope, Salas says, especially their mother, who was there for Ryan\u2019s final moments and saw him take his last breath.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhile they were literally panicking and about to drown, my mother was still holding up her son and he looked at her and said, \u2018I love you,\u2019\u201d Salas said. \u201cSo my mom has that heartbreak of looking at her son and telling him goodbye, holding him while he takes his last breath.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Salas says the family feels like they\u2019re trapped in a nightmare they can\u2019t wake up from; a reality where Ryan will never walk through the door again \u201cand be that funny person he is.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n At Camp Mystic, the massive flooding seemed to have ripped the wall off at least one building and left a cabin covered in dirt and mud, with girls\u2019 mattresses strewn across the floor, photos of the devastation show. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the camp was \u201chorrendously ravaged.\u201d He was shocked, he said, that the rushing water reached the top of the cabins.\n <\/p>\n \n The families of at least four campers have confirmed their deaths to CNN, while others are still waiting for news on their children. Twenty-seven <\/strong>kids are still missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls camp near the Guadalupe River that hosts about 750 kids.\n <\/p>\n \n Renee Smajstrla, the 8-year-old Camp Mystic camper who went missing during the torrential flooding in Kerr County, Texas, has died, her family confirmed to CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s truly devastating,\u201d Shawn Salta, Smajstrla\u2019s uncle, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n Salta said his niece was recovered on Friday.\n <\/p>\n \n The mother of missing Camp Mystic camper Janie Hunt, 9, told CNN in a message Saturday morning her daughter had \u201cpassed away.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n After the catastrophic flooding hit Kerr County in Texas Friday, Anne Hunt told CNN \u201cwe are just praying\u201d for her return.\n <\/p>\n \n The families of Sarah Marsh and Lila Bonner, two girls who had gone missing from Camp Mystic Friday morning, confirmed to CNN both died.\n <\/p>\n \n In a post on Facebook<\/a>, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt said she was \u201cheartbroken\u201d over the loss of Sarah Marsh.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe are keeping her family in our thoughts and prayers during this unimaginable time,\u201d Britt said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIn the midst of our unimaginable grief, we ask for privacy and are unable to confirm any details at this time,\u201d the Bonner family said in a statement. \u201cWe ache with all who loved her and are praying endlessly for others to be spared from this tragic loss.\u201d\n <\/p>\n 13- and 11-year-old sisters<\/p>\n \n Blair and Brooke Harber, 13- and 11-year-old sisters, went missing during the flooding along with their grandparents.\n <\/p>\n \n The Harbers\u2019 father confirmed to CNN Saturday his daughters had died.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201c(Blair) was a gifted student and had a generous kind heart,\u201d RJ Harber said. \u201c(Brooke) was like a light in any room, people gravitated to her and she made them laugh and enjoy the moment.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n His parents, Charlene and Mike Harber, are still missing, but he believes the couple is also deceased.\n <\/p>\n \n Jane Ragsdale was the \u201cheart and soul\u201d of Heart O\u2019 the Hills, according to the camp\u2019s website.\n <\/p>\n \n The co-owner and camp director, Ragsdale died during the floods. She had \u201cinfluenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful,\u201d the camp said.\n <\/p>\n \n The girls camp, set alongside the Guadalupe River, was not in session at the time of the flooding, and \u201cmost of those who were on camp at the time have been accounted for and are on high ground,\u201d according to an announcement<\/a> from the camp.\n <\/p>\n \n A video last month shows Ragsdale playing the guitar and singing with campers. She sings the song \u201cLet There Always Be A Song\u201d.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen you sing you say, life is good today,\u201d \u201cSo keep singing till we meet again.\u201d\n <\/p>\n High school soccer coach and his wife<\/p>\n \n Reece Zunker was not just a soccer coach. The head coach of the Tivy High School\u2019s boys soccer team was \u201ca mentor, teacher and a role model,\u201d the team said on Facebook.\n <\/p>\n \n They added they were mourning \u201cthe loss of our leader and inspiration.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Zunker died in this holiday weekend\u2019s flooding tragedy, his niece told CNN. Mackenzey Zunker said her father identified her uncle\u2019s body Saturday evening.\n <\/p>\n![\"Family](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/renee-smajstrla-20250706185149168.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Janie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/janie-hunt-20250704214209138.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Blair](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2912201106415300307.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Heart](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/jane-grey-background.JPG\")
<\/p>\n![\"Reece](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/zunker-family-2.jpg\")
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![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/g4tdc9immkgb7nj-i4in8w-0.jpg\")
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