Only moments before floodwaters surged through the home she was staying, a 21-year-old Texas woman sent a heartbreaking text message to her family, begging for help as the violent waters washed her away.<\/p>\n
As the Guadalupe River raged through Central Texas over the July 4th weekend, floodwaters rose with terrifying speed \u2013 swallowing homes, camps, and lives in its path.<\/p>\n
According to AFP, \u201ctorrential rains\u201d started the night before the holiday, causing \u201cthe river to rise to the height of a two-story building in less than hour, flooding parts of Kerr County.\u201d As of July 9, at least 107 people are confirmed dead across six counties, NBC reports, including more than two dozen children and counselors from an all-girls Christian camp.<\/p>\n
Dozens more remain missing, and the death toll is expected to rise as the search continues.<\/p>\n
Among those who were missing was 21-year-old Joyce Badon and her three friends, Ella Cahill, Reese Manchaca and Aiden Heartfield, who were spending the July 4 weekend together at a country house along the river.<\/p>\n
By the early hours of the morning, that house was gone.<\/p>\n
Last contact
\nJoyce\u2019s father, Ty Badon, told CNN that the family last heard from the group during a phone call with Aiden\u2019s dad, who owns the house they were staying.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were told that they were on the phone\u2026 and then the phone went dead,\u201d he said, adding that the house \u201cis no longer there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Badon explained that Aidan told his dad, \u201c\u2019Hey I\u2019ve got to go, I\u2019ve got to help Ella and Reese\u2026they just got washed away,\u2019 and then a few seconds later the phone just went dead, and that\u2019s all we know,\u201d the 21-year-old\u2019s father said, recalling his last contact with the group.<\/p>\n
\u2018Flash flood\u2019
\nOn Facebook, Joyce\u2019s mother Kellye, shared an emotional post, begging online users to pray for her daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cA flash flood came through and washed their cars away. It happened so quickly with so much water, they could not get in the attic,\u201d she explained, adding that \u201cAidan Heartfield, called his dad as it happened,\u201d and then \u201che [and two] others got washed away by debris.\u201d<\/p>\n
Facebook \/ Kellye Badon
\nThe last person Aiden\u2019s dad spoke with was Joyce, Kellye said.<\/p>\n
The mom ended the July 4 post: \u201cWe pray for safety for JC and her friends. We are going to believe that we will pick up my daughter & her friends ALIVE in Hunt, TX today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several victims found
\nTeams of volunteers combed through the debris and searched the banks of the river for Joyce and her friends, some tragically finding bodies belonging to others.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the bodies was 8 to 10 feet in a tree, surrounded up by so much debris. Not one person could see it, so the more eyes, the better,\u201d said Louis Deppe, a volunteer leading the search efforts for the Badon family.<\/p>\n
Joyce\u2019s dad also found a body.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son and I were walking, and I thought it was a mannequin. It was a little boy, eight or 10 years old, and he was dead,\u201d Ty said. \u201cWe were just walking, doing the same thing we were doing when we stumbled across him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Divide and conquer
\nHoping to find the college friends alive, Tina Hambly, the mother of a friend of Joyce, was also involved in the search.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing a seven-mile stretch,\u201d Hambly told AFP. \u201cThere\u2019s seven teams, and we\u2019re doing a mile apiece\u2026just kind of dividing and conquering.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, you know, we are friends and families and frankly, some strangers have shown up,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Joyce found
\nSadly, on July 7, Joyce\u2019s family received the news they had been dreading.<\/p>\n
Their daughter\u2019s body had been found, her father confirmed in an interview with NBC News. Later, her mother, Kellye Badon, shared a heartfelt tribute to their \u201clovely\u201d daughter in a post on Facebook, honoring the young life taken far too soon.<\/p>\n
Facebook \/ Kellye Badon
\n\u201cGod showed us the way we should go this morning!\u201d Kellye wrote. \u201cWe found our lovely daughter who blessed us for 21 years! We pray to be able to find her three friends soon. Thanks to EVERYONE for the prayers and support. God is good!\u201d<\/p>\n
Hours later, she shared a second post, along with a photo of a rainbow in the skies above the Badon\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoyce Catherine telling us from heaven \u2018all is well with my soul,\u2019\u201d she wrote in the heartbreaking message.<\/p>\n
Final text
\nAccording to Louis Deppe, a volunteer leading the search efforts, Joyce sent one final text, begging for help as the surging waters were close to sweeping her away.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn [Joyce\u2019s] cellphone, the last message (her family) got was \u2018we\u2019re being washed away,\u2019 and the phone went dead,\u201d Deppe told AFP, per People.<\/p>\n
According to reports, Reese\u2019s body was also recovered but Aiden and Ella are still missing.<\/p>\n
Please share your best wishes to the loved ones of those devastated by the floods in the comment section below and then share this story so we can hear from others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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