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In the early hours of Friday, Lorena Guillen and her husband were frantically knocking on the doors of dozens of RVs parked at their campsite in Kerrville, Texas, urging those inside to evacuate as water from the nearby Guadalupe River flooded the property.
Guillen, owner of Blue Oaks RV Park, described the devastating scene to MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera on Monday morning. “It’s surreal, to be honest with you,” she said. “It’s so hard for people to understand the devastation that we have suffered.”
As of Monday afternoon, more than 80 people have died across six counties in the state in the floods.
According to Guillen, the rain woke her up at 2:30 a.m. Friday, and she drove from her home to the nearby campsite to check the state of the river. “I drove all the way down to the edge of the river,” she said. “And I looked down and there was nothing. The waters looked fine.” Guillen said she called the sheriff’s department, but “they had no information at that point,” so she returned home.
Less than an hour later, everything changed. “By 3:30 in the morning, I saw the rescue lights because one of my residents heard the people screaming.”
Guillen and her husband made their way back to the campsite, where they saw dozens of RVs being swept away. She said the couple attempted to help rescue teams evacuate the RVs. Although they were largely successful, Guillen said they were unable to rescue a family of five. “My husband was in the water trying to get the babies,” she recalled. “You know, he was yelling at the man, ‘Please throw me your baby.’ And it was too late. A wave came in and they got swept away.”
“We could hear the screaming,” Guillen said. “It was absolutely crazy.”
Guillen said she did receive a warning about a “possible flash flood,” but they had no indication just how severe the situation would be. “That was it,” Guillen said. “We get those warnings all the time and nothing ever happens.”
You can watch Cabrera’s full interview with Guillen in the clip at the top.