In Texas Flood, a Last Phone Call as Home Is Swept Away

ENLARGE

The cement stilts of the home belonging to the Carey family are all that remain, after the home was swept away by the Blanco River early Sunday during a flash flood in Wimberley, Texas. PHOTO: RODOLFO GONZALEZ/TNS/ZUMA PRESS

It was Memorial Day weekend, and Jonathan and Laura McComb and their two young children had driven to a family friend’s house perched above the Blanco River in Wimberley, Texas, a bucolic respite from their busy lives in Corpus Christi about 200 miles away. 

The McCombs were joined by their friends Michelle and Randy Charbaand their son, and Michelle’s parents, Ralph and Sue Carey. The Careysowned the home, which was built on stilts high above the Blanco. 

According to Mr. McComb’s father, Joe, a former Nueces County commissioner, the families were excited to spend a weekend swimming and barbecuing in the Texas heat.

Instead, a devastating flash flood tore through the area on Saturday and nine family members were swept away by the raging river, which swelled to historic proportions in just hours.

The elder Mr. McComb, who recounted his son’s story in an interview Tuesday, said that on Saturday night thunderstorms rumbled in over the house, and soon it began to rain. The families weren’t especially worried, though, he said. The house was a 12 feet above water, and when the river had run high before, it eventually would recede well before reaching the structure. 

This time, though, as the families settled in for the night, the sheets of rain wouldn’t stop coming and neither would the sounds of the river raging around them in the darkness. Even more alarming, the water wasn’t going down. 

“The next thing they knew, the water was up to the bottom of the house,” Mr. McComb said his son told him. 

At about 10 p.m., the families heard a tremendous bang, Mr. McComb said. A large object, perhaps an uprooted tree, hadcareened down the river and plowed into the stilts, snapping several of them clear off. Suddenly, the house was adrift and began rushing down the swollen river. The families huddled together in the house, grasping for anything to hold on to. 

Laura McComb frantically called her sister, trying to tell her what was happening, her father-in-law said. 

“She told her sister, ‘I don’t know what is going to happen. We’re floating down the river. I love you, and tell mom and dad I love them,’ ” Mr. McComb recounted. About a mile down the river, the house crashed into a bridge and the roof started to disintegrate. Family members began floating offin different directions, vanishing into the darkness and chaos, he said.

Separated from his wife and children, Jonathan told his father that he found himself struggling to stay above water, his body jolted by boulders and tree limbs. Finally, some 9 miles down the river, he was able to crawl ashore and headed for the lights from a nearby house. He pounded on the door.

“I need help,” his son told the person who answered.

Two days later, Mr. McComb is in a hospital in San Antonio, with a collapsed lung, fractured sternum and broken rib. He is in shock, his father said.His wife and children, Andrew, 6, and Leighton, 4, haven’t been found. Neither have the Careys nor the Charbas.

“We are still very optimistic that some miracle may happen. But the more the clock ticks, the chances of finding them are diminishing,” Mr. McComb said.

“Our faith holds this family together. This has been a devastating experience.”

Write to Dan Frosch at dan.frosch@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

Jonathan and Laura McComb were joined on Memorial Day weekend by their friends Michelle and Randy Charba and their son, and Michelle’s parents, Ralph and Sue Carey. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the Charbas were joined by their daughter.

Write to Dan Frosch at dan.frosch@wsj.com