Search and rescue teams were still combing the mangled banks of the Guadalupe River Tuesday at Patti and Kent Richardson’s mildewing home in Center Point. Vultures and helicopters circled overhead, looking for the same thing the Richardsons had so recently just narrowly avoided: death.
As they were making their morning coffee early on July 4, Kent received a text from his brother asking if they had flooded. Opening his front door to take a look, he immediately heard the roar of the river just across Center Point River Road. He called his brother, who said he’d seen a weather report showing images of people on the roofs of flooded homes in Ingram, another Kerr County town around sixteen miles away.
The couple crossed the road toward the berm on the other side to check things out. They’d never before seen the river that high. Within minutes, it flowed onto the road. By the time they had a chance to put on proper pants and shoes, water was already filling the low-lying areas of their yard. Kent waded through the floodwaters toward the shed where he kept a ladder. By the time he set it up to reach the outside entrance of the attic, floodwaters were rushing onto the property. Patti went up first. Kent grabbed the dog and followed.
