Amid the catastrophic flooding that has devastated the Hill Country, leaving behind unimaginable loss, one Texas resident’s terrifying survival story is pretty interesting. Christian Fell spent nearly three hours trapped in floodwaters, clinging to a shaky spot, before help arrived. His story reveals just how fast and destructive the rising waters were as Ted Cruz vacationed far away. The disaster claimed at least 104 lives in the area so far, a number that keeps growing.
As detailed in an interview with CNN, Fell’s nightmare didn’t start with a loud emergency alert but with the familiar sound of thunder. He woke up in the middle of the night, thinking it was just another storm. But strange noises coming from deeper inside his house made him get up to check. When he put his feet over the side of his bed, he realized he was standing in water.
Things got worse quickly; a big part of his home was already destroyed, and water was rushing in through the floor. In that panicked moment, instinct took over. With the water rising fast, Fell’s only thought was to get out of the water and find something to hold onto. He saw cars being carried away, their hazard lights flashing, and huge propane tanks floating down what used to be a park.
Texas man survives by climbing on an unlikely safe part of his building
Then he spotted a meter box on the side of his building. He didn’t stop to plan—it was pure survival instinct that made him climb onto it. He held onto that small metal box for what felt like forever, about three hours. During that agonizing wait, he couldn’t help but think about death. Standing there, gripping a metal pipe screwed into the wall, was far from safe. But he focused on the fact that the rest of his house was still standing, unlike the destruction around him. Mostly, he felt incredibly lucky to be alive.
The bigger story of the Hill Country flood is just as heartbreaking. The death toll, now at least 104, has been rising all day, showing just how widespread the damage is. Some of the worst-hit areas were communities near the river, including an RV park owned by Lorena.
Lorena’s own experience shows how sudden and overwhelming the flood was. She had closed her restaurant around 1:00 AM, noticing the heavy rain, but she stayed awake, unable to sleep. Around 2:30 AM, she went to check the river’s water levels. At that point, the river looked normal, just wet. She called the sheriff’s department to ask about conditions upstream, but they had no information. Feeling reassured, she went back to bed.
Her short rest ended when she woke up to bright lights from rescue teams. She and her husband rushed to the RV park, where they saw a huge wall of water rushing toward them. Rescue teams were frantically trying to launch boats to save a family being swept away. Her husband, bravely stepping into waist-deep water, begged a father to throw his two babies to him. But then a massive wave hit, carrying the father and babies away. Her husband was lucky—he managed to grab onto something near the river’s edge and pull himself to safety, a detail he only told her later that day.
She managed to save a bunch of people, but these stories are just a few of many in Texas. Hopefully, good news will come soon, but with the president distracted, it’s hard to imagine when it will come.
