As Central Texas grapples with one of its worst flooding disasters, which has claimed at least 110 lives and left 170 people missing, acts of courage shine through the darkness. Among them is Matthew Crowder, who rushed into the raging waters to rescue a sleeping family before dawn on July 4.
Crowder, a manager at Texas Paintball, said he was headed to work around 3 a.m. local time when he noticed the rapidly rising floodwaters. That’s when he spotted a house in danger, with people still asleep inside.
“I started yelling to wake them up,” Crowder recalled to ABC News. “The first one to come out was the oldest son, Benny. He saw his front yard become a raging river.”
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Despite emergency dispatchers advising the family to stay put, Crowder knew they needed to evacuate immediately.
“The house was making noise, trees were coming down, and water was rushing under the house,” he explained. “I told dispatch, ‘Send help or not, I have work to do.'”
The rescue came at a crucial time. Just hours earlier, at 1:14 a.m., officials had upgraded the flash flood watch to a warning for parts of Kerr County. By 4:03 a.m., they had declared a flash flood emergency. The region would ultimately receive 15 inches of rain, more than double what meteorologists had predicted.
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For the family Crowder saved, he said the losses are staggering.
“They lost everything – their car, their house. When I saw them yesterday, they were working with whatever they could salvage in trash bags,” Crowder said.
Crowder said he is now volunteering around the community to help families in need after the flood. He told ABC news the community’s response has been overwhelming. Crowder’s workplace, one of the largest businesses in the Dovestown area, has been flooded with offers of help.
A GoFundMe campaign for the rescued family is “doing great,” according to Crowder, and similar stories of neighbors helping neighbors continue to emerge.
“It’s really great to see people stepping up to help others, both during the floods and after,” Crowder said, speaking from a cleanup site where he continues to volunteer.
