Two young sisters killed during the devastating floods in Central Texas on Friday sent a final text message to their family before they died.
The bodies of the victims, identified as 13-year-old Blair and 11-year-old Brooke Harber of Dallas, were located 15 miles away in Kerrville after the water carried them from a house in Hunt, the Houston Chronicle reported on Sunday.
Their aunt, Jennifer Harber, said the children were staying with their grandparents and Brooke sent the text that read, “Saying I love you at 3:30 a.m.,” to their family as the storms intensified.
The girls’ aunt told the Chronicle their hands were “locked together” when they were found. She added that her parents — the girls’ grandparents — have not yet been located.
Harber said the family awoke around 3:30 a.m. and the girls’ father, R.J., went to check on them where they were sleeping in an upstairs loft.
When R.J. saw the waters swiftly rising around the house, Harber explained that someone broke a window as a way of escape.
“The waters were too high to get to our family, so he (R.J.) went to other neighbors to borrow a kayak. He woke two neighbors up for help and saved their lives and borrowed a kayak,” she said. “But, the water had risen too high to reach the neighbor’s house that my parents and nieces and their two dogs were at,” she recalled, stating the girls’ father was unable to navigate the floodwaters in the kayak.
He and his wife, Annie, escaped and the couple then watched as the flood washed homes and cars in the community away.
The two sisters were students at St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas, per WFAA. In a letter to its community, the school said the flash flooding along the Guadalupe River took the girls’ lives and shared the heartbreak everyone felt over the tragic and sudden loss:
In this time of deep sorrow, we stay grounded in our faith and united in love. We will stand with the Harber family in the days to come, surrounding them with our prayers, compassion, and unwavering support. As a community of faith, we hold onto the hope and promise that Christ has defeated death, and that eternal life is waiting for those who love Him.
Blair and Brooke were young women of deep faith, and religion was one of their favorite subjects. On the night they died, they went to the loft of their cabin with their rosaries. When Blair and Brooke were found the next day, fifteen miles downriver, they were together. Even in their last moments, they held tightly to each other, a powerful symbol of their lasting bond and their trust in God.
The death toll due to the flood is hovering around 80, according to a Breitbart News report published on Sunday.
In response to the tragedy, President Donald Trump said Sunday he had signed a Major Disaster Declaration for Kerr County to get federal resources to first responders in the area.
