Julian Ryan’s final act was punching through a window so his fiancée and two young children could float to safety.
A Midnight Nightmare
When floodwaters barreled into a trailer park near the Guadalupe River before dawn Friday, Julian Ryan, 27, woke to find water rushing waist-high through his family’s bedroom. Trapped with his fiancée Christinia, his mother Marilyn, and their two children, a 6-year-old and a 13-month-old, Julian made a split-second decision:
“We had to fight the door shut, but the water kept coming,” Christinia told KHOU 11.
With no time and no exit, Julian smashed the bedroom window. Shards of glass nearly severed his arm, slicing an artery as he tried to clear an escape path. Even as he bled out, he hoisted the children onto a floating mattress.
Last Words of a Father
The water kept rising. 911 calls went unanswered. Julian’s family watched helplessly as he grew pale, his blood pressure plummeting. In his final moments, he whispered:
“I’m sorry, I’m not going to make it. I love y’all.”
Moments later, the raging current ripped the trailer in half, freeing Christinia, Marilyn, and the children to swim clear, but Julian was gone.
“He Died Trying to Save Us”
Christinia remembers Julian as “the best father… never above helping people, no matter the cost.” A GoFundMe page launched for the family has already raised nearly $30,000, praising him as a “true hero.”
A Rising Toll
Julian’s sacrifice is one of many stories emerging from the historic Texas floods:
- 59 confirmed dead statewide, including 15 children
- 43 bodies recovered in Kerr County alone, Sheriff Larry Leitha said Saturday
- 27 girls still missing from nearby Camp Mystic, where floodwaters obliterated cabins and left plush toys and bunk beds strewn in mud
Brothers’ Daring Escape
Amid the heartbreak, two campers at Camp La Junta shared a rare survival story. Brothers Piers and Ruffin Boyett awoke to water swallowing their bunk room.
“It reached the top bunk,” Piers, 11, told KSAT. “We had one choice — swim.”
They battled the current to a higher cabin and waited on rafters until rescuers arrived.
Searches Continue
With helicopters, boats, and hundreds of volunteers, crews are scouring battered riverbanks for the missing. Sheriff Leitha admitted, “Hope is dwindling,” but families refuse to give up.