Julian Ryan, Ingram, Texas dad dies saving his family’s life amid raging flood waters as fiancee Christinia Wilson describes last moments and where authorities went wrong.
An Ingram, Texas man has been hailed a hero after losing his life in a desperate bid to save his family from rising waters amid flash floods in central Texas.
Julian Ryan, 27, was home home with his fiancée, Christinia ‘Tina’ Wilson, their children, and his mother when water from the Guadalupe River rushed into their house early Friday morning.
At the time catastrophic flash flooding causing the river to rise 26 feet in 45 minutes. It was as waters swelled early Friday morning, adjacent sites and properties were left to peril as locals — caught off guard — desperately sought to survive raging waters.
Texas couple swept away after last phone call that saved relatives
Texas dad dies hero saving family from raging flood waters
As the floodwater rose, Julian punched out a window to help his family escape—only for the glass to sever an artery in his arm, KHOU reported.
‘It severed his artery in his arm and almost cut it clean off,’ fiancee Christina Wilson said.
They called 911 many times, but help couldn’t reach them in time. Before he passed, Julian told his family, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not going to make it. I love y’all.’
His body was found hours later, once the water receded.
‘He died a hero, and that will never go unnoticed,’ Ryan’s sister, Connie Salas told KHOU.
Wilson said that within 20 minutes, the water was up to their knees in the house.
‘It just started pouring in, and we had to fight the door to get it closed to make sure not too much got in. We went back to the room and started calling 911,’ Wilson said.
It was then that Julian had decided to forcefully break a house window for his family to escape through.
‘By 6 (a.m.), he looked at me and the kids and my mother-in-law and said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not going to make it. I love y’all,’ Wilson said.
32 dead and 23-25 young girls from Camp Mystic unaccounted
The fiancee believes more needs to be implemented to avoid anything like this from ever happening again, saying flood sirens could have saved lives.
‘Everybody would’ve been worried — what’s that noise?’ Wilson said. ‘We would have left. We would have gone anywhere else. We had so many places that were safe.’
Residents were not warned until 1:18pm on July 3 and were told it was ‘moderate’ storms.
A GoFundme to assist Julian’s family get through the tragedy had to date raised over $18K.
Texas officials confirmed Saturday night that 47 people had died across three counties, with Kerr County officials citing 43 deaths — 28 adults and 15 children, along with 27 others, mostly young girls part of the Camp Mystic continuing to remain unaccountable.
At least four of the dead are young campers at Camp Mystic, a Christian sleep away camp for girls between he ages of 7 and 17. Camp Mystic Camp director, Dick Eastland was reported to have also died after heroically trying to save the lives of the young girls as floodwaters begun descending on the camp site adjacent to the Guadalupe River.
The above confirmed deaths followed news of Heart o’ the Hills camp director, Jane Ragsdale, 67, drowning after having gone to locate and assist counselors who were at the site despite the school not being in session.
