'We Can't Get Out of Our Cabin': 911 Calls Were Calm, Desperate

Many of the voices were frantic and desperate. A few were steady and calm. The calls came from families huddled on rooftops to escape rising waters, mothers panicked for the well-being of their children, and onlookers who heard people yell for help through the dark as they clung to treetops. Their pleas were among more than 400 calls for help across Kerr County last summer when devastating floods hit during the overnight hours on the July Fourth holiday. The recordings of the 911 calls were released Friday, the AP reports. The volume of calls would overwhelm two county emergency dispatchers on duty in the Texas Hill Country as catastrophic flooding inundated cabins and youth camps along the Guadalupe River. The flooding killed at least 136 people statewide during the holiday weekend, including at least 117 in Kerr County alone. Most were from Texas, but others came from Alabama, California, and Florida, according to a list released by county officials. The recordings show:

• Trapped campers: "There's water filling up super fast, we can't get out of our cabin," a camp counselor told a dispatcher above the screams of campers in the background. "We can't get out of our cabin, so how do we get to the boats?" Everyone in the cabin and the rest of campers at Camp La Junta were rescued.
• As time ran out: Calls came from people on rooftops and in trees. Some of the calls released Friday were from people who did not survive, said Kerrville Police Chief Chris McCall, who warned that the audio is unsettling. "The tree I'm in is starting to lean and it's going to fall. Is there a helicopter close?" Bradley Perry, a firefighter, calmy told a dispatcher, adding that he saw his wife, Tina, and their RV wash away. "I've probably got maybe five minutes left," he said. Bradley Perry did not survive. His wife was later found clinging to a tree, alive.
• 'We are flooding': In another heartbreaking call, a woman staying in a community of riverside cabins told a dispatcher: "We are flooding, and we have people in cabins we can't get to," she said. "We are flooding almost all the way to the top." The caller speaks slowly and deliberately. The faint voices of what sounds like children can be heard in the background.

• Advice and comfort: Overwhelmed by the volume, dispatchers tried to comfort the panic-stricken callers yet were forced to move on to the next one. They advised many of those who were trapped to get to their rooftops or run to higher ground. In some calls, children could be heard screaming in the background. "There is water everywhere, we cannot move. We are upstairs in a room and the water is rising," said a woman who called from Camp Mystic. The same woman called back later. "How do we get to the roof if the water is so high?" she asked. "Can you already send someone here? With the boats?" She asked the dispatcher when help would arrive. "I don't know," the dispatcher said. "I don't know."
• Aftermath: Many residents in the Texas Hill Country have said they were didn't receive any warning when the floods overtopped the Guadalupe River. Kerr County officials have faced scrutiny about whether they did enough right away. Two officials told Texas legislators this summer that they were asleep during the initial hours of the flooding, and a third was out of town. The AP was one of the media outlets that filed public information requests for recordings of the 911 calls to be released.