As first responders continue to search for the missing after the devastating floods in the Hill Country this weekend, many in the region are thinking back to an eerily similar tragedy.
38 years ago in the same month, in nearly the same place, the Guadalupe River flooded its banks. Tragically, a bus carrying teenagers from the Pot O’ Gold Christian Camp outside of Comfort, Texas, were swept away by the flood waters. Ten teenagers lost their lives.
In 1987, Judge Frieda Pressler responded to the tragedy as an EMS paramedic in Comfort. Today, she is a justice of the peace in western Kendall County, just a few miles from Kerrville.
She spoke with Texas Standard about her memories of that day. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: First of all, how are you and your family doing? This must be a very difficult time for the entire community.
Frieda Pressler: Well, we’re doing just fine. We were all safe. I think most of the damage, you know, was in upper Kerr County.
We did get the floodwaters through here. We didn’t lose any lives from our community or the county here. I think there were a few houses that got flooded in that, but everybody is accounted for and safe.
As this was developing over the weekend, you must have had many memories of what happened in July 1987. How do you remember that day?
It was an awful day. A lot of flashbacks were coming back to me with all of this going down in Kerr County. And now we’re into the recovery period of recovering the bodies.
It brings back a lot of sad memories of the children from the Seagoville Church bus that went down in the water with all the missing children. But it was very devastating to see, to witness, to make eye contact with the families and what they were going through – waiting and hoping.
The main thing is that we were still trying to maintain hope and maintain our faith that the children would be rescued, and now, like I said, as the days went by, it turned into a recovery period with the children. It was mortifiable to see those youngsters in the shape that they were in with the floodwaters.
As events began to happen, how did you process the images as you found out about the news and spoke with members of the community? How are you dealing with that yourself?
Well, I can say this, it took me a while to get over this because when you’re dealing with children, it’s different than dealing with an adult because it tears at your heart.
You said there’s something different about this where kids are involved and when they go to an event where they’re experiencing the joys of summer, and then something like this happens.
Is there anything that you learned from your experience with the 1987 tragedy that might help your fellow Texans heal and maybe think about future floods – what we can do better, how we could better prepare, for example?
Well, like here locally, the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department has set up an alert system that monitors the Guadalupe River and the Cypress Creek here in our area, and it sets off an alert for the fire department and then they can set off an alert here in the area, which they did do on Friday, July the 4th.
They did sound the alarm, which is a constant siren to alert people in certain areas that they needed to evacuate immediately for the safety of themselves.
» RELATED: Kerr County residents say emergency alert messages sporadic, inconsistent in wake of floods
Then what happened? What went wrong?
What happened like in Kerr County? I can’t answer for Kerr County. They may not have this alert system yet, you know, so it may be something that Kerr County wants to look at.
But because of the flood that we had back in 1987, and we also had a flood back in 1978, which really flooded the Comfort area. It took a few lives. It took a few homes. And it took a while for us to recover from all of that. And that is why there was a group of people that organized trying to help the fire department to come up with this alert system.
It was installed as of last year, so it has paid off this year.
Perhaps this will lead to similar changes in Kerr County. Is that your hope?
I hope that it does, you know, and I hope that the fire departments can work together to help our neighboring county with this.
» GUADALUPE RIVER FLOOD: How to help, and how to find help
There are people listening who really want to help, but they don’t know how. There’s a feeling that this is bigger than them.
What would you tell someone who wants to help in some way, but is feeling frustrated by that sense of helplessness?
Well, right now, I think they have an outflow of plenty of volunteers that are out there searching the area and everything. All of the fire departments, everything, are overloaded with food right now.
The only thing that I can think of that would be very beneficial is prayers for the families, that these ones that are still out there trying to be recovered, that each and every one of them is found so that the family has some sort of closure.
The departments, the fire departments and all, probably can use monetary donations. I do believe, I think, that Camp Mystic, which is over there in Hunt, Texas, they need donations because they’ve been completely wiped out over there.
And then the other thing would be, try to, where these families are from — because I understand they’re from like Dallas, Houston, Beaumont — that’s where these children are from, and they came to this camp area. They’re probably going to need support in their community, you know, whether it be funeral expenditures or whatever.
But I ask that you don’t reach out to the families right now because they’re in a period of mourning, themselves, right now.
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