News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz Alpena Rotary Club members are seen at a luncheon on Monday prior to participating in a discussion about the Guadalupe River flooding in central Texas this past Fourth of July. Kerrville, Texas Rotary Club members led the discussion via Zoom. The lunch meeting was held at the APlex in Alpena.

ALPENA — Alpena Rotary Club members on Monday heard from Kerrville, Texas Rotary Club members via Zoom about the July 4 Guadalupe River flood that devastated communities in central Texas. Kerrville Rotary Club members said the response to the event was “uniquely American.”

Bobby Templeton, Kerrville Rotary Club secretary and Ingram Schools superintendent, described having to reunify children with their parents after being displaced from summer camps due to the flooding. He said that Texas Hill Country, the region of Texas where the Guadalupe River flooded, is host to about 20 summer camps.

Templeton said he got a call from their chief of police at 6:30 a.m. on July 4 telling Templeton that he had to get to the Ingram Schools immediately though he was unaware at that time there was mass flooding in the area.

“My chief of police called me and said, ‘Hey, boss, you need to get up here.’ And to hear it in his voice, I knew it was bad … I didn’t even ask him what it was,” Templeton said. “He said, ‘Just get up here, boss. It’s going to be the worst day of your life.'”

Templeton explained that children had to be airlifted to his school’s campus by helicopter, and were placed in separate rooms than parents. He said this reunification process is necessary to ensure that children are not mistakenly claimed by someone with “ill intent.”

Templeton said that the reunification process lasted from 10 a.m till 3 a.m. At the end he had to tell 40 to 50 parents that their children were deceased.

“They all knew that some of the kids were not going to come back,” Templeton said. “I had to go and tell all of those parents that their kids were not coming back that night. And it was probably the most horrific thing I’ve ever done.”

Templeton said that some parents broke down in tears while others told him to go away.

“I remember one mom … she started screaming, ‘No, no, no, no, no!'” Templeton said. “And then when I would go to some parents and talk to them, they didn’t even want me to approach them. They would hold out their hands and just go, ‘No, no, no! Get away!’ It was probably one of the most traumatic things I have ever been through, and certainly they’ve ever been through.”

Templeton said that in the following days he was amazed by how many volunteers descended upon the town to help wherever help was needed. He said he met volunteers from all over the country, including Michigan.

Though Kerrville and the surrounding communities affected by the July 4 flooding have received ample support since the disaster, Templeton said he is most worried for the compounding morale and mental health of community members.

“I think everybody here has had a breaking point,” he said. “As Texans, we like to consider ourselves pretty resilient and tough and hearty, just like people from Michigan … We’re tough people. But I don’t care how tough you are, when you go through this, you need some mental help.”

He said although the tragic events hung heavy on the community, he still felt a sense of pride watching support come in from all corners of the country.

“People from all over the country … it’s just this uniquely American spirit,” Templeton said. “It was so inspiring.”

On Monday, Kerrville Rotary Club President Trey Atkission gave the Alpena Rotary Club members an overview of the events from his perspective. Atkission explained that he was actually out of town when the flooding occurred and, like many across the country, learned about the devastation from media outlets.

“We all remember seeing some rain in the forecasts and scattered clouds … but really nothing, really, that would lead you to believe that in less than 12 hours, we would be faced with reality,” Atkission said.

Club President-Elect Layng Guerrero stated that the flooding occurred at “the worst time” of the year as most of their summer camps were in operation and their campgrounds along the river were filled with vacationers for the holiday.

Guerrero explained that because the river valley is rich in limestone, there is little soil to absorb precipitation. He said that the rain fell right over the headwaters creating a “rain bomb” and causing damage to the likes of a tsunami.

“And when the rain bomb came down into that valley, it was so dense, it fell down into the valley, and then it created literally a tsunami,” Guerrero said. “It’s just hard to imagine the devastation from the force of the water.”

Guerrero and his wife run an animal nonprofit in Kerrville, and while checking on animals, they saw a car with a person inside being swept away by the flooding.

“We see a car with its brake lights on, and you can see the person in the car floating down the river, and it was just surreal,” Guerrero said. “And so we turned around, and we knew we were going to have a bad day.”

He praised the following volunteer efforts to support their small town in the wake of the tragedy.

Alpena Rotary Club members asked Atkinson, Guerrero, and Templeton what their community most needs at the moment. Templeton said financial donations are most appreciated at this time, in either direct monetary gifts or Walmart gift cards.

Those wishing to donate can give directly to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country at communityfoundation.net.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.