{"id":15794,"date":"2025-07-11T15:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T15:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=15794"},"modified":"2025-07-11T15:05:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T15:05:01","slug":"firsthand-account-texas-floods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2025\/07\/11\/firsthand-account-texas-floods\/","title":{"rendered":"A firsthand account from the Texas floods"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter,<\/em><\/a> delivered every Friday in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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***<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Dear Storyboard community, <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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I’m going to lead off this week by sharing two of the many stories coming out of the devastating floods in Texas, where 120 people have died and at least 170 are still missing<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Aaron Parsley, a senior editor at Texas Monthly, was staying with his extended family at their house on the Guadalupe River when disaster struck. He has just published a harrowing firsthand account of their struggle to survive<\/a> during the early morning hours of July 4. Parsley had gathered in the kitchen with his husband, father, sister, brother-in-law, and their young children when the rushing water reached their deck, which was 20 feet above ground: <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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When the sliding-glass door opened and water poured in, [Parsley’s brother-in-law] Lance ran to it, shoved it closed, and held it shut. The pendant lamps began to swing wildly over the kitchen counter. The house was shifting. It lurched sharply, and we all struggled to stay on our feet. It felt like walking down the aisle of a plane during strong turbulence. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

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\u201cWe\u2019re moving. We\u2019re moving,\u201d [Parsley’s husband] Patrick said. The realization was terrifying. The rushing, still-rising water had lifted the house off its pillars. It was afloat.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

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And then it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

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I saw part of the deck rip away. I heard windows break from every corner. Cracks split the walls. We crashed into something, probably a tree. I don\u2019t know how long it took\u2014ten seconds, maybe fifteen\u2014for the house to come apart. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

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[Parsley’s sister] Alissa managed to keep both kids on the countertop, one hand on each, still trying to reassure them. As the house came undone, she grabbed one in each arm. This is the part that will forever haunt me. If I or anyone else had been closer to them, we would have helped her. We would have grabbed one of the kids. But we didn\u2019t know that we were about to be plunged into the water. We simply didn\u2019t know. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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When it was over, Parsley lost his 20-month-old nephew, Clay. I worked with Aaron many years ago, and I am heartbroken for his family. There is a GoFundMe page<\/a> for their family and another family. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Also at Texas Monthly, Mimi Swartz has written about Camp Mystic, the summer camp where at least 27 campers and counselors died in the flooding. I first remembered reading about the camp in her feature story from 2011<\/a>; she wrote again this week about what Camp Mystic meant to so many<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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It\u2019s easy, in reading the news accounts of the horrific drownings of so many young campers in the Hill Country floods, to miss what Camp Mystic has meant to generations of a certain kind of Texas woman, and what the loss of it will mean going forward.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

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But maybe you had to see the place to really understand what the Stacy family, which has run the camp since 1939 (it was created thirteen years before that) had in mind early on. I\u2019ve often thought that a lot of the Texas landscape is an acquired taste, but the area around Hunt, due west of Kerrville, has always been easy to love. The emerald-green Guadalupe is shaded by tall cypress trees, and the calls of wild birds compete with the rushing of small waterfalls. There are red-tailed hawks and white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and bobcats. No matter your faith, watching the early-morning mist come off the Guadalupe or wading in its cool, clear waters could guarantee some kind of peace and tranquility, at least momentarily.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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More stories will be coming, and once again I’m grateful for the journalists and local news outlets who will be there to connect the community, to remember those lost, and to seek answers.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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How to tell stories about life and death (and everything in between)<\/a><\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\"Line<\/a>
Line Vaaben of Politiken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> \n
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This week, Storyboard contributor Emilia Wisniewski speaks with journalist Line Vaaben<\/a>, a 2025 Nieman Fellow who serves as the “existential editor”<\/a> for the Danish news outlet Politiken. She crafts narratives about “love, hope, family secrets, fear of war, and why people lie to each other,” that are really about what it means to be human. “We go deep and close \u2014 to make the abstract very concrete.”<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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When searching for story ideas, Vaaben says the existential desk focuses on six themes<\/a> \u2014 from stages of life, to relationships and life-changing events. “I think it\u2019s more important than ever for journalism to tackle issues that feel urgent and intimately connected to our readers\u2019 lives,” Vaaben told Wisniewski. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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For Storyboard, Vaaben breaks down how she reported her 2024 Politiken feature story<\/a>, in which she and photographer Jacob Ehrbohn spent 10 days at a palliative care unit for terminally ill patients. “I felt like I was bearing witness to an important human experience. I truly felt lucky and honored.”<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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[ Read the story<\/a> ]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Links of note<\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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