In the early morning hours of July 4, torrential rain sent the Guadalupe River surging over its banks, unleashing catastrophic flooding across Kerr County that claimed 119 lives.
The rising water swallowed homes, RV parks and summer camps, tearing through communities with little warning.
Amid the devastation, one rescue unfolded behind a Thompson Drive property owned by Doug Robertson, a local landscaping business owner whose land sits about 30 feet above the river.
Robertson said he began his day around 4:40 a.m., crossing the Francisco Lemos Street bridge without realizing the scale of flooding moving downstream from West Kerr County.
“I went to my office to do some paperwork,” Robertson said. “I started hearing an abnormally high number of sirens, so I walked outside to see what was going on.”
When he stepped outside, looking toward Louise Hays Park, he saw officials closing off access to the area.
“I opened the back gate to our property and saw what I’ve never seen before,” Robertson said. “The river was already up to our back fence and just raging.”
He immediately called his wife and asked her to wake their sons, who were visiting for the holiday, and send them to meet him.
“Despite all the rain, my landscaping crew showed up to work at about 6 o’clock,” Robertson said.
As the water continued to rise, the group began moving equipment and furniture to higher ground, then they heard a voice.
“There was a guy on our fence, saying, ‘Hey, help! I’m here!’” Robertson said.
A man in his 40s—naked, shaken, and clinging to a fence—had been swept downstream by the floodwaters.
“He was in shock,” Robertson said. “He didn’t have a stitch of clothes on him. It shows just how strong that current was.”
Robertson’s son, Ryan, tied a rope around his waist and moved into the rushing water while others secured the line from dry ground.
“We were yelling at the guy to jump, and my son caught him,” Doug Robertson said, recounting the rescue. “The rest of us just started towing them out of there with the rope to the point where my son had to tell us to stop, because we were dragging them on the ground and scratching them all up on the granite driveway.”
The rescue, captured on the property’s security cameras at 6:10 a.m., happened as emergency responders were overwhelmed with calls across the county.
Unable to reach help immediately, Ryan Robertson gave the man a pair of his shorts and drove him to Peterson Regional Medical Center.
For weeks, the family didn’t know the identity of the man they had pulled from the Guadalupe.
“We had a hard time getting him to talk, he was in such shock,” Doug Robertson said.
Then, on July 28, they found their answer.
During a Facebook live stream by the United Cajun Navy, a flood survivor named John recounted his rescue.
Earlier that morning, John said he had been driving home after spending time with his brother, trying to navigate worsening conditions.
“I thought, ‘OK, this is a sign. Take Lemos and be very careful,’’ John said in the interview. “... as soon as I could think a thought, I hit the water.”
His vehicle was swept into the current near the Francisco Lemos Street bridge. Trapped inside, he tried to break a window with his foot before grabbing a pool cue from the backseat.
“I was swept about a half mile,” John said. “I ended up at this fence where there was just enough area where it wasn’t covered by water and pulled myself up onto it.”
Clinging to the fence in the rushing water, he saw flashlights in the distance and began shouting for help.
“I believe the man that rescued me, his name is Ryan,” John said. “I’m thankful to all of them.”
For Robertson, who has lived in Kerrville since 1969, the scale of the flooding was unlike anything he had ever seen—but the rescue offered a moment of relief in an otherwise devastating day.
“It was just a huge emotional release to be able to save that guy. Insanely intense,” Doug Robertson said. “I’ve never been to Niagara Falls, but I can tell you that it has to sound like that river did. That’s how fast it was going.”
This article was originally published in the Aug. 21, 2025 edition of the Kerrville Daily Times.
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