A grieving father searching for his missing daughter in the devastating Texas floods made a heartbreaking discovery — the body of a young boy, lost to the rising waters.
Ty Badon, whose daughter is among those still unaccounted for, has been tirelessly combing through the wreckage left behind by the disaster. His personal search took a tragic turn when he stumbled upon the lifeless body of a small child.
The flooding was triggered by a sudden and violent storm over the July 4th weekend, which dumped an astonishing 15 inches of rain into the Guadalupe River. Within just 45 minutes, the river surged 26 feet, overwhelming nearby communities and sweeping away anything in its path.
Emergency responders have rescued more than 850 people, but the human toll continues to grow. At least 82 people have lost their lives, and 41 remain missing — many feared to have been swept away by the floodwaters.
Among the missing are ten children and one counselor from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp situated along the banks of the Guadalupe River. Rescue crews are working around the clock in a desperate effort to locate them.
For Ty Badon and other families, the wait is agonizing — every hour bringing either renewed hope or unbearable sorrow.
After days without hearing from his 21-year-old daughter, Joyce Badon, Ty Badon and her brother made the desperate journey to Hunt, Texas, hoping to find any sign of her.
In an emotional interview with CNN, Badon recounted how he and his son were calling out Joyce’s name when they unexpectedly “stumbled” upon the body of a young child caught in the flood’s deadly grip.
“At first, I thought it was a mannequin,” Badon said. “But it was a little boy, maybe 8 or 10 years old, and he was dead.”
He described the haunting moment with heavy sorrow: “We were just walking, doing the same thing we’d been doing all along, and then we found him.”
Despite the heartbreaking discovery, Badon held onto hope: “We’re praying to find our children — my daughter and her friends — alive.”
On air, Badon urged viewers to keep his family in their prayers and commended the tireless efforts of responders at Ingram Elementary School, the designated safe haven for survivors amid the storm.
“They’re the place where all the survivors are brought,” he explained. “We kept hoping to hear our daughter’s name or her friends’ names called out — but it never happened. That’s when we decided to come out and find them ourselves.”
Ty spoke warmly of Joyce, calling her a “beautiful, wonderful girl” and saying he “couldn’t have asked for a better child.”
Before the catastrophic flooding, Joyce and her three friends — Ella Cahill, Aidan Heartfield, and Reese Manchaca — were staying in a house by the Guadalupe River, a home that authorities now say “is no longer there.”
As rescue operations continue, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha stated on July 5: “We continue to have hundreds of first responders on the ground, air, and water in the process of search and rescue.”
Some Texas officials have pointed fingers at the National Weather Service (NWS), accusing it of failing to issue timely warnings about the severe weather due to budget cuts enacted during the Trump administration.
It’s been confirmed that several key positions at the San Angelo and San Antonio NWS offices remained unfilled amid the crisis.
One critical vacancy was the warning coordination meteorologist role. According to the New York Times, the previous occupant of this position retired early this year after accepting an early retirement offer from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).