Megachurch Pastor Michael Oakes is counting his blessings after he and his entire family escaped flash flooding along the Guadalupe River in Texas last Friday, which has claimed the lives of well over 100 people in the state’s Hill Country region.
Oakes, the outreach minister for Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, where bestselling author Max Lucado serves as a teaching pastor, shared on social media how he and his family traveled to their Hunt river home to relax for the Independence Day weekend. But rain and flooding quickly turned their trip into a nightmare early Friday morning.
“We went to bed Thursday night to light rain. Heavy storms woke me about 1 a.m. and by 2 a.m. water was flooding our dining room. Our Hunt river house is across Hwy 39 from the Guadalupe, just up from the River Inn, probably 200 feet from the river and 15 feet above the normal riverbank,” Oakes explained in a post on Instagram.
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Around 2:30 a.m., the pastor and father of three teenagers said he and his wife, Liliana, noticed that the water was rising rapidly.
“We saw headlights of cars lining up on the road as people evacuated the River Inn and nearby homes, stuck with nowhere to go. I woke up the family. We tried to fill the gaps in the doors where water was rushing in, but it was a losing battle. By 3:30 a.m. we were ankle deep inside and the water outside was up to our windowsills,” he recalled. “We needed to get out.”
Oakes and his son, Johan, jumped into action and crawled through a window of the house to find an escape route in “chest-deep water.”
“People were calling out with flashlights from a bluff above our house and we decided to go. We went back for the family (and the dogs) and just as we were pulling our moms out of the window the water dropped a couple of feet (thank you Lord!) and we were able to make it to higher ground. We gathered with a bunch of people in a neighbor’s screened porch and counted our blessings,” Oakes said.
Daylight would reveal the devastation from the flooding, some of which Oakes described as “hair-raising” and “miraculous stories. He said his mother and mother-in-law both had to be airlifted by first responders as they waited for the roads to clear.
“It could have been much worse, and it was. … The wall of water only grew as it went … down river past Mystic camp and into Hunt and Ingram. The drive home today was heartbreaking as we passed so much devastation,” Oakes wrote.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that 161 people are known to be missing since the flooding. Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls along the Guadalupe River, which has been around since 1926, appears to have been the hardest hit.
At least 27 attendees and counselors from the camp are either dead or missing. Another five campers and a counselor are still unaccounted for, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said on Tuesday.
While he is grateful to have escaped with his family, Oakes urged prayers for those who have suffered loss.
“Thank you to so many friends for your messages and prayers, and to all our neighbors and the good Samaritans along the way. We are heartbroken for all those mourning a loss,” Oakes said.
“This thing came on so strong and so fast and with so little warning. Please pray for those still suffering and help if you can. Casita del Rio was our happy place, our dream retreat, and it will be again. But for now, we are grateful to be safe and to be home.”
Serving in his role as outreach coordinator at Oak Hills Church since 2007, Oakes coordinates local and global outreaches and mobilizes volunteers to share the Gospel with those in need. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University and a master’s in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona.
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