Survivors cling to life as Texas storms turn deadly

Deadly flooding along the Guadalupe River over July 4 weekend left destruction across Texas Hill Country, forcing residents to flee through waist-deep water.

HUNT, Texas — Like others who were in homes or vacationing over the July 4 weekend at Texas’ Guadalupe River, Christian Fell, 25, was jolted awake by the crack of thunder.

It was about 3 a.m., just a couple hours since Fell had gone to sleep alone in his grandmother’s home on the river in Hunt, Texas. The rest of his family was staying upriver at another house. Then came more noise — this time sounding like a break-in — and he got out of bed.

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“I get up and I swing my feet over the side of the bed and I can feel water,” Fell said.

Christian Fell, 25, stood for hours on top of a meter box, barely wide enough for both hands, to survive floodwaters that deluged his grandmother’s home.Suzanne Gamboa / NBC NewsThe river water that he’d normally watch from the patio of the historic stone home his grandfather built was now over his ankles — and rising fast.