:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(772x468:774x470)/Jonathan-McComb-Guadalupe-River-070835-tout-b00b878e28c54fd5a9aec86bca91094f.jpg "Man’s Family Died in Flood, Now He’s Looking for Victims of Latest Texas Tragedy")
NEED TO KNOW
- A Texas man who survived a 2015 flood is now out on the front lines looking for victims of the Hill Country flood
- Jonathan McComb, 45, lost his wife and two kids when floodwaters separated him and his family, according to USA Today
- Now, he says he hopes his story will encourage and inspire others
A man who lost his family in a flood a decade ago is now helping look for victims of the Texas flood disaster.
Jonathan McComb lost his entire family in 2015 when a flood struck Wimberly, Texas, according to USA Today and ABC affiliate WFAA.
McComb told USA Today that he watched his family be swept away by the raging floodwaters, which smashed the home they were staying in into a bridge. He was able to escape the water 11 miles downriver.
Thirteen people died in the flood, including McComb’s wife, Laura, and two children, Leighton and Andrew, WFAA and NBC affiliate KXAS-TV reported.
Ten years later, McComb, 45, is volunteering with Texas Search and Rescue (TEXSAR). He is one of hundreds of volunteers who have turned out to help look for victims of the floods that ravaged central Texas over the 4th of July weekend, according to USA Today.
“This one hits a little bit more at home,” he told the newspaper. “I can see the hurt and the pain in the families. I know what they’re going through and what they’re feeling and what they’re going to feel.”
Brandon Bell/Getty
And giving back by volunteering for TEXSAR is important to McComb, according to WFAA. He called it a “great organization to get involved with and try and help others in tragic situations.”
“I told myself when I was in the hospital — once I got out and saw what they were doing — I needed to join them to give back and to help others,” McComb recalled.
Since McComb arrived in Kerrville on the night of Friday, July 4, his emotions have been running high.
“It’s a tug of war,” McComb told USA Today. “I’m here to help. But knowing we weren’t able to recover my daughter 10 years ago and I know what that feels like. I want to do what I can to help.”
McComb, who has since remarried and has a 5-year-old daughter, told the outlet that he made sure to give her a tight hug before setting off this time around.
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty
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McComb hopes his efforts will encourage and inspire others who may be impacted by the latest flood to devastate Texas, according to KXAS-TV.
“I think it’s good for people to see that there’s hope, through tragedy. That life can go on, and I’m here to help do whatever I can for those people,” he said. “Because they’re going through the worst part of their lives right now, and I did that. I know exactly how they feel.”
To learn how to help support the victims and recovery efforts from the Texas floods, click here.
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