Jan Wesner Childs
George Goodwin Hinkle III and his family were at their small farm in Kaufman, Texas, as floodwaters rose over the entire 7 acres and water poured into their barn converted into a house, where they lived with extended family.
Up to 10 inches of rain fell in the area, about 35 miles southeast of Dallas, Friday night into Saturday morning.
Hinkle's property, named Sunset Acres Farm, was left in ruins. He talked to us about it via a video interview late Saturday afternoon.
"My porch had started becoming covered. By the time I got my family awake and everybody upstairs, the water was coming in the house and it just rose and rose," Hinkle said, describing the scene as it became more dire, around 5 a.m.
"It's 6 inches deep in the kitchen. It's 8 inches deep. Next thing, you know, it's a foot-and-a-half deep."
Hinkle's wife, their 19-year-old son and daughters aged 11 and 17 were trapped.
"It got so high so quick that the kids and the wife couldn't get out of the house. They were stuck on the second floor," he said. "So I just waded through the water, went out and called a rescue team.”
A rescue boat plucked them off the roof. All around them, there was nothing but water. The Hinkles’ chicken coops and other farm buildings, as well as vehicles, were completely submerged. Many of the chickens and other birds they were raising didn't survive.
"Getting our farm up off the ground had been running pretty good here lately. It is not going to make it now," Hinkle said.
"We've been trying to hold it together for our kids and everything and for each other. But it's just ... it's devastating."
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Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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