In Texas, a major search effort is being led by the father of a flood victim

KERR COUNTY, Texas — For a large group of volunteers, the search for victims of the July 4 flood begins every morning — before sunrise — in the parking lot of a Walmart in Kerrville.

It’s an effort led by Thad Heartfield.

Standing in the center, ringed by volunteers, they start with a prayer. Then he says, “Let’s gather in close and I’ll give you a briefing.” Heartfield isn’t normally an emergency worker. He’s an attorney from Beaumont, Texas. His family had a house in Hunt, an unincorporated community on the Guadalupe River.

On the day of the flood, Heartfield’s son was staying there with three friends.

“I was on the phone with him at 4 a.m. when they were washed away from the home,” he says. “The water just overwhelmed them. We’re still missing my son, Aidan Heartfield and Ella Cahill.”

Heartfield rushed to the area. The cabin was gone, washed off its foundation. By the next morning, he began the search and was soon joined by a large group of volunteers. Some are relatives and friends of the missing. Others are people who just want to help.

“We’re making progress,” he says. “We have not had a survivor find. But we are recovering bodies for their loved ones.”

Despite his personal loss and maybe because of it, Heartfield shows little emotion and maintains a matter-of-fact manner. He’s wearing a canvas ball cap, a blue Oxford shirt and navy pants — the same clothes he arrived in on Friday.

At least 87 people died in the flooding in Kerr County. The overall death toll is at least 109 and more than 160 people are reported missing.

The flooding deposited cars, mobile homes, trees and other debris along several miles of the river. Every pile needs to be searched to find the bodies of the missing.

By Tuesday, the volunteers had helped recover nine flood victims, including two of his son’s friends, Joyce Badon and Reese Manchaca. It’s an arduous and slow process. Volunteers have to climb over downed trees, wade through water and mud, and search through dense piles of debris.

“What I’ve tried to do is divide my team into one-mile search zones and have them concentrate on a one-mile stretch for eight hours. It sounds tedious but the more you look at an area, the more you will start I feel to observe the nuanced differences,” Heartfield said.

In some areas, the volunteers have had to step back to make way for large teams of law enforcement and other first responders who arrived over the weekend. But overall, he says the relationship between the government crews and volunteers has been respectful and productive.

The sun has just come up in the Walmart parking lot and more than 70 volunteers are there. Using a map, Heartfield begins assigning each team an area to search. He shows one group a spot on the map he wants them to check.

“Look, this island right here? I don’t think anybody’s been on this island,” he says.

Some volunteers have been here since Saturday. Others have just arrived. Heartfield gives the newcomers advice on how to look, and what to do when they find something.

“Pin it on a GPS map, send it to me,” he says. “I will get law enforcement out there to do the appropriate search.”

People start getting in their trucks to head to their assigned areas. Some will examine debris piles as they’re dismantled by excavators and skid steers. Others will start looking in the river for signs of submerged vehicles.

On Tuesday, Kerr County officials said more than two dozen of the victims recovered had not yet been identified.

Heartfield says at this point, many identifications have to wait for DNA analysis. His son and his son’s girlfriend, he acknowledges, could be among them.

“He may have been recovered,” Heartfield says. “I just don’t know. But I’m not stopping the effort to locate him, Ella or someone else.”

Heartfield and his volunteers are concentrating their search along seven miles of the Guadalupe, from the town of Hunt down to Ingram. The Texas Game Wardens, who are helping direct the government teams say their effort extends 26 miles down the river.

It’s a search at this point with no end in sight.