Flash floods hit the Texas Hill Country, killing two tiny girls who were holding hands. The whole country has cried over what happened to them. Blair and Brooke Harber, who were only 13 and 11 years old, died while on a short summer trip with their family to the gated area of Casa Bonita near Hunt, Texas. Floodwaters poured across the area at 3:30 a.m. on Friday, turning what had been a peaceful vacation into an unimaginable tragedy. Hundreds of people have died in these storms all around the state.
Their aunt, Jennifer Harber, posted on GoFundMe that the flood occurred when the family was sleeping. RJ Harber, the girls’ father, didn’t wake up until water came rushing through the doors of their cabin.
The rain was so loud that it drowned out practically everything else, except for one last message from 11-year-old Brooke. She sent her dad and grandparents a text that said, “I love you.” That was the last time anyone heard from her.
RJ and his wife Annie knew right away how dangerous it was and busted a window to escape out. Their girls were resting in a nearby cabin with their grandparents, Mike and Charlene Harber, because their cabin was flooded.
RJ and Annie ran barefoot through the rising water to a neighbor’s house and asked to borrow a kayak since they were so eager to get to them. They tried to paddle to their girls, but the water was too forceful for them to fight. In the end, they and five other neighbors were safe. But they still couldn’t find Blair and Brooke.
Fifteen miles downriver, search and rescue teams found the girls’ remains twelve hours later. Jennifer Harber told KLOU that the search teams found the sisters’ hands tied together. This act demonstrated how close they were in life and death.
The most recent report suggests that the girls’ grandparents, Mike and Charlene Harber, are still missing. The family still has hope, but time and circumstances are not on their side. The Harbers liked to sleep with the daughters in a bigger, more pleasant house nearby. They did it because they loved one other, but it didn’t work out.
At St. Rita’s Catholic School in Dallas, where they both went to school, everyone knew and adored both Blair and Brooke. Their mother, Annie, is a teacher there. The school community is really sad about the loss.
RJ remarked that Brooke was “a light in any room—people were drawn to her,” while Jennifer said that Blair was “a talented student with a big, kind heart.” She made them laugh and have a good time right away. The girls’ family is very pious because they both brought their rosary beads on vacation.
Many families, including the Harbers, are distraught and struggling to understand the incomprehensible as the death toll from the floods in Texas grows past 80 and more than 40 people are still missing. They are holding on to memories, each other, and the picture of two sisters who were always together in life and death, even if everything is falling apart.
People all throughout the world, not just in Texas, have been moved by the story of Blair and Brooke. There are two reasons: the tragedy and the simple, deep love it shows—two small girls holding on to each other as the world around them came apart.