Jeeper Ragsdale’s sister, Jane, woke him up with a name at about 3:30 a.m. on July 4, telling him the water was rising.
It was already on the foot of her mattress, Jane informed him, he mentioned. The cell service was spotty on the camp the place Jane was a director, however Jeeper may hear that a lot, he mentioned.
“And I could not do nothing,” Jeeper informed ABC Information. “I used to be, like, get out of the home.”
That was the final time Jeeper spoke to Jane, whose full title was Cynthie Jane Ragsdale, and who was considered one of greater than 100 individuals who died within the Texas flooding that started early that morning.
Flood sufferer, Jane Ragsdale.
Coronary heart O’ the Hills Camp for Women
She had been with the camp, Coronary heart O’ The Hills, for nearly 50 years. She’d been a co-owner since 1978 and had served because the director since 1988.
As her brother recalled, the camp within the Texas Hill Nation was “my sister’s love of her life.” It was in her blood.
Jane’s camp was close to one other, Camp Mystic, which was additionally devastated by the flooding.
When Jane known as to inform Jeeper what was occurring, he informed her to interrupt a window, to get out of the home by any means vital, he mentioned in an interview. He mentioned he thought she had accomplished so, however he could not be certain.
“Effectively, she simply wasn’t contacting me once more,” Jeeper mentioned. “So it was fairly apparent, most likely, what had occurred. However I simply was holding on to hope that in some way she had gotten out.”
Jeeper Ragsdale, who misplaced his sister, Cynthia Jane Ragsdale, within the Texas Hill Nation flooding, speaks with ABC Information, July 9, 2025.
ABC Information
Jeeper mentioned his sister’s name that morning alerted him to the hazard and he was capable of get up a number of individuals at his personal camp. He credited her cellphone name with saving at the very least 5 lives.
Within the days for the reason that flood, Jeeper has had time to replicate on his sister’s life. She had labored as a journalist in her youth, touring as distant as Argentina for work. She had been one of many “nicest individuals you may meet and liked serving to individuals and wasn’t materialistic.”
He mentioned he would bear in mind her the way in which he at all times did, simply as a cheerful one who would greet him with an enormous hug each time they noticed one another.
The worst half about Friday was the hours that he did not know the place she was. Not figuring out if she was OK, he mentioned. It meant every part to him that she’d known as him that morning, he mentioned.
And he mentioned she’d texted him sooner or later that morning, because the floods ravaged the world. In a single textual content she mentioned she was anxious about re-opening the camp, Jeeper mentioned, however he nonetheless hasn’t appeared again at her final texts to him.
“I have never been in a position to take a look at my texts,” he mentioned. I simply have not been in a position to return there. However I do know I talked to her.”
