HUNT, Texas – A 99-year-old World War II veteran is retelling how he survived the Fourth of July floods.
David Stearns went to the highest spot that he and his wife could reach. He used an American flag outside their home for cover.
Stearns told KSAT that he was in bed when the storm hit.
“I’m lying in bed, and I hear this terrible thunder one after another after another and all of a sudden it started to rain — just poured down,” he said.
Stearns soon found water rising quickly in the bedroom. His wife, Joan O’Connor, initially thought it was minor.
“First I thought, ‘Oh, man, now I’ve got to clean the floors again,’ because I just thought it was a little water on the floor,” O’Connor said.
As the water climbed, Stearns said his focus was getting his wife and dog out safely.
“My biggest concern, of course, is to make sure that Joan and the dog were safe,” he said.
The couple made it to a pergola outside their front patio — the highest structure they could float to.
“If it got any deeper, we’d have to go into the roof,” Stearns said.
O’Connor agreed that the water would have forced them up
“Well, the water would take you up there because we couldn’t climb up there,” O’Connor said.
When the water finally receded, their next-door neighbor, Rick, walked over to help. O’Connor recalled the moment that has become family lore.
“Rick comes over, and I said, ‘Rick, the water’s going down!’ I said David doesn’t have any clothes on,” she said. “And Rick went and wrapped that U.S. flag around him.”
Stearns provided KSAT with an explanation of what happened.
“OK, in my defense, the shorts that I had on irritated my stomach, so I took them off and threw them on the floor (the night before), and I couldn’t find them, because the water was already in the house,” he said.
Family, neighbors and nonprofits worked together to help the couple return home within six months. The flag that covered Stearns that morning is once again flying outside the house.
“Next March, I’ll be 100,” Stearns said. “Nobody lives till they’re 100.”
The couple told KSAT that they have also gained new friends — people who showed up to help and became part of their lives.
More Hill Country floods coverage on KSAT: