Preview: The Original Article, Days After the Flood

Those Days are Gone

The Guadalupe River, and what it meant to so many Texans, changed forever on July 4, 2025. Whether to return and try to rebuild is a question each flood survivor must answer for themselves. To read Aaron Parsely’s Pulitzer Prize-winning feature, go to: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/ [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/].

Faith After the Flood

A conversation about faith with Dallas attorney R.J. Harber, who lost most of his family in the July 4 flood. We connected as survivors and during our conversation, I learned that even though we believe very different things and engage spiritually in very different ways, the result is kind of the same. To read Aaron Parsely’s Pulitzer Prize-winning feature, go to: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/ [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/].

Stuck at Camp Forever

An old friend reaches out. His daughter was one of the young girls who died at Camp Mystic. We reconnected to understand each other's grief and explore how it can be channeled into action. To read Aaron Parsely’s Pulitzer Prize-winning feature, go to: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/ [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/].

One of the Hardest Things

In the aftermath of the flood, loved ones and kind-hearted strangers helped my family face our new, unimaginable reality. A reunion takes place for the first time since the disaster. To read Aaron Parsely’s Pulitzer Prize-winning feature, go to: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/ [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/].

The Flood, Part 2

At dawn on July 4, 2025, Texas Monthly senior editor Aaron Parsley found himself high in a hackberry tree, alone and unaware of his family’s whereabouts. This is the story of what came next. To read Aaron Parsely’s Pulitzer Prize-winning feature, go to: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/ [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/].