Mobile couple still missing due to Texas floods

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — One couple from Mobile is among the victims who have still not been located after the rapid floods in Texas.

Eddie Santana-Negron and Ileana Santana were visiting their oldest son, Eddie Jr., his wife Camille, and their 5-year-old daughter, Mila, in Kerr County, Texas, over the Fourth of July weekend.

On Friday, the unimaginable happened at around 4:00 a.m. when the Santana family was in their cabin.

“Water basically took over the cabin and just started coming in,” Alan Smith-Toro, a family friend of the Santanas for over thirty years, said.

A wall of water then swept the cabin off its foundation into the raging river.

Smith-Toro says he and his mom, Zaida, have been family friends with the Santanas and have known them since 1991.

“We grew up as kids together. Me, Michael, and Eddie, you know, playing with each other. Ileana, which is their mother, always would stay home and watch… she was kind of like a second mom to me,” Smith-Toro said.

Jaimee Santana, daughter-in-law of Eddie and Ileana, says that the only survivor, Eddie Jr., somehow escaped from a hole in the cabin’s roof. She said he was holding onto anything he could find in the rushing waters until he was rescued four hours later at about 8:00 a.m.

“It’s, you know, it’s his wife, his kid, you know, and his parents. I just can’t even imagine what he’s going through. I mean, that’s his whole world,” Smith-Toro said. “Hopefully they’re alive, but if they’re alive or not, you know, there’s no telling. I hope they’re out there surviving.”

You can support the Santana family by donating to their fundraiser.