VAN SINKS IN HOUSTON FLOODS; 6 FEARED DEAD
As a van full of family members tried to escape Harvey, violent floodwaters engulfed the vehicle and six people are presumed dead, including four siblings aged 6 to 16, a relative said.
Virginia Saldivar told The Associated Press on Monday that when her in-laws’ northeast Houston home began to flood early Sunday, her brother-in-law Samuel Saldivar borrowed her husband’s van and drove to pick up the relatives. She said at some point on their way to safety, a strong current lifted the van and pitched it forward into Greens Bayou.
Samuel Saldivar climbed out of the driver-side window but the van’s sliding door was partially submerged and would not open, Virginia Saldivar said. He yelled at the children to try to escape out the back, but they were unable. Virginia Saldivar said her brotherin-law could only watch as the van disappeared under water.
“Sam calls my husband and tells him, ‘they’re gone,’” Saldivar told AP. “That’s when my husband dropped the phone and started screaming.”
Virginia Saldivar believes her husband’s parents, 84-yearold Manuel Saldivar and Belia Saldivar, 81, drowned along with their grandchildren Daisy, Xavier, Dominic and Devy.
Virginia Saldivar said she lives in the same neighborhood as her relatives, but she and her husband left during a calm spell Saturday. The children’s mother had left the four at home, she said. The widespread flooding prevented them from getting home until Sunday afternoon.