6 feared dead as van swept away in flood

Six members of a Houston family, including four children, are feared dead as authorities look into reports that they drowned after their van was swept away by a current while trying to flee rising floodwaters over the weekend.

Ric Saldivar, 53, told the Chronicle that his brother Sammy was driving his parents and four of Sammy’s grandchildren to Ric’s house in east Houston, where the flooding was less severe.

Saldivar said his brother made it through one patch of watery road Sunday afternoon before trying to drive his van through a deeper pool of water on Green River Drive at Greens Bayou, on the edge of Houston’s city limits.

Saldivar said the last phone call from his brother came about 11 a.m.

“We lost contact,” he said. “Then about 2 p.m., my sister-in-law called me. She told me that the family lost control of the van, that mom and dad were gone, and her grandkids were gone. … That keeps rolling around in my head, hearing her say that.”

Saldivar identified the brothers’ elderly parents as Bedia and Manuel Saldivar. Ric Saldivar said both of his parents suffered from dementia.

Ric Saldivar said his brother was able to slide out through the open driver’s side window but could not open the rear hatch to reach the children or his parents.

A spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office confirmed Monday evening that deputies pulled a man from the floodwaters at that location early Sunday afternoon.

Spokesman Jason Spencer said the rescued man told deputies about the van with his family members, but the deputies never saw the vehicle and could not mount a search because the conditions were “way too dangerous.”

No bodies have been recovered, Spencer said Monday.

“We’re going to have to wait until the water recedes,” he said.

The Pasadena Independent School District issued a statement Monday evening identifying the children as students at Pasadena High School and Williams Elementary.

“We have learned that four Pasadena ISD students and two of their great-grandparents were swept away ... while trying to escape the floodwaters of Harvey,” according to the statement.

Police Chief Art Acevedo told the Associated Press he had no information about the report but said he’s “really worried about how many bodies we’re going to find” once the floodwaters recede.

The floodwaters in that area were so severe that Harris County flood gauges were knocked out of service, according to the county’s Flood Warning System.