Couple and 4 great-grandkids drowned fleeing floods: family

AN ELDERLY couple and their four great-grandchildren are feared dead after relatives say they drowned while fleeing devastation from Harvey.

A 16-year-old girl, a 14-yearold boy, an 8-year-old boy, a 6-year-old girl and their greatgrandparents were stuck inside a van when it sank beneath rising waters in Greens Bayou in east Houston, according to relative Virginia Saldivar.

Her brother-in-law, Samuel Saldivar, was driving the van Sunday, trying to bring his parents and her four grandchildren to safety, she told The Associated Press.

A strong current pitched the van into a bayou as it crossed a bridge.

Saldivar was the only person able to escape by climbing out a window. He hung on to a tree and urged the other occupants to get out of the sinking vehicle, the family said.

The children struggled to escape through the back door, but they could not.

“I’m just hoping we find the bodies,” Virginia Saldivar said.

Authorities have yet to confirm the deaths.

Houston police chief Art Acevedo said that he is “really worried about how many bodies we’re going to find” when rains eventually relent and the waters begin to recede.