With nothing but the clothes on their backs, some baby food, and their two dogs, the Blackmon family left their home behind, jumped into rescue boats and were ushered to safety on Monday.
"We were out of there; that’s all that matters," said Becky Blackmon.
Even with water already creeping under their home, the family said they considered waiting it out. But emergency crews in Horseshoe Bend, an area in southern Parker County, convinced them otherwise.
"They started talking about how, you know, 'If we have to leave you, we’re going to write your name and social security number on your arm,'" said Darren Blackmon. "They said, 'This could get real bad.' That sounded bad, so that’s when I said, 'All right, we’re all going to go.'"
By Monday afternoon, at least 27 people had been rescued by boat in Horseshoe Bend alone.
"We’re getting people out of bad situations," said Lt. Mike Walters with the Fort Worth Fire Department. He was working with Texas Task Force 1. "They’re just in bad situations."
While some people evacuated their homes, others chose to stay.
"I got a real pretty green yard," Terry Dougherty said, tongue-in-cheek, showing us her property -- which was under feet of water. Dougherty wonders what it will look like once the floods recede. She said she already had to replace her floors after the floods of 2007.
Street signs on her block looked more like buoys, and roads looked like canals as the Brazos River continued to blur the lines between water and shoreline. At one point, the river was expected to crest on Monday. Now officials think it won't happen until Tuesday, leaving more opportunity for flooding.
"It wasn’t like this when we went to bed last night," said Laurie Gee, as she, too, showed us the floodwaters in her yard. Even with water nipping at her home's foundation, Gee wasn't getting out... yet. But with more rain on the way and the river still rising, she and others will wait, and reassess, as the night goes on.
Anyone needing assistance during the floods can head to a Red Cross shelter set up at 1007 South Main Street in Weatherford.
