May 26, 2015

What a weird and eerie thing it must be to be talking to your sister while her house is being swept away downstream.

KXAN:

Julie Shields said she was on the phone with her sister, Laura, when their cabin was swept away.

“We are floating in a house that is now floating down the river,” Laura told Shields on the phone. “Call mom and dad. I love you, and pray.”

Those were the last words Shields had with her sister.

“My sister will always be my sister,” Shields added.

The conversation ended when Laura thought she saw a light from a helicopter that was there to rescue them.

“And I just expected to go to Wimberley High School the next day and find her,” said Shields. “When she wasn’t there, I knew something was very, very wrong.”

Jonathan was found 12 miles away and was taken to a San Antonio hospital for treatment. Laura and their two kids, Leighton and Andrew, are still missing. Shields said Jonathan did everything he could to help save them, but the cabin eventually split apart, separating the four.

According to ABC affiliate KVUE, the family is still hoping for a miracle.

Crews rescued Laura's husband, Jonathan, from the river bank. He's recovering in a San Antonio hospital with a broken sternum, broken rib and a collapsed lung.

"He is absolutely devastated. He did everything he possibly could to save them. What happened was the house slammed into a bridge and the house broke in two and they had all been in the house together holding hands but when the house hit the bridge and it separated, he got separated from everyone else," Shields said.

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