HUNT, Texas — On Friday morning, many people had only minutes to escape the raging floodwaters of the Guadalupe River in Hunt—including the Vlasek family, who live in a small neighborhood across Highway 39.

“This was the living room. We had a chair here and a couch there,” said Cody Vlasek, a senior at Ingram Tom Moore High School who has spent his entire childhood in the home.

“The back fence is where the 100-year flood plain ends, and we’re 20 — almost 30 — feet away from that,” he added.

Cody said his mother, Denise, woke up to the sound of heavy rain. Soon after, he realized the water was rising fast. 

He started yelling to his parents that it was time to go.

“The river was to our back fence,” Cody said.

The three of them rushed to get out. Amid the chaos, their dog ran off. With no time to search, they were forced to leave their pet behind and began making their way uphill to a neighbor’s home. Cody said the water was already up to his waist.

“The current — it almost, almost tripped some of us,” he recalled.

Within 20 minutes, the floodwaters had filled their home. Cody said they could hear neighbors yelling for help.

“It was a horrible feeling because you wanted to help them, and you didn’t know what happened to them,” he said. “But you knew, deep down, if you tried going out there, something would happen to you as well.”

All they could do was wait for the water to recede. Fortunately, the neighbors who had called for help were safe.

When Cody finally made it back to his home, he was met with a small miracle.

“I had to break my window, and when I climbed through, I heard scratching and a whimper. I turned my head around the corner and saw him just floating in the washer,” Cody said.

His dog survived, found inside the washing machine.

While the Vlasek family is relieved to be safe and reunited with their dog, they are also facing a grim reality: Several people they knew didn’t survive.

“You can replace a house, but you can’t replace lives,” Cody said.