Fox News anchor Will Cain choked up on Monday as he interviewed Tanya Powell, a mother searching for her daughter lost in the Texas floods.
Powell is currently searching for her 21-year-old daughter, Ella Cahill, who is among several missing victims along with her boyfriend, Aidan, since the flash flood devastated at least six counties in Texas. She received a phone call around 4 a.m. on Friday that Ella, Aidan and her friends, Joyce and Reese, were struggling to stay afloat as the rising waters swept through the house they were staying in.
“[Aidan] then said that he needed to help Ella because she was struggling to stay on their own front porch and he handed the phone to another friend, Joyce, and Joyce said they just got washed away and she said, ‘tell my parents that I love them.’ And then that’s the last we’ve heard from them. And the entire house is gone, it’s just a slab left. So we’re just desperately just trying to find [Ella],” Powell tearfully said.
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Two of Ella’s friends, Joyce and Reese, were found deceased in the area, though she and Aidan have not yet been recovered. Ella and Aidan were high school sweethearts who graduated from Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School.
The family confirmed the recovery of Joyce on Monday, saying they had found their daughter “who blessed [them] for 21 years.”
Powell said that special forces, Border Patrol teams and volunteer teams have been rigorously out in the areas searching for any missing victims. The grieving mother described her daughter as a “sweet, kind-hearted soul” who had planned to go on a mission trip to Guatemala in recent weeks.
“She was just a smart, beautiful, just very kind-hearted and grateful girl and it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I guess I’m not supposed to understand everything,” Powell said.
“Yeah, I think we’re all struggling to understand,” Cain said while choking up. “But listen, thank you for sharing your story with us. I know that putting Ella’s picture up and hopefully helping finding Ella is part of your motivation. We appreciate you doing that and I hope in some small way, we can be of help and of course, you have our prayers, everyone watching.”
At least 95 people across Central Texas have died from the flooding since Friday, when the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet within 45 minutes around 4 a.m. The river wiped away homes and cabins located at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp, which led to the deaths of at least 27 campers.
Authorities recovered 13-year-old Blair and 11-year-old Brooke Harber after the rough waters swept them away in the early hours of Friday morning. Authorities found the girls clinging to each others’ hands and their rosaries when they recovered their bodies, their aunt Jennifer told the Houston Chronicle.
President Donald Trump signed a disaster declaration on Sunday to authorize federal relief and recovery assistance in the area. He plans to visit the areas on Friday to assess the damages.
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