In the still darkness of an early July morning, tucked inside a beloved family cabin along the Guadalupe River, Kasey and Regan Gilbert were sleeping peacefully with their two young children when something stirred Kasey awake.
“I think I hear water,” she whispered.
It was 3:07 AM. Just a trickle at first, then the unmistakable sound of rushing water slamming into walls. Regan looked outside and said the four words that changed everything:
“We have to go.”
Their cabin sat 30 feet above the riverbed — supposedly safe. But this flood didn’t care.
Within minutes, they grabbed their 2-year-old son, Colter, and their 11-month-old daughter, Lynna, and stepped into the rising waters. As they rushed toward a nearby bathhouse, they turned back just in time to see their entire cabin lift off its foundation and float away into the night.
The bathhouse wasn’t safe either. With no other choice, they took one final, desperate shot: they jumped in their SUV and drove through waist-deep floodwater, racing toward Kasey’s parents’ home on higher ground along Highway 39.
Inside, her family was still asleep — unaware of the disaster unfolding below.
They were stranded there for the next day. No power. No signal. No idea if help was coming.
Friends back home reported them missing. Helicopters landed at Camp Mystic across the river — a chilling reminder of just how widespread and devastating the flood had become.
“Five more minutes of sleep… and it could’ve all ended differently,” Kasey said.
And then, the guilt came.
“I heard someone mention ‘survivor’s guilt.’ I never understood it… until now.”
Even now, she hears the sound of the river in her sleep. Feels the knots in her stomach. Relives the moment her family’s world was nearly swept away.
“Why did God wake me up? Why did He save us?” she asks. “That’s something I’ll have to live with. That’s His plan.”
What happened to the Gilberts wasn’t just a close call — it was a miracle, one wrapped in terror, instinct, and faith strong enough to carry them through the darkest night.
📖 This is more than a survival story. It’s a mother’s prayer answered. A silent whisper from God at 3 a.m. And the kind of grace that leaves you shaken… and deeply grateful.