TOO LATE: Heartbreaking details on dad who left kids voicemail before he was killed in Texas floods

July 9, 2025

From the New York Post: A Texas father who left his kids a heartbreaking voicemail moments before he was killed in the state’s hellish flooding was sent a text message urging him to evacuate — but the alert came too late.

Jeff Ramsey, 61, received a text from the Kerrville RV camp, where he was staying with his wife and dog, advising him to leave the grounds at 4:49 a.m. on July 4 as the floodwaters were already sweeping him away to his death, text messages obtained by The Post show.

“We have just received an emergency notification from the fire department that we do need to evacuate the park due to the river flooding,” the alert from HTR RV Park read. “Please gather your things and you may go to the church parking lot and wait for further notification.”

But that was no help to Ramsey and his wife, 46-year-old Tanya, who minutes earlier had hung up the phone after calling their son and daughter to tell them goodbye because they were about to die.

Ramsey’s 24-year-old son, Jake Ramsey, told the New York Post that his father had left the voicemail for him and his sister, Rachel, 23.

“He called me once he realized there was no hope. It was a short voicemail. He just left me a voicemail. He said, ‘Buddy. I love you so much. It doesn’t look like we are going to make it. Tell Rachey I love her,’” Jake said.

In the voicemail, they could hear the sounds of rushing water, and their stepmother screaming in the background, “We’re dying, we’re dying!”

The couple’s dog miraculously survived the flood and has been reunited with Jake and Rachel.

“Right, literally, the same time he left her that voicemail, as they were getting swept away, they received an evacuation text from their RV park saying ‘Gather your belongings and head out as soon as possible.’ It was ridiculous,” Jake explained.

In a separate report the New York Post explained that Jeff Ramsey had saved the lives of Tanya’s relatives who were staying in another cabin:

Jeff also used some of his final moments before the water overtook him to warn Tanya’s brother and her mother, who were staying at another cabin about 150 yards up from the river, of the impending danger, calling them at 4:30 that morning.

“He rescued them because they would have slept in and they would have washed away. That cabin was destroyed, completely underwater. He saved their lives,” said Jake.