Youngkin says family members safe after Texas flooding

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said on Tuesday his family is safe after spending Friday stranded at their family home along the Guadalupe River in Texas as catastrophic flooding overwhelmed their area.

“My family was there along with friends, and by the grace of God, my family was safe,” Youngkin told a reporter on Tuesday, in remarks his office provided to The Hill.

“I have to say there was moments when they weren’t,” he continued. “They ended up being safe during the day.”

Youngkin, who was in Virginia when the flash flooding struck Central Texas on Friday, arrived in Texas later in the day and joined authorities in rescuing his family.

He said government officials offered to airlift his family out earlier in the day, but he declined, as he had already been in communication with his family and knew they were safe. He told emergency management teams to prioritize rescuing young campers.

“That evening, the swift-water rescue crews and the Texas National Guard were able to go in and get my family,” Youngkin said. “I went with them and was just grateful, incredibly grateful that they were able to do that.”

Youngkin described his family’s decades of connection with the “exact region of the Hill Country” where the flood’s “epicenter” was. He said his wife’s family has been “deeply engaged” there for more than 80 years.

“These people are family to us, deep relationships. And, therefore, what happened in the wee hours of the morning on Friday has been devastating,” he said.

Youngkin described the aftermath of the floods as “just shocking” and “really emotionally overwhelming.”

Youngkin announced on Sunday that he was deploying two Virginia Type III Swift Water Rescue Teams to Texas to assist in the recovery efforts.