CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The sun was shining in Wimberley, Texas.
The children splashed in the river with Jonathan McComb and Randy Charba after an early morning walk down Deer Crossing Lane with their wives Laura Schultz McComb and Michelle Carey Charba.
The women sunbathed on the banks of the Blanco River as barbecue ribs, sausage and chicken cooked on the grill for a filling vacation supper later.
McComb remembers small, intimate details from those magical hours. He remembers the advice he gave the kids on how to sneak up on a snake.
"I told them it was like hunting. You have to go real slow. You have to go quiet and sneak up on it," McComb said. "And they walked over there real slow, and they had sticks and were ready to hit this snake. And then Maggie, our dog, would jump down there real quick. They would yell at Maggie, and the snake would be gone."
It was a perfect day and start of a relaxing Memorial Day weekend, he said, for the two Corpus Christi, Texas, families on the Central Texas river.
Hours later, McComb would never see his wife, his 6-year-old son, Andrew, and 4-year-old daughter, Leighton, again after a flood ripped the vacation house into the waters.
From left, Leighton, Laura and Andrew McComb were killed in the flooding in Wimberley, Texas, in May 2015. Leighton's body has not been found. (Photo: Handout via Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times)
Moments after getting separated from the Charbas, Sue Carey and then her husband, Ralph, McComb's only thought was keeping his family together.
But they were pulled apart on the raging river, which had risen 40 feet in a few hours. He doesn't remember if it was raining at that point, or if the river waters were just splashing and swirling around him.
"I remember that moment very vividly. I lost my family, lost my life, lost everything that was important to me in an instant," McComb said. "I knew that moment, they were gone."
Leighton and the Charbas' 6-year-old son, Will, are still missing.
No chance
The memories made nearly a year ago on Memorial Day weekend are the last McComb has of his wife, and children, as well as his longtime friends Randy and Michelle Charba and their son. That was the first trip to Wimberley for the McCombs though they had been invited countless times before to stay with Michelle's parents, Ralph and Sue Carey, who owned the vacation home.
The vacationers did have fun.
"For one day," McComb said.
The television dial was on a 24-hour weather channel that day. The families saw the rain north of them and predictions for flooding in Central Texas.
Will Charba has been missing since the 2015 Wimberley, Texas, floods. His parents and grandparents died in the floods. (Photo: Handout via Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times)
"We were definitely watching the weather. Apparently not as closely as we should have," he said. "It was on the whole time, but nobody knows about a flash flood."
A historic wall of water furiously flowed down the Blanco River that evening before crashing into the home at 100 Deer Crossing just before 11:30 p.m. May 23, 2015. The home was swept off its pilings in an instant and started a trip down the river before it crashed into a ranch road bridge and lost the second story. Sue Carey separated from the families first.
Later down the river, we hit a tree, and that's when Randy and Michelle and Will were gone. We split in half," he said. "Then it was us four and Ralph."
And then it was only McComb.
"You always hope for the best, but I was in that river. I know how rough and how terrible and what it was. There wasn't a chance," he said.
The week before
The weather leading up to that vacation weekend was stormy and wet in Corpus Christi and most other parts of the state.
McComb remembers that his street on the Southside flooded twice, and he had to drive to help his son's baseball coach when his car broke down in the rain on the highway.
There was never a point when the family considered not going to Wimberley.
Michelle Charba also was killed when flood ripped the Wimberley, Texas, home into the river in May 2015. (Photo: Handout via Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times)
The night before Michelle Charba drove to the Wimberley house, which was built by her parents in 1981 and had been a place of cherished memories, she called her sister-in-law Kim Charba to baby-sit Will Charba.
The night flew by too quickly for Kim Charba as she sword-fought with her nephew in the house, ate pizza and got ready for bed.
"I'm so grateful that I had that last night with him," she said. "Will was such a joy to be around. He was an easy child. Fun and always happy."
Family time
The extended McComb family isn't the type to just see each other at Christmas and Thanksgiving.
McComb lives about a mile from his younger brother, Justin McComb, and his family, and not too far away are their parents, Joe and Mary McComb.
The families were at the vacation home of Sue and Ralph Carey. Both were killed in the 2015 Wimberley, Texas, floods. (Photo: Handout via Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times)
The last time that Justin McComb took care of his niece and nephew, it was a baseball game a week before the tragedy. The week before that, the whole family gathered for his oldest son, Alex's, baptism at First Baptist Church before returning to his home.
"The last two experiences with the whole family were the two weekends prior. One was out playing sports and doing what they like to do, and the other was church putting the bigger reason of life on display," Justin McComb said. "If that's the last meeting you're going to have, that's a pretty good one to have."
Still searching
After the flood, Jonathan McComb had a dream where he talked to his daughter, Leighton. She told him that a man had picked them up.
"It was Jesus. It was a huge dream for me, and I haven't had one since. I've prayed for another one, but it hasn't happened," he said. "I didn't survive by myself. It was the grace of God that did it."
Leighton and Will's families continue to search frequently.
Randy Charba and his family were killed in the 2015 Wimberley floods. The families were staying at his parents-in-law's home. (Photo: Handout via Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times)
Kim Charba goes once or twice a month with different search groups and three-to-five cadaver dogs to different high probability search areas. She said the property owners have been phenomenal when it comes to access.
Jonathan McComb has traveled to Wimberley several times since the flood to help search efforts with Texas Search and Rescue, the group that first came to the family's aid last year. But he said he's not able to search for them himself.
"They never let me search, so I just stand there, which is tough," he said. "I'm there for moral support and to thank (the searchers). It's nice (for them) to have someone there when they're searching to see what they're searching for."
