SIMONTON, Texas – Authorities have recovered the bodies of a Brookshire couple who drove into floodwaters Wednesday afternoon around 12:30 p.m.
One of them was on the phone with 911 asking for help when the phone went dead.
The truck was found submerged in high water, only the roof was visible.
Donald Ray Rogers, 65, and his wife, Rochelle, 58, were making welfare checks on family members in Simonton when they drove into high water, authorities said.
“He was going to make a round, and check on my uncle 'cause we hadn't heard from him, and then help my mom out, and we kept calling him, and no response,” Donald's sister, Thelma Hooker, said.
As the their truck began to sink on Pool Hill Road, it was washed off the road and into a drainage ditch by the current of Bessie Creek.
Rochelle called for help.
"We did receive a 911 call from a female in the vehicle who stated the car was being surrounded by water. The phone disconnected. The dispatcher was then able to call back, but it was too late," Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said.
Family members are saying their loved ones died because the couple had no warning.
No barricades or roadblocks had been set up by the county to warn of high water.
“I think if we had a roadblock, my uncle would have never went that way,” niece Kemosha Washington said. “There's no road block, and look how many homes out here.”
“This whole county has been dealing with a tremendous amount of rain. We actually ran out of barricades,” Nehls said.
Investigators also said visibility wasn’t an issue in the bright, noon sunshine, and with high water currently blocking roads throughout the region, motorist have to exercise extra caution.
Check the forecast any time by visiting the weather page of Click2Houston.com or by downloading Frank's forecast app on Apple or Android devices.
