Man Said He Only Had ‘5 Minutes Left’ as He Clung to Tree amid Flood, 911 Call Reveals. He Died, While Wife Survived

A former Texas volunteer firefighter who died in the devastating July 4 flooding told a 911 dispatcher he did not expect to survive as he clung to a tree in rising waters.

In one of the newly released 911 recordings from the Kerrville Police Department, obtained by the Associated Press, Bradley Perry calmly explained to the dispatcher that the tree he was holding onto was “starting to lean and it’s going to fall.” He then asked if there was a helicopter “close” by.

Perry said he watched as his wife, Tina, and their RV were swept away by the floodwaters. At one point, he added, “I’ve probably got maybe five minutes left.”

Bradley did not make it out alive. Tina, however, survived, according to a GoFundMe campaign organized by loved ones.

Bradley, a former volunteer firefighter for League City, and Tina had been camping in their RV in Kerrville when the rain-swollen Guadalupe River surged early on July 4, Steven and Debbie Whatley previously told CBS affiliate KHOU.

The Whatleys said that Bradley, 49, told them he had been forced to climb into a tree when the RV was carried off by the water. They last heard from him around 5 a.m. local time.

Bradley was also able to speak with his 20-year-old son. The son recalled that his father was breathing in a “labored” way as he told him, “I’m in a tree. Your mom is gone. I got to go,” according to the couple.

Tina was later discovered clinging to a tree and calling for help, KHOU reported. She was taken to a hospital with a broken rib and a punctured lung.

Bradley’s desperate call was one of hundreds of 911 recordings released by police on Thursday, Dec. 4, months after the disaster that killed more than 130 people, according to ABC News and CBS News. At Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls sleepaway camp along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, 25 campers, two counselors and the camp’s director were killed by the torrent.

The newly released calls capture the panic and impossible choices people faced in real time. In one call, a woman phoned 911 as floodwaters approached her home near Camp Mystic, the AP reported.

“We’re OK, but we live a mile down the road from Camp Mystic and we had two little girls come down the river. And we’ve gotten to them, but I’m not sure how many others are out there,” she said.

Another woman who called from Camp Mystic told the dispatcher that water was “everywhere” and that they could not move.

“We are upstairs in a room and the water is rising,” she said. In a later call, she asked how to reach the roof because the water had climbed so high, and then pleaded for an update on when help would arrive.

“I don’t know,” the dispatcher replied. “I don’t know.”

A spokesperson for the parents of the children and counselors who died at Camp Mystic declined to comment on the release of the audio, according to the AP.

“We want to caution the public that what you will hear on these calls is distressing. Some callers did not survive,” Kerrville Police Chief Chris McCall said in a video announcing the release on Thursday.

McCall noted that the first 911 report of flooding in western Kerr County came in at 2:52 a.m., when only two 911 operators were on duty. Over the next six hours, the call center handled 435 emergency calls.

“The Kerrville Police Department continues to hold the families, loved ones and friends of those lost on July 4th close to our hearts,” the department said in the video’s caption. “If you or someone you know needs support, please remember that resources are available.”