Over just two hours, the Guadalupe River at Comfort, Texas, rose from hip-height to three stories tall, sending water weighing as much as the Empire State building downstream roughly every minute it remained at its crest. The force of floodwater is often more powerful and surprising than people imagine.

In one of the deadliest floods in Texas history, a mother's worst fears turned into grateful tears when she reunited with her two sons after they survived a harrowing experience at a camp near the Guadalupe River.