Growing up near the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, could sometimes feel like living near a volcano. I was born two blocks away from the gorgeous river that flows from the Hill Country to the Gulf of Mexico, just one year before the devastating and deadly 1987 flash flood, often described around town as the “big one.”

Flash floods in Texas have killed nearly 90 people, many of them children. Heavy rains fell quickly in the predawn hours Friday in the Texas Hill Country, causing the Guadalupe River to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes.

Catastrophic flooding struck central Texas on Friday as the Guadalupe River surged by more than 20 to 26 feet within 90 minutes, causing widespread devastation and forcing mass evacuations in Texas Hill Country. At least 80 people have been killed in the floods while others remain missing or displaced and more than 850 people required rescuing.