How the Texas floods forever changed one family
6/6/202624 min
From Apple News In Conversation: On July 4, 2025, catastrophic flooding tore through Central Texas, killing more than 130 people and destroying communities along the Guadalupe River. Aaron Parsley, a senior editor at Texas Monthly, was there — and though he survived, his family suffered a devastating loss. His harrowing account of what happened when floodwaters overwhelmed their house and ripped them apart won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. Now he’s out with a new essay and a podcast about what their recovery has looked like. Parsley joined Apple News In Conversation guest host David Greene to talk about grief, the evolution of his faith, and what survival really means.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDavid Greene· Host0:00
Hey there, this is David Greene. I'm gonna be guest hosting In Conversation until Shumita returns from parental leave. Before we get into today's episode, just a warning that this episode does contain descriptions of child loss, drowning, and grief. [upbeat music] This is In Conversation from Apple News. I'm David Greene in for Shumita Basu. Today, one family's story of survival and healing after the Texas floods. [upbeat music] In the early morning of July fourth, twenty twenty-five, Texas Monthly editor Aaron Parsley was at his family's home on the Guadalupe River northwest of San Antonio. He was there for the holiday weekend with his husband, Patrick, his dad, Clint, his sister, Alyssa, her husband, Lance, and their two small children, Rosemary and Clay. Aaron's dad and stepmom bought the house back in twenty twenty-one as a place for the family to vacation and to watch their grandkids grow up.
Aaron Parsley· Guest1:05
It sat on a stretch of the river that's really wide and really slow and really beautiful, lined with cypress trees. It's idyllic. It's beautiful.
David Greene· Host1:14
Rain was in the forecast. The area was flood prone, but their house was built for it. It sat on huge concrete pillars twenty feet off the ground above the likely flood zone.
Aaron Parsley· Guest1:26
We know that this river floods, and we