Hold On: The Fullers’ Fight Against the Ingram Flood
The rain had been falling for hours — soft at first, then unrelenting. By the time dawn broke on July 4, 2025, Doug and Elizabeth Fuller of Ingram, Texas, were fighting for their lives.
What began as a quiet summer night became a four-hour battle against a raging wall of water that tore through their home and swept away nearly everything they owned.
Clinging desperately to a cedar post in the darkness, the couple faced the unthinkable — and somehow survived.
In the early morning hours, Doug and Elizabeth awoke to the sound of rushing water.
A once-gentle rain had turned into a deadly flood that was devouring their neighborhood by the minute. Within moments, the floorboards trembled, the power failed, and the roar outside grew deafening.
Doug tried to save his beloved guitars, while Elizabeth scrambled to grab their important documents. But the water surged too quickly. The river had escaped its banks, and the flood burst through their walls with terrifying force. With no time left, they fled into the darkness — swept into the chaos outside their collapsing home.
In that moment, Doug found a single point of stability: a thick cedar post supporting the awning. He grabbed it with both hands and pulled Elizabeth close. For four endless hours, they clung there — the current slamming into them, debris crashing past, the sound of destruction surrounding them. Doug later said it felt like “a tornado and a freight train fighting over us.”
When the water finally began to recede, the Fullers could barely believe they were still alive. Rescue crews reached them soon after sunrise, pulling them to safety and treating them for exhaustion and bruises. Everything they had built was gone — their home splintered, their belongings scattered miles downstream.
Yet amid the ruin, one small miracle remained: Doug’s favorite guitar, tucked away in the attic crawl space, had somehow survived the storm. To him, it was more than an instrument — it was a symbol of what endured when everything else had been swept away.
Across Ingram and the wider Hill Country, families faced similar devastation. But as the community came together to rebuild, the Fullers’ story became a touchstone of hope. Local volunteers shared their tale as proof of what perseverance and love can withstand.
One resident, Virginia Inez Raper, summed it up simply: “When the water rises, you hold on — to what matters, to each other. That’s how you make it through.”
đź’« Conclusion
Doug and Elizabeth Fuller’s survival is more than a story of endurance — it’s a testament to the strength of the human spirit when faced with nature’s fury.
They lost nearly everything they owned, but in the end, they held on to the one thing no storm could wash away: each other. Their courage stands as a reminder that even in the darkest, most turbulent moments, love and hope can keep us afloat.