It’s a phone call Joy Collins struggles with talking about. It came from her niece, Angel McKnight, at about 7 a.m. Saturday. The 23-year-old was driving through Kaufman County on FM1930 when her Chevy Equinox was swept off the road by rushing flood waters.
“She didn't seem distraught. She didn't seem like she was thinking the car was flooding, nothing,” Collins said. ”She just said she was stuck In a ditch and just needed the tow truck to pull her out and I told her hang up and call 911 and that was the last I heard.”
Until her twin sister, Jamie Collins, called to let her know McKnight was dead.
“They said the current was going so fast and I know it rained the night before,” said Jamie Collins.
By the time they got to the scene, those rushing waters had subsided. They learned that McKnight was one of two people killed in that same spot that morning and watched as crews pulled her car from the deep creek created by the weekend’s heavy rains. McKnght’s body was found floating a few yards away.
“They said that the windshield, you could tell she was trying to kick the windshield out,” McKnight’s mom said.
What happened to McKnight is still under investigation. But her family says she knew better than to knowingly drive into high water. It’s a testament to how quickly high waters can turn into a life-or-death situation
“She's not careless. She has three kids and taking care of me,” Jamie Collins said, who has stage 4 cancer.
The family says the infrastructure on that old county road is at least partly to blame for their loss.
They want it improved.
“They need Guardrails. You know, some kind of signs, some light showing that, you know, if it's a little dip, if it rains. You know caution, you know, don't go through here, because two people lost their lives,” Collins said.
Lives that can never be replaced.