Body of 10-year-old girl swept into creek by rising floodwaters has been recovered

BRENHAM, Texas (KBTX/Gray News) - Authorities have found the body of a missing 10-year-old girl who was swept away by rapidly rising floodwaters, ending an 18-hour search.

Fire Chief Mark Donovan with the Brenham Fire Department confirmed the body of Devah Woods was recovered at about 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Authorities reported Devah, a third-grader at Brenham Elementary School, was walking home at about 4:25 p.m. Monday with a sibling when she was caught in a sudden rush of water. After a day of heavy rains, swift water in the creek had risen higher. 

The sibling was able to get to safety and seek help, according to officials. Donovan said the Brenham Fire Department received a notice of the water rescue.

The Brenham Fire Department initiated a multi-agency search and rescue operation with assistance from Washington County EMS and over a dozen other regional partners.

Rescue efforts were temporarily scaled back Monday night due to a new wave of storms.

Donovan reported that the fire department received notice of a body believed to be Devah was found at about 10 a.m. Tuesday. At about 10:45 a.m., Lieutenant Steven Tyler said the Texas Department of Public Safety’s dive team confirmed the body of Devah had been recovered.

“We have taken care of her as much as we could. Our hearts go out to her family. It’s a difficult thing. We did use multiple state resources as well as local county,” Tyler said. “We had DPS’s dive team as well as multiple entities from Texas Task Force One for different search and swift water rescues during this incident.

Brenham Mayor Atwood Kenjura extended his thoughts and prayers to the 10-year-old’s family.

“The response has been phenomenal, but it’s such swift water. It’s just going to be difficult now with the light conditions going away. Hearts go out to them. This is something that shouldn’t happen,” Kenjura said.

A large swath of Texas and several neighboring states were under a National Weather Service flood watch early Tuesday. Later in the day, a round of severe storms could bring as much as 6 inches of rain to the southeastern part of the state, The Associated Press reports.

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