he floods in Texas are being referred to as the “thousand-year storm” because of the destruction they caused. One of the casualties of the flood was Jolene Jarrell a beloved grandma and member of the community.
60-year-old Jolene Jarrell was in her car, dropping off an Uber ride when things started to go awry. It was Monday morning around 8:30 AM when she called her husband Kirk Jarrell, with panic in her voice.
She told him her car was taking in water and was quite concerned. “When she called me–she told me that water was coming into her car and that she was stalled,” Kirk Jarrell recalled. “She told me someone was pushing her from behind, and I think it might have been the water sweeping her away.”
Little did he know, it was a flood that would end up taking his wife’s life.
“She told me where she was and I started heading that way. She was kind of frantic about it. Then her phone went dead, and that was the last I heard from her,” her grieving husband recalled the moment his connection was lost with his panicked wife.
As Kirk arrived at the location his wife mentioned, he was unable to see her car. The worried husband tried to logically think of a simple explanation.
“I couldn’t see her car anywhere, and the first responders told me no one had been hurt and got everyone out. I figured maybe she went with a tow truck driver because her car needed a tow,” Jarrell said.
“I walked by the bridge, and her car was upside down,” he recalled.
He watched as first responders struggled to get his wife’s body out of her vehicle. It was heartwrenching for Kirk to witness the body of his wife of almost thirty years being pulled out of her wrecked car.
“It was horrible, and I don’t know what else to say about it. It was devastating,” recalled Jarrell.
Jarrell recalls Jolene being a devoted grandmother who adored her grandchild.
“That was her favorite person, her granddaughter. It was a heartbreaker to tell her what happened to grandma,” Jarrell said.
“She was a very giving person. She loved her family and was great to everybody, and everyone liked her,” he remembers his wife fondly.
He said his wife Jolene had worked for more than 10 years at ABF Freight, and currently was working as an Uber driver while also working at IHOP.
Her son chimed in with heartwarming stories about his mother. Just days before her death, she stopped to give a ride to some people she saw struggling with their groceries. That’s just the kind of big-hearted person Jolene was.
“I’m heartbroken about it all,” Jarrell said. A GoFundMe page has been set up to assist the family with the expenses of organizing a funeral and burial.
Deepest condolences go out to the Jarrell family. Hopefully they are able to recover from this tremendous loss.
