Brother mourns sister's death after flash flood

It was about 9:30 p.m. Saturday when Curtis Brubaker got the voicemail.

It was from a Los Angeles number, which confused him. He wasn't sure why anyone from L.A. would be calling him, at anytime, much less at 9:30 on a Saturday night.

The voicemail was from his wife, Christina. It was difficult to hear, the words garbled by background and the usual cellphone noises.

She said she was OK. She said she was kind of beat up. She said she got separated from her mother, sister and sister-in-law. That was about all he could make out.

The Dover man, on Monday describing events of that night, had no idea what had happened. His wife, mother-in-law and sister were in Ellicott City, Maryland, for the evening. His mother-in-law and sister-in-law live there, and his wife and sister, of South Lebanon Township, Lebanon County, had gone to visit.

The plan was to dine at a restaurant on Ellicott City's Main Street for a painting dinner. They had done it before. They eat, and then, after, easels are set up, they create paintings. It was a fun and creative way to spend an evening. Some of the paintings his wife has made hang on the walls of their Dover home.

Curtis had stayed home, watching his two children and his younger sister's daughter, Sarah, 10. Sarah is more than a niece. She is like another daughter.

After listening to the voicemail, he tried calling his wife. She didn't answer. He tried calling his mother-in-law and sister. Neither one answered.

He would soon find out why.

Two dead after floodwaters devastate historic Md. city

***

Curtis' wife's family is from that area of Maryland – the Columbia- Ellicott City area, just west of Baltimore, hard by the Western Branch of the Patapsco River.

He had lived there for a time; that's where he met his wife. They later moved to York County. Ellicott City is historic, it's founding dating to the Revolutionary War. Its downtown is known for its shops, restaurants and art galleries. It's a popular destination.

The three women – Curtis' wife, Christina; his mother-in-law, Grace Grasso, and his sister, Jessica Watsula – met at the restaurant. Christina rode with her mother-in-law and sister, leaving her car at her mother-in-law's house not far from Ellicott City.

Jessica drove herself and found a spot on Main Street right in front of the restaurant. It was luck. Parking on Main Street is sometimes tough to find.

When they left the restaurant, it was pouring rain. The water was about two inches deep in the street. It wasn't all that unusual. During heavy rains, the city is prone to flooding from the Patapsco.

But what happened next was more than unusual. It was devastating.

Jessica offered to drive the other women to their car. As they settled into her car, in a matter of seconds, the water rose to cover the doors. Jessica said they had to get out. It was as if a wall of water had been released on the street, a tsunami-like deluge.

The women got out of the car and grabbed on to a nearby telephone pole as the flood waters rushed by, pummeling them with debris it picked up as it surged down Main Street.

Something hit Christina's leg, causing her to lose her grip. She was swept away by the fast-moving water. She grasped for something, anything, to pull herself out of the swift current.

She was able to grab a door handle at a storefront and worked her way inside, where she watched as the water rose outside. She borrowed the store owner's cellphone and tried to call her husband. He didn't answer. She left a voicemail.

READ MORE ABOUT JESSICA: Friends remember Pa. woman killed in Maryland flood

***

Curtis was panicked.

He wasn't sure what was going on. His wife had been beat up. He didn't know what happened to his sister. He and his sister were close. They are only three years apart – she was 35; Curtis is 38 – and they grew up together. They were buddies and friends.

After his sister divorced – it was as amicable as a divorce can be – Jessica and her daughter spent a lot of time with Curtis and his family. They hiked together, went camping, just hung out. Jessica was an outdoors enthusiast. She would make a campsite in the backyard for her and her daughter when they couldn't get to the mountains, toasting s'mores over a campfire.

She was also a fitness buff, working out at the gym regularly. Curtis described her as "a 5-foot-1 powerhouse."

He learned of the flooding and what had happened in subsequent phone calls from his wife. He learned that his mother-in-law and sister-in-law were accounted for. They were OK.

His little sister was still missing.

He arranged to have a woman from church come over to watch the kids, and he took off for Ellicott City, screaming down Interstate 83 in his Jeep Grand Cherokee.

As he approached the town, the main roads were barricaded. People were being evacuated. He needed to get in. Nothing was going to stop him. He drove around and found a back way in, parking up from the river. He donned an emergency vest and grabbed his backpack and headed toward the river.

He got to the river bank and after talking to some emergency personnel, started downstream, searching for his sister. He hiked through knee-high mud. The devastation was apocalyptic. Cars stood on end in the river. Debris was everywhere. There was clothing hanging from the trees. It was otherworldly.

He hiked downstream and found an emergency crew. They told him to go to the other side of the river. As he approached the bridge, he knew something was happening. The area was lit up. Emergency personnel were all over the bridge. He spoke to one of them, telling him he was looking for his sister. The man asked for a description, mentioning they had found a body.

A police officer approached and also asked for a description of his sister and asked whether he had a photograph. He showed him one on his phone. The officer walked back to where he had come from and a short time later, returned, going directly to his car.

He knew they had found his sister. He just knew.

He told an officer that he wanted to go down to where they had found the body. The officer said absolutely not and told him to leave. He said he wasn't leaving. He had to see her. He had to know it was her. He just had to know.

A police chaplain drove him back to his car. He immediately drove back to the scene. His sister's body was in an ambulance, awaiting the arrival of the medical examiner. He parked in front of the ambulance and waited.

About two hours later, the medical examiner arrived.

He handed Curtis some of his sister's effects, some jewelry. Curtis asked to see her body. He had to verify it. The medical examiner took him to the back of the ambulance.

It was Jessica.

Man who lost his family in Texas floods finds them in dream

***

Jessica was one of two people killed in the flash flood. The other was Joseph Blevins, a 38-year-old Windsor Mills, Maryland, man.

His wife is OK, beat up, but OK. She had a deep cut in her knee, down to the kneecap, and cuts on her feet. His mother-in-law had a stress-induced heart attack and spent the night in the hospital undergoing tests. His sister-in-law was bruised. She went directly home, finding a ride from the area where survivors were gathered.

***

It hit him driving home from Maryland, watching the interstate go by through tears as he thought about his little sister.

Jessica was the baby of the family, the youngest of four. Her brother said she loved to dance. She loved music, country and gospel, in particular. She loved her church and her Lord.

She loved summer, the heat, spending time at the beach. She loved mermaids, having gotten into them after seeing "The Little Mermaid" as a child.

She always gave the people she loved unusual and meaningful gifts, buying them throughout the year as she found them and saving them for Christmas and birthdays.

She and her brother shared an affinity for Halloween and the fall. Just the other day, she told her brother that she might actually go to Eastern State Penitentiary's Terror Behind the Walls this year. She wouldn’t go there in the past.

She lost her son to the Susquehanna (column)

Curtis thought about all of those things. He and Jessica were buddies, best friends. They shared everything.

Last Wednesday, she sent him a photo of herself. She had dyed her dark hair red and wanted to know what he thought. He said he thought it looked good. She replied with surprise, because he always told her she should leave it natural.

She was excited about it, she told him.

She was feeling good.

READ MORE ABOUT JESSICA: Friends remember Pa. woman killed in Maryland flood