Two weeks have passed since the 8-year-old girl went missing in a devastating flood in Texas, but her family continues to hold onto hope that she will be found alive. It was on Christmas Eve when their car veered off the road and plunged into a drainage ditch. Although most of her family was rescued from the floodwaters, the young girl was tragically swept away.
The family owes their survival to their brave father, who tragically lost his life while trying to rescue his daughter from being swept away. The police are relentlessly searching for the missing girl, utilizing all available resources in their efforts to locate her.
While on their way from Oklahoma to Texas, the family encountered an unfortunate incident as their car veered off the road.
On Christmas Eve, the Robinson family, consisting of Will, Kristen, and their four children, were on a journey from Durant, Oklahoma, to McKinney, Texas. Unfortunately, their drive was met with heavy rain, leading to a precarious situation. As reported by ABC13, their car hydroplaned due to the rainy conditions, ultimately ending up in a drainage ditch in Sherman, Texas, as documented by WOWT.
“Will kicked out the driver’s side window because they were trapped underwater,” family friend Lindsey Perkins told the outlet. “The car flipped back and forth.”
First responders rescued most of the family members.
According to friends of the family who set up a GoFundMe account, Will Robinson successfully managed to get the family out of the car amidst the rapidly flowing floodwaters. Despite the challenging circumstances, Sherman Emergency Services came to their aid, enabling Kristen Robinson to hold onto their youngest child and both of them were safely rescued. The eldest child and second youngest child were also saved by first responders. Tragically, 8-year-old Clara Robinson was swept away by the force of the water.
According to Deputy Chief of Operations Bart Bowman from Sherman Fire-Rescue, Will Robinson tragically lost his life while attempting to save the girl. His body was recovered later that evening.
According to Bowman, the father did hold the little girl at one point during the event, but later they were seen apart.
Authorities have been actively searching for the missing girl since Christmas.
Search teams have been actively searching for the missing girl since Christmas Day. They have employed a wide range of methods to cover every possible area, including the use of drones and two different types of K9s. Garth Groves, the leader of Task Force 2, explained that the K9s are specifically trained to detect the presence of either a living person or human remains.
“The live-find dogs have not had any indications that they have detected anything,” Groves said. “We’ve had a few indicators from the remains dogs.”
Search efforts were made more challenging due to the unfavorable weather conditions that occurred right after Clara Robinson went missing. Determined searchers committed themselves to thoroughly examining every pile of debris in the hopes of finding the girl.
The authorities are continuing their search for the girl, even after 14 days have passed since she disappeared.
“ The search for Clara Robinson enters day 13 ,” the Sherman Police Department wrote in a Facebook post on January 5, 2025. “ The morning of January 5th search teams re-deployed just after sunrise. Despite the coming winter weather our briefing room was full of searchers all committed to one cause, finding Clara .”
The South-East Division of the Oklahoma Disaster Task Force is collaborating with the search team. Joining them are the fire department, the Celina Police Department, the Tom Bean Fire Department, and the Emergency Medical Services from Sherman Medical Center.
The police department shared a map of their search efforts on January 4. In their statement, they clarified that the map only represents their activities within a single 24-hour period, and it does not encompass all of their efforts.
The hometown of Will and Clara Robinson recently held a memorial service for the beloved couple.
A joint memorial was held on January 4 to honor both Will and Clara, as reported by NBCDFW. The memorial took place in the Durant High School gymnasium, where Will Robinson had served as a coach for the Durant Independent School District.
During the memorial service, Carson Robinson, the eldest child of the Robinson family, expressed his gratitude towards the first responders and hospital staff for their unwavering support. He mentioned that both families are determined to find a meaningful way to honor his father and Clara, although the exact plan is yet to be decided. However, Carson expressed his confidence that they will eventually come up with a fitting way to give back.