Young mom was going to work, Arlington man was headed home when floodwaters took them

Jessica Romero was driving to a relative’s home to drop off her daughter in east Fort Worth in pouring rain Saturday.

About a mile away, Eddy Volpp was on a rain slick street on his way home to Arlington after dropping off his wife at work.

Romero and her daughter and Volpp never made it to their destinations.

The three died Saturday after their vehicles were swept away by high water from heavy rains that soaked North Texas over the weekend and flooded many neighborhoods in the area.

Romero, 18, and her 2-year-old daughter died about 10 a.m. after her car stalled and waves from passing motorists pushed her four-door sedan off an access road near East Loop 820 into a culvert near Wilbarger Street.

About an hour later, Volpp’s vehicle landed in floodwaters and was submerged for some time before divers could retrieve his body. He was in the 4100 block of South Cravens Road.

“He had never been on that street before,” Nancy Volpp said Monday in a telephone interview. “Maybe there was an accident on 820 and he had to go that way. I’m not sure.”

Storms dumped heavy rains over the weekend in North Texas, causing major flooding on several streets and highways throughout the area.

Fort Worth firefighters and Arlington police reported more than 50 high water rescues and motorists in stranded vehicles on Saturday as rain fell most of the day.

The area around Lake Arlington was hit hard as more than 3 inches of rain fell in neighborhoods, according to the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth. Nearly 3 inches was recorded just east of downtown Fort Worth and 2.6 inches was reported in downtown.

It was in east Fort Worth where Romero and her 2-year-old daughter, Llaylanni, drove into high water Saturday morning. Romero was taking her daughter to a relative in east Fort Worth.

“She was going to drop off her daughter and then go to work,” said her mother, Soledad Romero of Fort Worth, who fought back tears in a telephone interview Monday morning. “She was just a half-mile from getting there.”

Jessica Romero worked at Joe’s Future Food Mart on Miller Avenue, and was a senior at Fort Worth Can Academy.

“She was just a beautiful girl,” her mother said as she sobbed. “She was a good person.”

A GoFundMe account has been established to help the Romero family with funeral costs.

Nancy Volpp said her 69-year-old husband had just dropped her off at work in Fort Worth Saturday morning and he was supposed to pick her up Saturday afternoon at the end of the day.

“He didn’t know that street at all,” Nancy Volpp said.

Eddy Volpp’s vehicle was on South Cravens Road near Oakdale Drive about a mile from where Jessica Romero’s vehicle went underwater.

Nancy Volpp said she was exhausted from the tragedy that hit her family.

She noted that she and her husband had been married for 20 years. He had worked at Globe Life Park and he had been a volunteer with Arlington police. He was retired, but he continued to volunteer, she said.

“He was a wonderful husband and Daddy,” his wife said. “He took care of his family.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2018 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Young mom was going to work, Arlington man was headed home when floodwaters took them."