Six relatives of late singer Selena Quintanilla’s lost their lives when their family van was swept away in the rising floodwaters as Hurricane Harvey devastated parts of southern Texas last week.
Quintanilla’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, announced the news via Facebook on Monday, August 28, revealing that Manuel Saldivar, Saldivar’s wife and four grandchildren died as they searched for dry land.
“The family that drowned in Houston Texas were related to me. Manuel Saldivar and his wife Velia and 4 of their grandkids left their flooded house to go somewhere where there was safety,When they crossed a bridge a wave of water swept the van and pushed them into the bayou the driver was saved but manuel and his wife and 4 grandkids drowned,” Quintanilla wrote at the time.
He added: “Manuel’s mother Carolina Was my father’s 1st cousin. My condolences to their family.”
NBC news reported that along with Saldivar, 84, the other victims have been identified as Belia, 81, Devy, 16, Dominic, 14, Xavier, 8, and Daisy, 6.
Quintanilla confirmed in a separate post that his immediate family was safe and the museum constructed in honor of his late daughter, located in Corpus Christi, Texas, was unaffected. (Selena Quintanilla was shot and killed by the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar on March 31, 1995.) “Getting a lot of questions about the Selena’s Museum, everything is ok, no damage anywhere in the Q Productions building. Thanks for inquiring AQ,” he wrote on August 26 on his Facebook page.
Hurricane Harvey touched down on August 25 as a Category 4 hurricane, battering the Texas Coastal Bend with record amounts of rain. According to NBC news, at least 785,000 people were evacuated and it’s estimated that at least 60 people have died as a result of the storm.
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