Kelly Clarkson tried to fight back tears on the season 7 premiere of her talk show as she interviewed a group of courageous bus drivers who traversed dangerous roadways to rescue children during this summer’s deadly Texas flash floods.
The “Stronger” singer and Texas native, 43, wiped tears from her eyes as she spoke with Kerrville school district superintendent Dr. Brent Ringo about the impact that the July 4 flooding — which killed at least 135 people and left more still missing — had on their community and its summer camps including Camp Mystic.
“We activated our emergency operations plan in Kerrville ISD, and [sent] the text message out, ‘Anyone that can drive a bus?’” Ringo recalled on Monday’s The Kelly Clarkson Show. “A bus driver, a coach, high school principal, our middle school assistant principal, assistant superintendents — within 10, 15 minutes [we] had a response that they were on the way.”
Clarkson then welcomed some of the drivers to the stage, including a teacher named Amanda who shared why she chose to answer the call for help on July 4.
Ralph Bavaro/NBCUniversal
Kelly Clarkson on ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ season 7 premiere
“I think all day people just wanted to help and we wanted to stay out of the way of our first responders and we were just waiting,” she said. “And so when we got that call, everybody just hopped in, like, we just [said], ‘Give me the keys!’ It was just a normal day and we’re just gonna go pick up kids.”
Amanda became visibly emotional as she detailed her experience picking up children from Camp Mystic, which saw 27 girls and counselors killed in the flood. “We took them to the reunification process — basically triage, they’re make sure everybody was okay,” she said. “And they really had to take pictures to see what kids we had, because parents obviously were just in complete shock, they didn’t know what kids we had.”
She continued, “It was awesome to see all the parents reunited with their kids. The hardest part was when the last kid got off your bus and the parents just asked, ‘Was that it?’ So it’s hard.”
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Dr. Brent Ringo on ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’
Clarkson, who has two children with her late ex Brandon Blackstock, could be seen wiping her eyes with a tissue as Amanda recalled the situation. “And looking at the parents, I can’t…” she began, seemingly unable to find the words. Amanda simply responded, “Yeah, it’s awful.”
The premiere was Clarkson’s first episode since going on hiatus after Blackstock died on Aug. 7. The American Idol winner also pulled out of an Aug. 17 benefit concert for those affected by the Texas floods due to his death.
The three-time Grammy winner continued to weep on Monday’s show as Geri, another Kerrville driver, explained that the kids on her bus chose to comfort one another by singing Christian songs.
“Driving in the devastation, it was catastrophic out there, the devastation, but they comforted each other,” Geri said, with Clarkson echoing that it was a “therapeutic way to stay calm” amid the destruction.
After the commercial break, Clarkson explained that the bus drivers were responsible for rescuing a total of “900 children” who were stranded due to the floods over the subsequent days. She then paused to give them a round of applause.
“Our drivers are more than just drivers, they’re heroes,” Ringo said. “And I know if I love on them, they’re gonna love on our kids, and they did that that day and it just makes me so proud to see the support and them stepping up in a moments notice, not even knowing what they’re getting themselves into and helping 900 campers out.”
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Kerrville bus drivers with Kelly Clarkson on ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’
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Clarkson wiped tears from her eyes as Ringo explained that the community is still taking the loss “day by day.” He added, “It’s gonna be a longterm recovery as we go through this, and so this year, we’re able to make sure all 5,000 kids received backpacks and school supplies. We wanted to take that burden off our parents as much as we could and the outpouring of support coming in helped take care of that.”
Now, they’re focused on taking care of the families and their emotional needs moving forward. “Everybody knows somebody that has lost someone, and so we have counselors in our buildings, outside of our buildings, we want to make sure our families are taken care of on their time,” Ringo said. “And so it’s going to be a longterm recovery process to make sure everyone’s taken care of.”
Clarkson then introduced Lacey, the public affairs manager of Texas supermarket chain H-E-B, who announced that the company would be continuing its ongoing relief efforts by donating $50,000 to support the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas to help those affected and an additional $50,000 to the Kerrville Public School Foundation.
Clarkson went on to praise the drivers as “heroes,” adding, “In moments like this, the least we can do is say thank you and we support you and that is what it’s all about. So thank you for everything that you’ve done for our kids on the daily.”
The Kelly Clarkson Show airs weekdays on syndication.
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