Fears grow that Texas floods death toll could surge
More than 170 people remain unaccounted for after the flash flooding on the Fourth of July holiday, a tragedy that shocked many Americans.
After torrents of river water roared through several Texas counties -- some striking in the middle of the night -- rescuers still worked to find bodies and any survivors as state Governor Greg Abbott warned that the final toll was not yet known.
Officials in Kerr County, the epicenter of the flooding, on Wednesday confirmed 161 people were known to be missing in the county. Twelve others remain unaccounted for elsewhere in the state.
"There very likely could be more added to that list," Abbott said Tuesday, later posting on X: "Right now, our #1 job is to find every single missing person."
Kerr County, part of a Hill Country region in central Texas known as "Flash Flood Alley," suffered the most damage, with at least 95 fatalities including 36 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters.
Among them are at least 27 girls and counselors at a summer camp on the Guadalupe River when it burst its banks early Friday.
Five campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic were still missing as of Wednesday, plus another child not associated with the camp, Leitha said.
Elsewhere in the state, there have been at least 15 fatalities, according to Abbott.
More than 2,000 rescue personnel, police and experts have descended on the flood zone in what Leitha described as an "all hands on deck" operation.
Ben Baker, with the Texas Game Wardens, said search and rescue efforts involving helicopters, drones and dogs were difficult because of the water, mud and debris.
"When we're trying to make these recoveries, these large piles can be very obstructive, and to get in deep into these piles, it's very hazardous," Baker said.
Kerrville police officer Jonathan Lamb spoke of heroic rescues by authorities and volunteers who evacuated hundreds of people from their homes or vehicles.
Officers went "door to door, waking people up" in Kerr County early Friday and in some cases "pulling them out of windows" of flooding homes and trailers, Lamb told reporters.
The tragedy, "as horrific as it is, could have been so much worse," he added.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has forecast scattered storms on Wednesday in the Hill Country, including isolated pockets of heavy rain.
In the neighboring state of New Mexico, flash flooding left three people dead Tuesday in Ruidoso, the village website said in a statement, adding the Ruidoso River rose to a record-breaking 20 feet (six meters).
- Bodies in the mud -
In the Texas town of Hunt, an AFP team saw recovery workers combing through piles of debris with helicopters flying overhead.
Javier Torres, 24, was digging through mud as he searched for his grandmother, after having located the body of his grandfather.
He also discovered the bodies of two children, apparently washed up by the river.
President Donald Trump is due to visit Texas on Friday with First Lady Melania Trump.
"We brought in a lot of helicopters from all over... They were real pros, and they were responsible for pulling out a lot of people," Trump said.
Meanwhile, questions intensified over whether Trump's government funding cuts had weakened warning systems, and over the handling of the rescue operation.
During sometimes tense news conferences Tuesday and Wednesday, officials skirted questions on the speed of the emergency response.
"There's going to be an after-action" review of what happened, Sheriff Leitha said, adding "those questions need to be answered."
But officials stressed that the focus now was on locating the missing and reuniting families.
Shel Winkley, a weather expert at the Climate Central research group, blamed the extent of the disaster on geography and exceptional drought, when dry soil absorbs less rainfall.
"This part of Texas, at least in the Kerr County flood specifically, was in an extreme to exceptional drought.... We know that since May, temperatures have been above average," Winkley told reporters.
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CNBC
2 hours ago
- CNBC
Trump visits Texas flood zone, defends government's disaster response
President Donald Trump defended the state and federal response to deadly flash flooding in Texas on Friday as he visited the stricken Hill Country region, where at least 120 people, including dozens of children, perished a week ago. During a roundtable discussion after touring Kerr County, the epicenter of the disaster, Trump praised both Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for their response, saying they both did an "incredible job." The Trump administration, as well as local and state officials, has faced mounting questions over whether more could have been done to protect and warn residents ahead of the flooding, which struck with astonishing speed in the pre-dawn hours on July 4, the U.S. Independence Day holiday. Trump reacted with anger when a reporter said some families affected by the floods had expressed frustration that warnings did not go out sooner. "I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances," he said. "I don't know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that." Some critics have questioned whether the administration's spending cuts at the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates the U.S. government's disaster response efforts, might have exacerbated the calamity. Trump officials have said that cuts had no impact on the NWS's ability to forecast the storms, despite some vacancies in local offices. But the president has largely sidestepped questions about his plans to shrink or abolish FEMA and reassign many of its key functions to state and local governments. "I'll tell you some other time," Trump said on Tuesday, when asked by a reporter about FEMA. Before the most recent flooding, Kerr County declined to install an early-warning system after failing to secure state money to cover the cost. Lawrence Walker, 67, and a nearly three-decade veteran resident of Kerrville, said the county and state had not spent enough on disaster prevention, including an early-warning system. Asked about the quality of the government response, he said, "It's been fine since the water was at 8 feet." The Texas state legislature will convene in a special session later this month to investigate the flooding and provide disaster relief funding. Abbott has dismissed questions about whether anyone was to blame, calling that the "word choice of losers." Search teams on Friday were still combing through muddy debris littering parts of the Hill Country in central Texas, looking for the dozens still listed as missing, but no survivors have been found since the day of the floods. Heavy rains sent a wall of water raging down the Guadalupe River early on July 4, causing the deadliest disaster of the Republican president's nearly six-month term in office. As sun poked through dark clouds on Friday morning, search crews in hard hats painstakingly walked inch-by-inch along the ruined banks of the river, marking damage and looking through wreckage. After the president arrived in Kerr County in the early afternoon, Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott drove to an area near the river, where Trump received a briefing from first responders amid debris left in the wake of the flood. The county is located in what is known as "flash flood alley," a region that has seen some of the country's deadliest floods. More than a foot of rain fell in less than an hour on July 4. Flood gauges showed the river's height rose from about a foot to 34 feet (10.4 meters) in a matter of hours, cascading over its banks and sweeping away trees and structures in its path. Kerr County officials say more than 160 people remain unaccounted for, although experts say that the number of people reported missing in the wake of disasters is often inflated. The dead in the county include 67 adults and at least 36 children, many of whom were campers at the nearly century-old Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer retreat on the banks of the river. Jon Moreno, 71, a longtime Kerrville resident whose property on high ground was spared, praised the government response - local and federal. He has heard the debate about what more could have been done - including sirens - but said he did not think it would have made much difference, given people's desire to build along the flood-prone riverbanks. "It's unavoidable," he said. "All those people along the river - I wouldn't want to live there ... It's too dangerous." At Stripes, a gas station in Kerrville, the building was tagged in large white letters, accusing "Trump's Big Beautiful Bill" of cutting "our emergency funding." The president's massive legislative package, which cut taxes and spending, won approval from the Republican-controlled Congress last week and was signed into law by Trump on the same day that the flooding hit Texas.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
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As Kerr County leaders avoid alert questions, new audio surfaces in CodeRED timeline
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Online, the county encourages residents to sign up for the free service, which 'has the ability to notify the entire county or only the affected areas' about emergency situations – including severe weather – 'in a matter of minutes.' In the recording obtained by KXAN investigators from a credible source, the dispatcher then tells the firefighter: 'We have to get that approved with our supervisor. Just be advised we do have the Texas water rescue en route.' The timing of that request came more than three hours after the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning – at 1:14 a.m. – for a portion of the county and around 20 minutes after the federal forecasting agency warned of a flash flood emergency – at 4:03 a.m. – in the area. Sheriff hints at 'after action' review, as records reveal warning of 'worst-case flood event' It is still unclear at what time CodeRED alerts went out, as local officials have largely sidestepped related questions. Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring, Jr. told reporters the only CodeRED notification he received was at 6 a.m., indicating a flash flood alert or 'something to that effect.' Ceslie Armstrong, who identified herself as a San Antonio-based producer and journalist – and longtime Hill Country resident who is subscribed to CodeRED – provided KXAN investigators with call recordings and text messages she said she received during the flood. The first was a text received at 5:34 a.m., saying a 'The NWS has issued a Flash Flood Warning for your… location.' It was followed a minute later by a pre-recorded audio message, saying the same, adding to 'take immediate action for your protection.' CodeRED alerts from Kerr County on July 4 (Courtesy Ceslie Armstrong) Another person near the flooded area who spoke with KXAN shared a cell phone screenshot, showing a much earlier alert time with a voicemail left at 1:14 a.m. from a number traced back to CodeRED. It suggests inconsistencies in recipients countywide. Responding to CodeRED concerns during a Wednesday press event, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said an 'after action' review would happen after recovery and notifying victims' families. 'I know that's going to be asked over and over,' Leitha said. 'Please understand that… We're not going to hide from everything, that's going to be checked into at a later time.' On Thursday morning, officials updated the county's death toll to 96. A total of 161 people were still missing. County commissioners approved the use of CodeRED in 2009 for $25,000 a year. On the county's website, it states the 'system delivered pre-recorded emergency phone messages' when 'rapid and accurate notification is essential for life safety.' Historically, the sheriff has had the ultimate authority on sending an alert to the public. KXAN is awaiting a response and fulfillment of records requests we made to the county and other local officials to better understand decisions regarding the notifications during this flood. On Tuesday, Leitha told reporters: 'It's not that easy, and you just push a button. OK? There's a lot more to that.' When asked if that happened, he responded: 'I can't tell you at this time.' Critics point to challenges with CodeRED using publicly available phone numbers and voluntary registration to send texts, voicemails and emails – meaning warnings may not reach all residents or visitors in a disaster area. However, the company behind CodeRED has explained it can also utilize IPAWS, the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System funded by FEMA – which alerts all phones in a geographical area, regardless of enrolling in the system. According to FEMA, 135 Texas agencies or entities use IPAWS, including Kerr County and the City of Kerrville. 'Each local jurisdiction independently determines their intended use of tools such as CodeRED as well as their local process to dispatch notifications and alerts using the tool,' a CodeRED corporate spokesperson told KXAN investigators. 'Local governments also determine whether to send alerts through IPAWS during the alert creation process within CodeRED.' In 2012, The Kerrville Daily Times reported 18,451 people had signed up for CodeRED alerts in the area. In 2020, county commissioners approved incorporating IPAWS into CodeRED, so that tourists could be reached even if they were not in the local database, according to meeting minutes and a video archive KXAN investigators reviewed. 'The easiest way to explain it is, say you're traveling through this area and we've had something happen here, it could still notify you if we send it out,' former Kerr County Sheriff William 'Rusty' Hierholzer told commissioners in a November 2020 meeting. Since last week's flood, officials have fielded questions regarding the effectiveness of CodeRED alerts in the county's rural areas where cell service can be spotty. Officials have also said many of the children at camps along the Guadalupe River did not have phones with them. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ted Cruz defends National Weather Service alerts in Texas floods, decries ‘partisan finger pointing'
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Search teams continue to look for those unaccounted for in Kerr County after devastating floods swept through the region, including at Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls summer camp in Hunt. But as officials field questions about whether the National Weather Service provided adequate warnings to residents of affected areas, Sen. Ted Cruz responded to those accusations. At a Monday morning media conference in Kerr County, Cruz was asked about the reliability of alerts issued by the Weather Service. Cruz said the Weather Service did its job, and that allegations of understaffing contributing to the loss of life 'contradict the facts.' MAP: Where have flash flooding fatalities been confirmed in Texas? 'If you look at the facts in particular, number one, that these warnings went out hours before the flood became a true emergency level. But number two, the National Weather Service here in New Braunfels is where they were headquartered,' Cruz said. 'They had three additional people working that night, anticipating that it was going to be a very dangerous weather situation.' President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, cut staffing for the Weather Service as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leading to criticism that staffing issues there could have prevented those organizations from issuing effective warnings ahead of the Texas flooding. While the Weather Service Austin/San Antonio did have some staffing vacancies, it is unclear whether those are due to DOGE cuts directly. A representative for the Weather Service's union told KXAN that staffing was adequate to handle the flash flooding. Cruz said it is reasonable to question how this could have been prevented, but that partisan blaming is not the answer. 'I think just immediately trying to use it for either side to attack their political opponents,' Cruz said. 'I think that's cynical and not the right approach, particularly at a time when we're dealing with a crisis and we're dealing with grief.' A timeline of alerts issued by the Weather Service compiled by NewsNation corroborated Cruz's remarks. The first alert of a life-threatening, Flash Flood warning for Kerr County was issued at 1:14 a.m. on Friday, with a second alert of a Flash Flood emergency sent to residents' phones at 4:03 a.m. Despite cuts to staffing, Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said President Trump will make it a priority to upgrade warning systems for the Weather Service. Recent reports have pointed out that Kerr County applied for a $1 million grant to fund a warning system, but was not selected. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told NBC's Ryan Chandler that Texas should have had better warning systems. 'We should have sirens up and down these streams, like the ones they have in Israel for rocket attacks,' Patrick said. 'That might have saved lives.' He echoed Cruz's remarks that blame is not the answer, preferring to look forward to how to prevent future disasters. Gov. Greg Abbott has already called a special session of the legislature, beginning July 21, to address issues like THC regulation. Some are now calling for Abbott to add flood management to the agenda, as bills can not be introduced in special session without the governor's declaration. Patrick suggested that legislation should be taken up in special session, specifically regarding flood siren systems, as well as evaluating the performance of the Weather Service to identify any potential shortcomings. 'We'll have interim hearings on this before the next session to look at all of these things, because that's what we needed. We need to go back step-by-step and look at what happened and why it happened,' Patrick said. He said if the legislature can fund these systems for cities, it will. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said he would be drafting a bill to install warning sirens in high-flood risk areas at the 'earliest opportunity.' Still, the disaster is not yet over, as flooding continues and many are still unaccounted for. Cruz said he favors compassion over politics, thanking the first responders and Americans who are keeping Texas in their prayers. 'Thank you to the millions of Texans, to the millions of Americans, to the millions of people all over the world right now who are praying, praying for Texas and praying for those parents going through this grief,' Cruz said. 'It is going to take love. It is going to take friends and family embracing and hugging and holding them while they weep, and it's going to take the church.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
