Texas Flood Live Updates: 59 Dead Including 15 Children
Flooding caused by a flash flood at the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas. Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images
Texas authorities confirmed at least 59 people were dead as of Sunday morning, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said on Fox News, and an unclear number were still missing.
Rescue teams are searching for a group of around 27 people who were attending Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.
More than 850 people have been rescued across Kerr County, which saw some of the worst flooding, by the Coast Guard and at least 1,000 first responders from Texas state agencies, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, when he was asked why camps along the Guadalupe were not evacuated, told reporters Friday, 'I can't answer that, I don't know,' before saying the county had 'no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what's happened here.'
W. Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, faulted the National Weather Service for not predicting 'the amount of rain we saw,' though alerts were issued beforehand and as it became clear the region was facing a flash flood emergency.
The NWS issued a flash flood watch Thursday afternoon that noted Kerr County, where much of the flooding began early Friday morning, was a particularly vulnerable area, along with more urgent flash flood emergency alerts in the overnight hours as the disaster unfolded.
The NWS was one of several federal agencies targeted by the controversial cost-cutting efforts of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, and has recently laid off nearly 600 employees—around the same amount of staffers it lost in the 15 previous years, the Texas Tribune reported.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Trump administration would 'honor' a federal disaster declaration from Abbott, who also declared Sunday a 'day of prayer' as first responders search for the missing campers.
Forbes has reached out to the NWS for comment.
A representative for the union for NWS employees told CNN that the offices in Austin and San Antonio had 'adequate staffing and resources,' but also said the San Antonio office was missing a coordination meteorologist to work directly with emergency managers. When asked by a reporter from Kerrville if the government's preparedness was a 'failure,' Noem said the Trump administration was trying to 'upgrade' the technology the NWS uses to send alerts and notify the public about catastrophic weather events. 'For decades, for years, everybody knows that the weather is extremely difficult to predict, but also that the National Weather Service has done well,' Noem said at a press conference alongside Abbott. 'And at times we have all wanted more time, and more warning, and more alerts, and more notification.' Noem added the Trump administration is working to update what she called an 'ancient system has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years.' How Has The Nws Been Impacted By Federal Funding Cuts?
Some NWS field offices have reported the loss of around-the-clock staffing and reductions in weather balloon launches, which are crucial in collecting data on humidity, pressure, temperature and more elements needed to produce forecasts. The NWS office overseeing Kerr County, where at least 24 people have died in the floods, is the Austin/San Antonio Weather Forecast Office. Longtime meteorologist Troy Kimmel, who leads his own meteorological services company, told CBS Austin in May that local Texas offices such as the Austin/San Antonio office experienced some staffing shortages. The Austin/San Antonio office's website shows a total of six vacancies across its meteorological, management, observations and technician teams, though it is not clear how many of the vacancies are a direct result of cuts engineered by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump said Friday the deaths reported in Texas were 'shocking' and that the government would work with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to provide federal aid. He added in a statement on Truth Social Saturday morning his administration is working with state and local officials in Texas, adding Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem would visit the state Saturday. Trump has insisted states should play a larger role in handling their own weather disasters, saying last month his administration intends to 'wean' states off help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency following this year's hurricane season. FEMA has lost hundreds of employees since Trump took office and ended its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which awarded around $4.6 billion to communities throughout the U.S. in an effort to prepare them for future weather disasters. What To Watch For
The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for San Antonio and several neighboring cities, warning of two to four inches of additional rainfall and excessive runoff that may result in flash flooding for rivers and creeks, low-lying areas and low water crossings. What Do We Know About The Missing Children?
The children considered missing as of Saturday were attending an all-girls Christian summer camp known as Camp Mystic. The camp has been around since 1926 and operates two sites along the Guadalupe River. The organization told parents in an email Friday morning it experienced 'catastrophic level floods.' according to The New York Times. Big Number
Over 1,000. That is how many rescuers were deployed in Texas on Saturday morning, the Associated Press reported.
The Guadalupe River has had a history of floods, with one of the most prominent incidents occurring in 1987, when five to 10 inches of rain fell in the upper headwaters of the river's basin. The river crested at 31.5 feet and flooding resulted in the deaths of 10 teenagers and 33 injuries. Inclement weather in Texas may continue in the coming months, as it and several other states are approaching the most active part of the 2025 hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season, forecasting a range of 13 to 19 named storms, six to 10 of which are forecast to become hurricanes.
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Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Timeline raises questions over how Texas officials handled warnings before the deadly July Fourth flood
Officials in Texas are facing questions about whether they did enough to get people out of harm's way before a flash flood swept down the Guadalupe River and killed at least 120 people, including more than two dozen children and counselors at an all-girls Christian camp. More than 170 people are still believed to be missing, a week after the forceful floodwater hit over the July Fourth weekend. In the days since the devastation, state, federal and Kerr County officials have deflected pointed questions about preparations and warnings. Many remain unanswered. The Associated Press has assembled an approximate timeline of the events before, during and after the deadly flash flood from sources including state and local documents, social media posts, firsthand accounts and scanner traffic archived on Broadcastify. It begins with the activation of the state's emergency response resources on July 2, the day Texas signed off on the camp's emergency disaster plan. By daybreak on July Fourth, it was clear that some children from Camp Mystic had been swept away by floodwaters, even as others were able to escape to safety in their pajamas. The Texas Division of Emergency Management activates state emergency response resources anticipating the threat of flooding in parts of West and Central Texas. On the same day, state inspectors sign off on Camp Mystic's emergency protocol, according to records obtained by the AP. 10 a.m.: County judges and city mayors are invited to attend a daily call to discuss weather forecasts, according to comments by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and a regional coordinator reaches out personally to officials in the area. According to Patrick: 'The message was sent. It is up to the local counties and mayors under the law to evacuate if they feel the need.' However, in Kerr County, where the devastation is most extensive, Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring said later he did not know what state emergency management resources were deployed ahead of time and that he did not receive a phone call. 1:18 p.m.: The National Weather Service's Austin/San Antonio office issues a flood watch estimating rainfall of 1 to 3 inches, with isolated amounts of 5 to 7 inches for parts of south central Texas, including Kerr County. 'Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers,' the alert says. 1:14 a.m.: Citing radar, the National Weather Service issues a flash flood warning for central Kerr County until 4:15 a.m., warning that it is life-threatening. Between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m: Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice is running on the river trail and 'everything was fine,' he says later. 'Four o'clock, when I left, there was no signs of it rising at that point,' Rice says during a news conference. 'This happened very quickly over a very short amount of time.' Rice says the isolated location and the fast, heavy rain created an unpredictably dangerous event, even with radar and National Weather Service warnings. 'This is not like a tornado where you can have a siren. This is not like a hurricane where you're planning weeks in advance,' Rice says. 'It hit. It hit hard.' Between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.: Floodwaters begin to inundate Camp Mystic. Young campers, counselors and staff are roused from sleep and begin a desperate rush to higher ground, according to social media accounts. Some girls had to climb through cabin windows. One staffer says she was on the roof with water rising toward her at 4 a.m. 3:30 a.m.: Erin Burgess wakes up to thunder at around 3:30 a.m. in her home in Bumble Bee Hills, a housing development between Hunt and Ingram. Within about half an hour, the water is rushing into her house. Burgess and her 19-year-old son eventually cling to a tree outside for an hour before the water recedes. 3:35 a.m.: The National Weather Service extends its flash flood warning for central Kerr County until 7 a.m. based on radar and automated gauges. 3:35 a.m.: A U.S. Geological Survey gauge along the Guadalupe River about 5 miles north of Camp Mystic and about 1 mile east of Hunt shows the river has reached nearly 16 feet. At that location, the river floods at 10 feet. Between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.: Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha is first notified about the situation from one of his sergeants. 4 a.m.: Kerrville police officers on their way to work start to encounter rising floodwaters and people in need of rescue. A sergeant comes to the intersection of FM 1340, a secondary highway, and State Highway 39 and realizes he is trapped 'on an island that was Hunt, Texas,' according to Jonathan Lamb, a community services officer with Kerrville police. According to Lamb: 'He saw people, dozens of people, trapped on roofs. He saw people trapped in swift moving water.' For 13 hours until 5 p.m., according to Lamb, the sergeant, a detective, several Hunt volunteer firefighters and an emergency room doctor work to rescue, evacuate and treat injuries largely on their own, until other emergency responders can arrive. Meanwhile in Kerrville, officers are rescuing and evacuating a few hundred people as they realized low lying areas close to the river were in danger, according to Lamb: 'One of them was wrapping a 100-foot (30-meter) flex line garden hose around his waist to go into the water and rescue those people. I know that this tragedy, as horrific as it is, could've been so much worse.' 4 a.m.: Water was pooling on the floor of Jane Towler's family cabin in Hunt, just south of the town center and about 5 miles north of Camp Mystic. 4:03 a.m.: The National Weather Service names a flash flood emergency for south-central Kerr County, saying in all caps that it is a 'particularly dangerous situation. Seek higher ground now!' Citing radar and automated rain gauges, the bulletin says low water crossings and the Guadalupe at Hunt are flooding. 4:16 a.m.: Towler shoots video of muddy water rising as she and her loved ones wonder how they will survive. Furniture floats in the water. Towler calls 911 from atop the kitchen counter. The family climbs onto the roof. 4:35 a.m.: A U.S. Geological Survey gauge along the Guadalupe about 5 miles north of Camp Mystic and about a mile east of Hunt stops sending data. The last recorded river level is 29.5 feet. 5:30 a.m.: Police knock on Matthew Stone's door in a Kerrville riverfront neighborhood, urging residents to evacuate. Stone says he did not receive any warning on his phone: 'We got no emergency alert. There was nothing.' Then, 'a pitch-black wall of death.' 5:34 a.m.: The National Weather Service bulletin reports a flash flood emergency from Hunt through Kerrville and Center Point, saying 'automated rain gauges indicate a large and deadly flood wave is moving down the Guadalupe River.' 5:38 a.m.: In a comment on a Facebook post, a woman begs the Kerr County Sheriff's Office to help her mother-in-law, who is trapped in a trailer between Hunt and Ingram. 5:52 a.m.: Minutes later, another woman comments on the same post to say Bumble Bee Hills is flooded and help is needed. 6:06 a.m.: The National Weather Service extends the flash flood warning until 10:00 a.m. The bulletin says local law enforcement have reported 'major flooding' and water rescues along the Guadalupe. 6:19 a.m.: Another person says on the Kerr County Sheriff's Facebook page that a 'friend and her family are on their rooftop in Hunt, waiting for rescue.' 6:45 a.m.: A U.S. Geological Survey gauge in Kerrville shows the Guadalupe has peaked at 34.29 feet, a preliminary figure that is subject to change. It is the third-highest level recorded at that location. The record of 39 feet was set July 2, 1932, 6:59 a.m.: The river water has receded from Burgess' home and she notes that the line of muck reaches halfway up her kitchen cabinets. 7:24 a.m.: The National Weather Service advises that the flash flood emergency extends to the community of Sisterdale. 7:32 a.m.: The emergency management agency in Kendall County, which is adjacent to Kerr County, posts on Facebook that people along the Guadalupe in the community of Comfort are under mandatory evacuation orders. 9:34 a.m.: A rescue boat brings several people to safety after they are pulled from a home on Carolyn Road in Comfort, according to communications between Kendall County dispatchers and fire personnel. The boat turns around to rescue others trapped in the house. 10:31 a.m.: According to archived radio traffic between county dispatchers and fire personnel, water levels are rising in Kendall County. One unit is asked to check whether the water is over the road at a bridge over Cypress Creek, a tributary of the Guadalupe in Comfort. 'It's just pouring in right now. I don't believe it's over the banks,' the unidentified unit answers. 'But we do have some houses in low flooding areas taking on water, but I don't believe it is over the bank at this time.' 10:52 a.m.: Comfort, Texas, sounds its flood sirens as a last resort to evacuate residents near the Guadalupe River who had not heard or heeded previous advisements to evacuate. A small Texas community where everyone survived flooding has sirens that warned them10:56 a.m.: Kendall County dispatch requests that a team be sent to the Bergheim Campground in Boerne, Texas, near Guadalupe River State Park. They are asked to 'try to make contact with management and everybody down there to advise them that it needs to be evacuated here in the next hour or so.' 11:29 a.m.: Camp Mystic parents receive an email noting that the grounds have 'sustained catastrophic level floods' and are without power, water and internet. Parents with a daughter who is not accounted for have been contacted directly, according to the camp. 11:30 a.m.: Local officials hold their first news conference to describe the situation and response. Asked what kind of warnings went out to residents, Judge Rob Kelly, Kerr County's chief elected official, says: 'We do not have a warning system. ' Asked why camps were not evacuated, Kelly says officials did not know 'this flood' was coming. 'We had no reason to believe that this was going to be any, anything like what's happened here,' Kelly says. 'None whatsoever.' 3:30 p.m.: Two afternoon news conferences are the first to offer an initial death toll. Lt. Gov. Patrick says six to 10 bodies have been found so far. Around the same time, Leitha, the Kerr County sheriff, reports that 13 people have died. Patrick also announces that the whereabouts of about 23 girls attending Camp Mystic are unknown. 7:11 p.m.: A state agency responsible for search and rescue operations, the Texas Game Wardens, posts on Facebook to say its agents have entered Camp Mystic and 'are evacuating the campers to safety.' Roughly two dozen campers are still missing. 9 p.m.: Gov. Greg Abbott signs a disaster declaration at a news conference. Leitha reports about 24 fatalities.
New York Times
5 hours ago
- New York Times
Evacuations and Lost Cabins: A Century of Floods at Camp Mystic
It was 1932, just six years after Camp Mystic opened, when an early July rain began falling on the Texas Hill Country around the Guadalupe River. At first, it was a 'lovely, gentle rain,' one person said at the time. But the rain intensified, and the river quickly swirled past its banks, sending churning floodwaters through the idyllic girls camp. Archived news clips from that week describe campers rushing to safety, some shedding tears as they watched some of the camp's cabins — and their possessions — swept away. They survived, but were left stranded without food, forced to eat fish that had been tossed up by the floodwaters. Someone flew a plane over the site the next day and dropped notes to the group to tell them that help was on the way. The event in 1932 was one of many dire reminders over nearly a century that Camp Mystic had been built in a location that could experience devastating floods. Since its construction in 1926, the camp — which promised cabins 'snugly arranged' in a 'picturesque bend' in the river — repeatedly experienced flood disruptions, including evacuations or damage to structures. Some two dozen campers died last week when the Guadalupe River roared in once again. Here is a closer look at the history of floods at Camp Mystic: July 1, 1932 Nobody died at Camp Mystic during the 1932 flood, but four people were reported killed along the river during that flood event. Some 200 people lost their homes. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Texas floods shine spotlight on Trump's weather and disaster cuts
The deadly Texas floods are drawing renewed scrutiny to Trump administration cuts at the nation's weather and climate research agencies. A flash flood Friday unleashed water from the Guadalupe River in Central Texas, killing at least 90 people as of Monday afternoon. The incident spurred questions about the preparedness of federal agencies such as the National Weather Service (NWS) and others like it as they face the administration's crosshairs. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which houses NWS, lost hundreds of staffers to Trump administration cuts, and positions within the NWS were among them. The Austin/San Antonio Weather Service office's warning coordination meteorologist, who organizes alerting the outside world about agency forecasts, took a Trump administration buyout in April. The office's Science Operations Officer, who implements new technology and data, also retired around the same time. Rick Spinrad, who led NOAA during the Biden administration, said the office's forecasters still did well, but that staffing-related issues could be causing communication problems. 'I do think the cuts are contributing to the inability of emergency managers to respond,' Spinrad said. 'The Weather Service did a really good job, actually, in getting watches and warnings and … wireless emergency alerts out,' he told The Hill on Monday. 'It's really a little early to give a specific analysis of where things might have broken down, but from what I've seen, it seems like the communications breakdown in the last mile is where most of the problem was.' He particularly pointed to the absence of a warning coordination meteorologist. 'Information went out with significant lead time of several hours, and yet no action was taken,' Spinrad said. 'When you send a message, there's no guarantee that it's received, so someone needs to follow up,' he said. 'In the weather forecast offices, the one who follows up with that is the position called the warning coordination meteorologist. And guess what, there is no WCM in the San Antonio/Austin weather forecast office, because that's one of the positions that was lost in the cuts from this administration.' The Austin/San Antonio Weather Service office issued a flood watch Thursday afternoon, saying areas could get up to 5-7 inches of rainfall. That night, at about 1 a.m. local time Friday, it posted on the social platform X that parts of the state were seeing a flash flood warning. Just after 3 a.m., it posted that 'a very dangerous flash flooding event is ongoing.' 'Heavy rainfall continues in this area and a Flash Flood Warning is in effect. Turn Around, Don't Drown!' the NWS Austin/San Antonio office said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for an investigation into 'the scope, breadth, and ramifications of whether staffing shortages at key local National Weather Service (NWS) stations contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property during the deadly flooding.' President Trump said staffing cuts didn't impact the handling of the incident. 'That was really the Biden setup … but I wouldn't blame Biden for it, either,' he said. 'This is a hundred-year catastrophe and it's just so horrible to watch.' Erica Grow Cei, a spokesperson for the NWS, said the Austin/San Antonio office as well as the San Angelo office 'had additional forecasters on duty during the catastrophic flooding event in Texas's Hill Country during the July 4 holiday weekend' in an email to The Hill. 'Extra staff members from both offices, in addition to the West Gulf River Forecast Center, had extra personnel on the night of Thursday, July 3 into the day on Friday, July 4. All forecasts and warnings were issued in a timely manner,' she said. 'Additionally, these offices were able to provide decision support services to local partners, including those in the emergency management community. The NWS remains dedicated to our mission to serve the American public through our forecasts and decision support services.' It is not the first time the administration's buyouts and other mass firings have come under scrutiny. Earlier this year, the National Nuclear Security Administration rehired staff that oversees the nation's nuclear weapons after firing them en masse. Following staffing cuts, the NWS indicated it was looking to shuffle or hire employees to fill positions in some 'critically understaffed' offices, though the Austin/San Antonio and San Angelo ones were not among them. Tom Di Liberto, a former NOAA climate scientist and public affairs specialist, told The Hill he believes that even with the staffing cuts, the administration should still be able to get the forecast out. However, he warned that other functions that help the NWS do its job such as building relationships could be diminished by the cuts. 'My big concern is, when it comes to the staffing shortages and the loss of expertise, that we've lost, not only their knowledge … knowledge of their regions — what areas flood, what areas are most of concern — but we also lost the relationships with existing partners and external partners,' Di Liberto said. Staffing cuts are not the only potential headwind coming for the nation's meteorologists. In its proposed budget, the Trump administration is calling for broader cuts to research. This includes eliminating NOAA's Office of Atmospheric Research and reducing the budget for the agency's weather research program It also includes closing the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Oklahoma and other labs in places including New Jersey, Colorado and Hawaii. Di Liberto said such cuts would mean that 'we don't have the data and resources that we need to be able to improve our ability to forecast and communicate these risks.' Spinrad similarly expressed concerns that the cuts would hamper the administration's ability to improve. 'The cuts — as proposed — to research guarantee that we will see no improvement to forecasts and services full stop,' he said. He added that, typically, forecasts 'improve by 24 hours every 10 years,' so a '72-hour forecast today is as good as the 48-hour forecast was 10 years ago, and that's because of the research.' 'If you turn off the research, that progress and improvement is going to stop, and you're going to see a degradation of capability,' Spinrad said. Since the federal budget is handled by Congress and not the administration, it's not clear how many of the newly anticipated cuts will actually stick. But there are also staffing cuts happening broadly across the administration, including at other related agencies such as the National Science Foundation. 'Basic science research has been trimmed pretty dramatically,' said David Stensrud, president of the American Meteorological Society. 'The scientific enterprise as a whole is being proposed for really large cuts. That could really hurt what we're trying to do to improve these kinds of warnings.' Meanwhile, the Trump administration has also indicated it wants to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which helps respond after disasters. Asked over the weekend whether he still wanted to phase out FEMA, Trump said, 'FEMA is something we can talk about later, but right now they're busy working.' White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday that 'the president wants to ensure American citizens always have what they need during times of need. Whether that assistance comes from states or the federal government, that's a policy discussion that will continue, and the president has always said he wants states to do as much as they can, if not more.' Brett Samuels contributed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
