What to know about the flash floods in Texas that killed more than 80 people
Here's what to know about the deadly flooding, the colossal weather system that drove it in and around Kerr County, Texas, and ongoing efforts to identify victims.
The floods grew to their worst at the midpoint of a long holiday weekend when many people were asleep.
The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up. Friday's flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in the dark early morning hours.
After a flood watch notice midday Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning around 4 a.m. that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life. By at least 5:20 a.m., some in the Kerrville City area say water levels were getting alarmingly high. The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes.
Camp Mystic 'grieving the loss' of 27 campers and counselors following catastrophic Texas floodsGov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that there were 41 people confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.
In Kerr County, home to youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said Sunday afternoon. Fatalities in nearby counties brought the total number of deaths to 79 as of Sunday evening.
Ten girls and a counselor were still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.
For past campers, the tragedy turned happy memories into grief.
Beyond the Camp Mystic campers unaccounted for, the number of missing from other nearby campgrounds and across the region had not been released.
'We don't even want to begin to estimate at this time,' Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said Saturday, citing the likely influx of visitors during the July Fourth holiday.
Survivors have described the floods as a 'pitch black wall of death' and said they received no emergency warnings.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, who lives along the Guadalupe River, said Saturday that ' nobody saw this coming.' Various officials have referred to it as a '100-year-flood,' meaning that the water levels were highly unlikely based on the historical record.
And records behind those statistics don't always account for human-caused climate change. Though it's hard to connect specific storms to a warming planet so soon after they occur, meteorologists say that a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture and allow severe storms to dump even more rain.
Additionally, officials have come under scrutiny about why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner than 4 a.m. or told to evacuate.
Officials noted that the public can grow weary from too many flooding alerts or forecasts that turn out to be minor.
Kerr county officials said they had presented a proposal for a more robust flood warning system, similar to a tornado warning system, but that members of the public reeled at the cost.
On Sunday, officials walked out of a news briefing after reporters asked them again about delays in alerts and evacuations.
The flash floods have erased campgrounds and torn homes from their foundations.
'It's going to be a long time before we're ever able to clean it up, much less rebuild it,' Kelly said Saturday after surveying the destruction from a helicopter.
Other massive flooding events have driven residents and business owners to give up, including in areas struck last year by Hurricane Helene.
President Donald Trump said he would likely visit the flood zone on Friday.
AP photographers have captured the scale of the destruction, and one of Texas' largest rescue and recover efforts.
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Volunteers flock to help search efforts after Texas floods even as officials warn them away
CENTER POINT, Texas -- Justin Rubio awoke in the wee hours to an alert on his phone, thunder, sirens and the thud of helicopter blades — the beginning of one of the largest rescue operations in Texas history. Rubio was determined to be a part of it. Even as authorities in Kerr County have repeatedly discouraged civilian volunteers, Rubio and dozens of others went out Monday to search for people still missing after flash flooding tore through the Texas Hill Country over the July Fourth weekend. The emotions wrapped up in the calamity that killed at least 100 people — and the urge to help find those still missing — at times butted up against officials' need for structure and safety as they search over 60 miles (100 kilometers) along the Guadalupe River. The river grew by the size of a two-story building in less than an hour on Friday. One survivor described a ' pitch-black wall of death." The flooding decimated shorelines, ripped trees from the ground, tossed and crushed a Ram truck, disappeared buildings and swept through a century-old summer camp packed with kids. Rubio, who picked through torn tree limbs Monday, said he couldn't help but pitch in. 'It's sad. It eats at your soul, it eats at your heart,' he said. 'I can't just sit at home thinking about what's going on out here.' The outpouring, volunteers say, is a Texas strain of solidarity, and officials have applauded the donations and volunteers in other areas. When it comes to search and rescue, however, fickle weather and a flash flood warning Sunday afternoon heightened authorities' fears that unorganized volunteers may end up adding to the missing or dead. On Sunday and Monday, officials began closing more search sites to volunteers, instead directing them to a local Salvation Army. 'We need focused and coordinated volunteers, not random people just showing up and doing what they do,' Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. said. "We remain hopeful every foot, every mile, every bend of the river.' Some families have been frustrated by the pace, but officials are asking for patience with the breadth of the search area and methodical, no-stone-unturned approach. It's a sweeping operation with 19 different local and state agencies, drones, dogs, boats and helicopters. Officials have laid out a grid over the search area. Each segment can reach over a mile (2 kilometers) and takes between one and three hours to search, Dalton Rice, the city manager of Kerrville, said at a news conference Monday morning. Rice reiterated for volunteers to 'stay out of the way" so that first responders aren't waylaid ensuring that volunteers 'don't become victims themselves.' When volunteers were asked by official responders to leave sites in Kerrville, some moved to help search in the unincorporated community of Center Point on Monday, said Cord Shiflet, who'd rallied volunteers through a Facebook post. On Sunday, Shiflet had falsely claimed on Facebook that two girls had been rescued in a tree days after the flooding, but he said Monday that he had received bad information and apologized. The mistake caught the attention of U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, who represents the area and urged people to be careful about false news. 'It's not fair to families and it distracts law enforcement,' Roy posted on the social platform X. At Center Point on Monday, dozens of undeterred volunteers gathered, including Rubio and Bryan Dutton, in the afternoon heat. Dutton, a veteran who said he had friends at an RV camp affected by the floods, had been waiting to get off work to join the droves of residents coming out to assist and provide food. 'We do what we can do,' Dutton said. 'That's how Texas is.'
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39 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Volunteers flock to help search efforts after Texas floods even as officials warn them away
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