"Bodies On Trees, Fish Rotting On Banks": Scenes Of Flood Destruction In Texas
The search and rescue teams plodded through mud-laden riverbanks and flew aircraft over the flood-stricken landscape of central Texas in the United States for a fourth day on Monday, searching for scores of people still missing after the flash floods claimed nearly 80 lives. Most of the deaths from Friday's flash floods were concentrated in the riverfront Hill Country in Texas's Kerrville, where at least 68 people died, including 28 children, according to authorities.
The predawn torrential downpours, starting the night before the Independence Day holiday, caused the Guadalupe River to transform into a raging, killer torrent that ran directly through Kerrville, wreaking havoc. The river rose to the height of a two-story building in less than an hour, flooding several children's camps, tearing down trees and tossing cars as if they were toys.
Cries For Help
As the raging river burst its banks and washed her house, a young woman named Joyce Bandon sent a text message that may have been her last. Bandon and three friends had gone to a country house to spend the July 4 holiday together. Her SOS message triggered a frantic search effort, according to Louis Deppe, leader of a group of volunteers trying to help the Bandon family find their daughter.
"Their house collapsed at about 4 in the morning and they were being washed away. On her cellphone, the last message (her family) got was 'we're being washed away' and the phone went dead," Deppe told news agency AFP.
He said the team works in groups of two or three people as they look through the debris and detritus left behind by the deluge.
"One of the bodies was 8 to 10 feet in a tree, surrounded by so much debris. Not one person could see it, so the more eyes, the better," he added.
According to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, "Across the state, in all the areas affected by flooding, there are 41 known missing."
In central Texas, some 17 helicopters joined the search for missing people, including ten girls and a counsellor from a riverside Christian summer camp where about 750 people had been staying when disaster struck.
Blankets, teddy bears and other belongings at the camp were caked in mud, after windows in the cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water.
A video surfaced on social media capturing the moment rescuers saved a woman clinging to a tree, who was dragged 20 miles down the Guadalupe River during the deadly Fourth of July floods. The 22-year-old woman was seen desperately clinging to the branches of a Cypress tree, several feet above the ground, as floodwaters rushed below her. She was rescued after a Centre Point homeowner heard her screaming for help and rushed to her aid, KEN5S reported.
🚨INCREDIBLE RESCUE / SURVIVAL STORY 🚨
A 22-year-old woman was rescued from a tree in Center Point, TX after she reportedly floated for more than 10 miles down the Guadalupe River from Ingram, TX. pic.twitter.com/koSRGYsAbV
— Gage Goulding - KPRC 2 (@GageGoulding) July 5, 2025
Rescue Efforts Underway
The river is returning to normal now, but visuals from Texas show there is utter destruction everywhere on the river banks, like a dead cow hanging from a tree, its head caught between two branches. A pickup trucks were seen lying upside down, while dozens of dead fish swept out of the water and began to rot and stink on the banks.
Helicopters are still flying overhead looking for survivors or bodies while rescue teams in boats are riding up and down the river, and emergency officials are combing its banks. Little by little, debris like uprooted trees and ruined cars is being taken away.
No Warning
State emergency management officials had warned on Thursday, ahead of the July Fourth holiday, that parts of central Texas faced the possibility of heavy showers and flash floods based on National Weather Service Forecasts.
But twice as much rain as was predicted ended up falling over two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream of the fork where they converge, sending all of that water racing into the single river channel where it slices through Kerrville, according to City Manager Dalton Rice.
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