Texas Ravaged: 50 Killed, Several Missing In Devastating Floods; Homes, Cars Swept Away
/ Jul 06, 2025, 07:03PM IST
Texas is drowning. Flash floods wiped out towns, homes, and lives in minutes. The Guadalupe River surged 26 feet in just 45 minutes, killing over 50 - including 15 children - and sweeping away a Christian girls' camp. Rescuers are racing against time to find 27 missing girls.
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First Post
an hour ago
- First Post
Texas flash floods: Death toll crosses 100; questions grow over warnings and camp evacuations
More than 100 people have died in Texas after devastating flash floods swept through the state over the July Fourth weekend. Rescue teams are still searching for the missing as questions grow about whether enough warnings were issued. read more The death toll from severe flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend rose above 100 on Monday, as rescue crews continued searching swollen rivers and clearing debris to find people still missing. Authorities said they were not yet ready to answer questions about weather warnings or why some summer camps didn't evacuate before the floods hit. So far, at least 104 people have died. Camp Mystic, a historic all-girls Christian summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, announced it had lost 27 campers and counselors to the floodwaters. Kerr County officials said that as of Monday, 10 campers and one counselor were still missing. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Search teams have recovered the bodies of 84 people in the county, including 28 children, where Camp Mystic and several other camps are located. With more rain forecast, officials warned that flooding could worsen in parts of central Texas. They said the death toll is expected to rise. The devastating flash floods — among the worst in decades — struck early Friday, sweeping through camps and homes along the Guadalupe River. People were pulled from their cabins, tents, and trailers and carried away by fast-moving water filled with tree trunks and cars. Some survivors were rescued from trees. On Monday, riverbanks were strewn with tangled trees, mattresses, refrigerators, coolers, and personal items like a volleyball, canoes, and a family photo — reminders of the area's popular campgrounds and cabins. Nineteen deaths were also reported in nearby counties, including Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green, and Williamson. Among the victims were 8-year-old sisters from Dallas who were at Camp Mystic, and a former soccer coach and his wife who were staying at a riverfront home. Their daughters are still missing. Questions about warnings Officials said an investigation will follow to find out whether enough warnings were issued and why some camps didn't evacuate or move people to higher ground in an area known as 'flash flood alley.' Poor cellphone service in many remote camps and cabins may have been a factor, said Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things,' Rice said. 'We're looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.' Some camps did act on weather alerts and moved campers to higher ground before the flooding began. Senator Ted Cruz said recent federal budget cuts did not cause delays in issuing warnings. 'There's a time to have political fights, there's a time to disagree. This is not that time,' Cruz said. 'There will be a time to find out what could have been done differently. My hope is in time we learn some lessons to implement the next time there is a flood.' The National Weather Service began warning of possible flooding on Thursday and issued several flash flood warnings early Friday, later declaring flash flood emergencies — a rare step signaling imminent danger.
NDTV
2 hours ago
- NDTV
More Than 100 Dead In Texas Floods As More Rain Expected
The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas rose to more than 100 on Monday, as rescuers continued their grim search for people swept away by torrents of water. Among the dead were at least 27 girls and counselors who were staying at a youth summer camp on a river when disaster struck over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Forecasters have warned of more flooding as rain falls on saturated ground, complicating recovery efforts involving helicopters, boats and dogs, as the number of victims is expected to rise still. President Donald Trump is planning to visit Texas on Friday, the White House said, as it slammed critics claiming his cuts to weather agencies had weakened warning systems. "Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday. She said the National Weather Service, which The New York Times reported had several key roles in Texas unfilled before the floods, issued "timely and precise forecasts and warnings." Trump has described the floods that struck in the early hours of Friday as a "100-year catastrophe" that "nobody expected." The president, who previously said disaster relief should be handled at the state level, has signed a major disaster declaration, activating fresh federal funds and freeing up resources. - 'Tragedy' - Kerr County in central Texas has been hardest hit of the counties devastated by the floods, with 56 adults and 28 children killed, according to the local sheriff's office. They include the 27 who had been staying at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp that was housing about 750 people when the floodwaters struck. Camps are a beloved tradition in the long US summer holidays, with children often staying in woods, parks and other rural areas. Texas Senator Ted Cruz described them as a chance to make "lifetime friends -- and then suddenly it turns to tragedy." In a terrifying display of nature's power, the rain-swollen waters of the Guadalupe River reached treetops and the roofs of cabins as girls at the camp slept. Blankets, teddy bears and other belongings were caked in mud. Windows in the cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water. Volunteers were helping search through debris from the river, with some motivated by personal connections to the victims. "We're helping the parents of two of the missing children," Louis Deppe, 62, told AFP. "The last message they got was 'We're being washed away,' and the phone went dead." Months' worth of rain fell in a matter of hours on Thursday night into Friday, and rain has continued in bouts since then. The Guadalupe surged around 26 feet (eight meters) -- more than a two-story building -- in just 45 minutes. Flash floods, which occur when the ground is unable to absorb torrential rainfall, are not unusual in this region of south and central Texas, known colloquially as "Flash Flood Alley." Human-driven climate change has made extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heat waves more frequent and more intense in recent years. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas over the July fourth weekend surpasses 100
The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend surpassed 100 on Monday (July 7, 2025) as search-and-rescue teams continued to wade into swollen rivers and use heavy equipment to untangle trees as part of the massive search for missing people. Authorities overseeing the search for flood victims said they will wait to address questions about weather warnings and why some summer camps did not evacuate ahead of the flooding that killed at least 104. The officials spoke only hours after the operators of Camp Mystic, a century-old all-girls Christian summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, announced that they lost 27 campers and counselors to the floodwaters. Kerr County officials said 10 campers and one counselor were still unaccounted for Monday. A timelapse video shows the speed at which deadly floodwaters rose over a causeway in Texas. The video recorded the scene for around 50 minutes, according to the timecode — Reuters (@Reuters) July 7, 2025 Searchers have found the bodies of 84 people, including 28 children, in the county home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps, officials said. With additional rain on the way, more flooding still threatened saturated parts of central Texas. Authorities said the death toll was sure to rise. Nation's worst flood in decades The raging flash floods — among the nation's worst in decades — slammed into camps and homes along the edge of the Guadalupe River before daybreak Friday, pulling sleeping people out of their cabins, tents and trailers and dragging them for miles past floating tree trunks and cars. Some survivors were found clinging to trees. Piles of twisted trees sprinkled with mattresses, refrigerators and coolers littered the riverbanks Monday. The debris included reminders of what drew so many to the campgrounds and cabins in the Hill Country — a volleyball, canoes and a family portrait. Nineteen deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, local officials said. Among those confirmed dead were 8-year-old sisters from Dallas who were at Camp Mystic and a former soccer coach and his wife who were staying at a riverfront home. Their daughters were still missing. Authorities vowed that one of the next steps would be investigating whether enough warnings were issued and why some camps did not evacuate or move to higher ground in a place long vulnerable to flooding that some local residents refer to as 'flash flood alley.' That will include a review of how weather warnings were sent out and received. One of the challenges is that many camps and cabins are in places with poor cellphone service, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said. 'We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things,' he said. 'We're looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.' Some camps were aware of the dangers and monitoring the weather. At least one moved several hundred campers to higher ground before the floods. Government spending cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said recent government spending cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service did not delay any warnings. 'There's a time to have political fights, there's a time to disagree. This is not that time,' Cruz said. 'There will be a time to find out what could been done differently. My hope is in time we learn some lessons to implement the next time there is a flood.' The weather service first advised of potential flooding on Thursday and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare step that alerts the public to imminent danger. Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expect such an intense downpour, the equivalent of months of rain. Some residents said they never received any warnings. President Donald Trump, who signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County and plans to visit the area, said on Sunday that he does not plan to rehire any of the federal meteorologists who were fired this year. 'This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it,' the president said. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said local and federal weather services provided sufficient warnings. 'That was an act of God. It's not the administration's fault that the flood hit when it did, but there were early and consistent warnings,' Leavitt said. More than three dozen people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing, Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday. Search-and-rescue crews at one staging area said Monday that more than 1,000 volunteers had been directed to Kerr County. Reagan Brown said his parents, in their 80s, managed to escape uphill as water inundated their home in the town of Hunt. When the couple learned that their 92-year-old neighbor was trapped in her attic, they went back and rescued her. 'Then they were able to reach their tool shed up higher ground, and neighbors throughout the early morning began to show up at their tool shed, and they all rode it out together,' Brown said. Elizabeth Lester, a mother of children who were at Camp Mystic and nearby Camp La Junta during the flood, said her young son had to swim out his cabin window to escape. Her daughter fled up the hillside as floodwaters whipped against her legs.
