Latest news with #GreggAbbott
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The Independent
5 days ago
- Climate
- The Independent
Texas floods latest: Over 130 dead as report claims Camp Mystic leader received flood warning hour before disaster
A fresh wave of floods battered Central Texas on Monday, delaying some rescue efforts as the death toll climbed to 131. Officials ordered volunteer crews to suspend search operations near the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, as the area hit hardest by catastrophic flash flooding on July 4 faced a renewed flood threat. A broad swath of the Hill Country remained under flood watch alerts early Tuesday morning, while officials warned of 'life-threatening' flash floods in parts of South Central Texas. Texas Governor Gregg Abbott said that the number of people missing statewide had fallen to 97, a significant reduction from the 173 unaccounted for that he announced almost a week ago. It comes amid a Washington Post report that Richard 'Dick' Eastland, the Camp Mystic executive director who died in the July 4 flooding, received a severe flood warning on his phone an hour before floodwaters slammed into the all-girls summer camp. Life-threatening flash floods threaten South Central Texas A broad swath of South Central Texas remains under flash flood warnings early this morning as torrential downpours persist across the region. The alerts are currently in place for Dimmit, Edwards, Kinney, Maverick, Real, Uvalde, and Zavala counties, where the National Weather Center warns of potentially 'life threatening' flash flooding. Doppler radar suggests that some counties could experience up to four inches of rainfall in an hour. James Liddell15 July 2025 08:47 Death toll: At least 131 dead as missing falls to double digits Texas Governor Gregg Abbott said that at least 131 people have been killed by the July 4 flash floods that tore through the Hill Country. The number of people missing statewide, he said, had fallen to 97, a significant reduction from the 173 unaccounted for that he announced almost a week ago. James Liddell15 July 2025 08:38 In pictures: Children's toys placed on Texas flood victim memorial A memorial wall in Central Texas includes children's toys as dozens of victims from the July 4 flash floods were kids. Rachel Dobkin15 July 2025 07:30 Camp Mystic reportedly waited an hour to evacuate after warnings of 'life-threatening' Texas floods The director of Camp Mystic waited more than an hour after receiving a life-threatening flood alert before beginning to evacuate campers asleep in their cabins, his family confirmed through a spokesman. Executive Director Richard 'Dick' Eastland, 70, along with his wife, had been in charge of the beloved all-girls Christian summer camp in Hunt, Texas, since the 1980s. It's located directly in the flood zone. But when the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Kerr County at 1:14 a.m. on July 4, warning of 'life-threatening flash flooding' near the Guadalupe River, little direction was given by the leadership of the camp. Eastland did not order evacuations until 2:30 a.m., by which time torrential rains were already falling and the river was rapidly rising, according to family spokesman Jeff Carr, as reported by The Washington Post. Camp Mystic director waited an hour to evacuate girls after receiving warning Executive Director Richard 'Dick' Eastland, 70, drowned while trying to rescue some of the youngest girls Rachel Dobkin15 July 2025 06:30 Texas officials share photos of search efforts after catastrophic floods The Texas Department of Public Safety shared photos on X of special agents conducting search operations along the North Fork of the Guadalupe River after it burst its banks on July 4. At least 131 have been killed by the floods, and 101 are still missing, according to Governor Greg Abbott. Rachel Dobkin15 July 2025 05:30 ICYMI: Trump brands reporter 'evil' for asking if warnings could have saved kids' lives in Texas floods Rachel Dobkin15 July 2025 04:30 Hard-hit Kerrville warns of flood watch tonight The city of Kerrville, which was hit hard by the July 4 flash flooding, warned residents Monday of a flood watch that remains in effect until 7 a.m. local time Tuesday. 'The National Weather Service continues to forecast moist and unstable weather conditions over the region with continued risks of locally heavy rainfall through late tonight,' city officials wrote in a Facebook post. The post continued: 'Most rainfall totals should be in the 1 to 3 inch range, but an isolated total to 6 inches cannot be ruled out. Rivers and streams remain elevated and will be capable of rising rapidly with any new downpours.' Rachel Dobkin15 July 2025 03:30 Timelapse shows deadly Texas floodwater rising in minutes Rachel Dobkin15 July 2025 02:30 National Weather Service forecasts 'stable weather' rest of the week, 'fingers crossed' The National Weather Service has forecasted on X Monday 'stable weather and warming temperatures' the rest of the week, adding 'fingers crossed.' Rachel Dobkin15 July 2025 01:46 Trump approves request to make more Texas counties eligible for disaster assistance President Donald Trump approved a request to make more Texas counties eligible for federal disaster assistance after flash flooding on July 4 devastated communities along the Guadalupe River. With the new addition of Burnet, Llano, Mason, McCulloch, and Tom Green counties, 10 counties are now approved for the FEMA Public Assistance program. 'President Trump's approval of my request to add more counties to his disaster declaration is another critical step to get Texans the support they need to recover,' Abbott said in a statement Monday. He added: 'I thank President Trump for swiftly approving my request to approve these additional counties. Texas continues to work around-the-clock to help every impacted community heal and rebuild.' Rachel Dobkin
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First Post
09-07-2025
- First Post
Death toll from Texas flash floods rises to 109, more than 180 people still missing
The death toll from the July 4 flash flood that ravaged a swath of central Texas Hill Country rose on Tuesday to at least 109, with authorities seeking more than 180 people whose fate remained unknown four days after one of the deadliest US flood events in decades read more People take part in a vigil in memory of Texas flooding victims, at Travis Park in San Antonio, Texas, US on July 7, 2025. Reuters File The death toll from the July 4 flash flood that ravaged a swath of central Texas Hill Country rose on Tuesday to at least 109, many of them children, as search teams pressed on through mounds of mud-encrusted debris looking for scores of people still missing. According to figures released by Governor Gregg Abbott, authorities were seeking more than 180 people whose fate remained unknown four days after one of the deadliest US flood events in decades. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The bulk of fatalities and the search for additional victims were concentrated in Kerr County and the county seat of Kerrville, a town of 25,000 residents transformed into a disaster zone when torrential rains struck the region early last Friday, flooding the Guadalupe River basin. The bodies of 94 flood victims, about a third of them children, have been recovered in Kerr County alone as of Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a late-afternoon news conference after touring the area by air. The Kerr County dead include 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old all-girls Christian summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe near the town of Hunt. The camp director also perished. Five girls and a camp counselor were still unaccounted for on Tuesday, Abbott said, along with another child not associated with the camp. As of Tuesday, 15 other flood-related fatalities had been confirmed across a swath of Texas Hill Country known as 'flash flood alley,' the governor said, bringing the overall tally of lives lost to 109. Reports from local sheriffs' and media have put the number of flood deaths outside Kerr County at 22. But authorities have said they were bracing for the death toll to climb as flood waters recede and the search for more victims gains momentum. Law enforcement agencies have compiled a list of 161 people 'known to be missing' in Kerr County alone, Abbott said. The roster was checked against those who might be out of touch with loved ones or neighbors because they were away on vacation or out of town, according to the governor. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Find every single person' He said another 12 people were missing elsewhere across the flood zone as a whole, a sprawling area northwest of San Antonio. 'We need to find every single person who is missing. That's job number one,' Abbott said. On Tuesday, San Antonio-born country singer Pat Green disclosed on social media that his younger brother and sister-in-law and two of their children were among those 'swept away in the Kerrville flood.' Hindered by intermittent thunderstorms and showers, rescue teams from federal agencies, neighboring states and Mexico have joined local efforts to search for missing victims, though hopes of finding more survivors faded as time passed. The last victim found alive in Kerr County was last Friday. 'The work is extremely treacherous, time-consuming,' Lieutenant Colonel Ben Baker of the Texas Game Wardens said at a press conference. 'It's dirty work. The water is still there.' A water-soaked family photo album was among the personal belongings found in flood debris by Sandi Gilmer, 46, a U.S. Army veteran and certified chaplain volunteering in the search operation along the Guadalupe at Hunt. 'I don't know how many people in this album are alive or deceased,' she said, flipping through images of two toddlers and a gray-haired man. 'I didn't have the heart to step over it without picking it up and hoping to return it to a family member.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Making of a disaster More than a foot of rain fell in the region in less than an hour before dawn last Friday, sending a wall of water cascading down the Guadalupe that killed dozens of people and left mangled piles of debris, uprooted trees and overturned vehicles. Public officials have faced days of questions about whether they could have alerted people in flood-prone areas sooner. The state emergency management agency warned last Thursday, on the eve of the disaster, that parts of central Texas faced a flash floods threat, based on National Weather Service forecasts. But twice as much rain as 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, City Manager Dalton Rice said. Rice has said the outcome was unforeseen and unfolded in a matter of two hours, leaving too little time to conduct a precautionary mass evacuation without the risk of placing more people in harm's way. Scientists have said extreme flood events are growing more common as climate change creates warmer, wetter weather patterns in Texas and other parts of the country. At an earlier news briefing on Tuesday, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha rebuffed questions about the county's emergency operations and preparedness and declined to say who was ultimately in charge of monitoring weather alerts and issuing flood warnings or evacuation orders. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He said his office began receiving emergency-911 calls between 4 am and 5 am on Friday, several hours after the local National Weather Service station issued a flash-flood alert. 'We're in the process of trying to put (together) a timeline,' Leitha said. Abbott said a special session of the Texas legislature would convene later this month to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief.
Kuwait Times
09-07-2025
- Climate
- Kuwait Times
170 still missing after Texas floods
HUNT, US: Fears grew Wednesday that the confirmed death toll of 109 in the Texas floods could still surge as hopes fade for finding survivors among the many reported still missing five days after the disaster. More than 170 people remain unaccounted for after the flash flooding on the Fourth of July holiday, according to Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, marking a dramatic increase in the number of missing from a tragedy that has shocked Americans. Days after torrents of river water roared through several Texas counties—some striking in the middle of the night—rescuers kept racing to find survivors as Abbott warned that the list of those unaccounted for could yet rise. At a Tuesday press conference he said 161 people are known to be missing in Kerr County, the epicenter of the disaster, with 12 more unaccounted for elsewhere in the state. 'There very likely could be more added to that list,' he said, adding later 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 94 fatalities. That includes at least 27 girls and counselors who were staying at a youth summer camp on the Guadalupe River when it burst its banks in the early hours of Friday. Five campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic were still missing as of Tuesday evening, according to Abbot, as well as another child not associated with the camp. Elsewhere in the state, there have been at least 15 fatalities recorded so far, the governor added. Ben Baker, with the Texas Game Wardens, said search and rescue efforts involving helicopters, drones and dogs were extremely 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. 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 on Tuesday left three people dead in Ruidoso, the village said in a statement on its official website. The NWS said the Ruidoso River may have crested more than 20 feet (six meters), based on a provisional reading. It would be a record, if confirmed. In the Texas town of Hunt, the epicenter of the disaster, 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 a sometimes tense news conference, Baker skirted a question on the speed of the emergency response. 'Right now, this team up here is focused on bringing people home,' the Game Wardens official said. 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. The organization's media director, Tom Di Liberto, said NWS staffing shortages had contributed to the disaster. 'You can't necessarily replace that experience,' he said. — AFP
Dubai Eye
09-07-2025
- Climate
- Dubai Eye
Death toll from Texas flood hits triple-digits as tally of missing tops 180
The death toll from the July 4th flash flood that ravaged a swath of central Texas Hill Country rose on Tuesday to at least 109, many of them children, as search teams pressed on through mounds of mud-encrusted debris looking for scores of people still missing. According to figures released by Governor Gregg Abbott, authorities were seeking more than 180 people whose fate remained unknown four days after one of the deadliest US flood events in decades. The bulk of fatalities and the search for additional victims were concentrated in Kerr County and the county seat of Kerrville, a town of 25,000 residents transformed into a disaster zone when torrential rains struck the region early last Friday, flooding the Guadalupe River basin. The bodies of 94 flood victims, about a third of them children, have been recovered in Kerr County alone as of Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a late-afternoon news conference after touring the area by air. The Kerr County dead include 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old all-girls Christian summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe near the town of Hunt. The camp director also perished. Five girls and a camp counselor were still unaccounted for on Tuesday, Abbott said, along with another child not associated with the camp. As of Tuesday, 15 other flood-related fatalities had been confirmed across a swath of Texas Hill Country known as "flash flood alley," the governor said, bringing the overall tally of lives lost to 109. Reports from local sheriffs' and media have put the number of flood deaths outside Kerr County at 22. But authorities have said they were bracing for the death toll to climb as flood waters recede and the search for more victims gains momentum. Law enforcement agencies have compiled a list of 161 people "known to be missing" in Kerr County alone, Abbott said. The roster was checked against those who might be out of touch with loved ones or neighbors because they were away on vacation or out of town, according to the governor. 'FIND EVERY SINGLE PERSON' He said another 12 people were missing elsewhere across the flood zone as a whole, a sprawling area northwest of San Antonio. "We need to find every single person who is missing. That's job number one," Abbott said. On Tuesday, San Antonio-born country singer Pat Green disclosed on social media that his younger brother and sister-in-law and two of their children were among those "swept away in the Kerrville flood". Hindered by intermittent thunderstorms and showers, rescue teams from federal agencies, neighboring states and Mexico have joined local efforts to search for missing victims, though hopes of finding more survivors faded as time passed. The last victim found alive in Kerr County was last Friday. "The work is extremely treacherous, time-consuming," Lieutenant Colonel Ben Baker of the Texas Game Wardens said at a press conference. "It's dirty work. The water is still there." A water-soaked family photo album was among the personal belongings found in flood debris by Sandi Gilmer, 46, a US Army veteran and certified chaplain volunteering in the search operation along the Guadalupe at Hunt. "I don't know how many people in this album are alive or deceased," she said, flipping through images of two toddlers and a gray-haired man. "I didn't have the heart to step over it without picking it up and hoping to return it to a family member." MAKINGS OF A DISASTER More than a foot of rain fell in the region in less than an hour before dawn last Friday, sending a wall of water cascading down the Guadalupe that killed dozens of people and left mangled piles of debris, uprooted trees and overturned vehicles. Public officials have faced days of questions about whether they could have alerted people in flood-prone areas sooner. The state emergency management agency warned last Thursday, on the eve of the disaster, that parts of central Texas faced a flash floods threat, based on National Weather Service forecasts. But twice as much rain as 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, City Manager Dalton Rice said. Rice has said the outcome was unforeseen and unfolded in a matter of two hours, leaving too little time to conduct a precautionary mass evacuation without the risk of placing more people in harm's way. Scientists have said extreme flood events are growing more common as climate change creates warmer, wetter weather patterns in Texas and other parts of the country. At an earlier news briefing on Tuesday, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha rebuffed questions about the county's emergency operations and preparedness and declined to say who was ultimately in charge of monitoring weather alerts and issuing flood warnings or evacuation orders. He said his office began receiving emergency-911 calls between 4:00 am and 5:00 am on Friday, several hours after the local National Weather Service station issued a flash-flood alert. "We're in the process of trying to put (together) a timeline," Leitha said. Abbott said a special session of the Texas legislature would convene later this month to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief.
ARN News Center
09-07-2025
- Climate
- ARN News Center
Death toll from Texas flood hits triple-digits as tally of missing tops 180
The death toll from the July 4th flash flood that ravaged a swath of central Texas Hill Country rose on Tuesday to at least 109, many of them children, as search teams pressed on through mounds of mud-encrusted debris looking for scores of people still missing. According to figures released by Governor Gregg Abbott, authorities were seeking more than 180 people whose fate remained unknown four days after one of the deadliest US flood events in decades. The bulk of fatalities and the search for additional victims were concentrated in Kerr County and the county seat of Kerrville, a town of 25,000 residents transformed into a disaster zone when torrential rains struck the region early last Friday, flooding the Guadalupe River basin. The bodies of 94 flood victims, about a third of them children, have been recovered in Kerr County alone as of Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a late-afternoon news conference after touring the area by air. The Kerr County dead include 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old all-girls Christian summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe near the town of Hunt. The camp director also perished. Five girls and a camp counselor were still unaccounted for on Tuesday, Abbott said, along with another child not associated with the camp. As of Tuesday, 15 other flood-related fatalities had been confirmed across a swath of Texas Hill Country known as "flash flood alley," the governor said, bringing the overall tally of lives lost to 109. Reports from local sheriffs' and media have put the number of flood deaths outside Kerr County at 22. But authorities have said they were bracing for the death toll to climb as flood waters recede and the search for more victims gains momentum. Law enforcement agencies have compiled a list of 161 people "known to be missing" in Kerr County alone, Abbott said. The roster was checked against those who might be out of touch with loved ones or neighbors because they were away on vacation or out of town, according to the governor. 'FIND EVERY SINGLE PERSON' He said another 12 people were missing elsewhere across the flood zone as a whole, a sprawling area northwest of San Antonio. "We need to find every single person who is missing. That's job number one," Abbott said. On Tuesday, San Antonio-born country singer Pat Green disclosed on social media that his younger brother and sister-in-law and two of their children were among those "swept away in the Kerrville flood". Hindered by intermittent thunderstorms and showers, rescue teams from federal agencies, neighboring states and Mexico have joined local efforts to search for missing victims, though hopes of finding more survivors faded as time passed. The last victim found alive in Kerr County was last Friday. "The work is extremely treacherous, time-consuming," Lieutenant Colonel Ben Baker of the Texas Game Wardens said at a press conference. "It's dirty work. The water is still there." A water-soaked family photo album was among the personal belongings found in flood debris by Sandi Gilmer, 46, a US Army veteran and certified chaplain volunteering in the search operation along the Guadalupe at Hunt. "I don't know how many people in this album are alive or deceased," she said, flipping through images of two toddlers and a gray-haired man. "I didn't have the heart to step over it without picking it up and hoping to return it to a family member." MAKINGS OF A DISASTER More than a foot of rain fell in the region in less than an hour before dawn last Friday, sending a wall of water cascading down the Guadalupe that killed dozens of people and left mangled piles of debris, uprooted trees and overturned vehicles. Public officials have faced days of questions about whether they could have alerted people in flood-prone areas sooner. The state emergency management agency warned last Thursday, on the eve of the disaster, that parts of central Texas faced a flash floods threat, based on National Weather Service forecasts. But twice as much rain as 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, City Manager Dalton Rice said. Rice has said the outcome was unforeseen and unfolded in a matter of two hours, leaving too little time to conduct a precautionary mass evacuation without the risk of placing more people in harm's way. Scientists have said extreme flood events are growing more common as climate change creates warmer, wetter weather patterns in Texas and other parts of the country. At an earlier news briefing on Tuesday, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha rebuffed questions about the county's emergency operations and preparedness and declined to say who was ultimately in charge of monitoring weather alerts and issuing flood warnings or evacuation orders. He said his office began receiving emergency-911 calls between 4:00 am and 5:00 am on Friday, several hours after the local National Weather Service station issued a flash-flood alert. "We're in the process of trying to put (together) a timeline," Leitha said. Abbott said a special session of the Texas legislature would convene later this month to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief.
