A flood gauge marks the peak of water flowing over a farm-to-market street close to Kerrville, Texas, on Friday, July 4, 2025.
Eric Homosexual | AP
Rescuers had been looking Saturday for greater than two dozen youngsters from a ladies’ camp and plenty of others nonetheless lacking after a wall of water rushed down a river within the Texas Hill Nation throughout a strong storm that killed a minimum of 27 folks, officers mentioned. Among the many useless had been 9 youngsters.
The damaging fast-moving waters alongside the Guadalupe River rose 26 toes (8 meters) in simply 45 minutes earlier than daybreak Friday, washing away houses and autos. The hazard was not over as torrential rains continued pounding communities outdoors San Antonio on Saturday and flash flood warnings and watches remained in impact for components of central Texas.
Some 27 folks remained lacking from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer time camp alongside the river, mentioned Dalton Rice, Kerrville’s metropolis supervisor. An unknown variety of folks at different areas had been nonetheless unaccounted for, he mentioned Saturday.
“Folks have to know as we speak can be a tough day,” mentioned Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring, Jr. “Please pray for our neighborhood.”
Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to search for victims and to rescue stranded folks in timber and from camps remoted by washed-out roads. The whole variety of lacking was not recognized, in keeping with the town supervisor, who mentioned he did not wish to give an estimate.
Frantic mother and father and households posted photographs of lacking family members and pleas for data.
“The camp was fully destroyed,” mentioned Elinor Lester, 13, considered one of tons of of campers at Camp Mystic. “A helicopter landed and began taking folks away. It was actually scary.”
A raging Guadalupe River leaves fallen timber and particles in its wake, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas.
Eric Homosexual | AP
A raging storm awakened her cabin simply after midnight Friday, and when rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the ladies to carry as they walked throughout a bridge with floodwaters whipping round their legs, she mentioned.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha mentioned 27 had been confirmed useless, together with 9 youngsters. Authorities mentioned about 850 folks had been rescued.
The flooding in the course of the evening on the Fourth of July vacation caught many residents, campers and officers unexpectedly. The Texas Hill Nation, which sits northwest of San Antonio, is a well-liked vacation spot for tenting and swimming, particularly across the summertime vacation.
AccuWeather mentioned the non-public forecasting firm and the Nationwide Climate Service despatched warnings about potential flash flooding hours earlier than the devastation.
“These warnings ought to have offered officers with ample time to evacuate camps similar to Camp Mystic and get folks to security,” AccuWeather mentioned in a press release that referred to as the Texas Hill County one of the flash-flood-prone areas of the U.S. due to its terrain and plenty of water crossings.
Officers defended their actions Friday whereas saying they’d not anticipated such an intense downpour that was the equal of months’ value of rain for the world.
One Nationwide Climate Service forecast earlier within the week had referred to as for as much as six inches (152 millimeters) of rain, mentioned Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Administration. “It didn’t predict the quantity of rain that we noticed,” he mentioned.
Helicopters, drones utilized in frantic seek for lacking
Search crews had been dealing with harsh situations whereas scouring the waterlogged rivers, culverts and rocks. “They’re trying in each attainable location,” Rice mentioned.
Greater than 1,000 rescuers had been on the bottom. Helicopters and drones had been getting used, with some folks being plucked from timber. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters had been flying in to help.
One reunification heart at an elementary college was principally quiet Saturday after taking in tons of of evacuees the day earlier than.
“We nonetheless have folks coming right here on the lookout for their family members. We have had a bit success, however not a lot,” mentioned Bobby Templeton, superintendent of Ingram Impartial College District.
A drone view exhibits flooded homes, following torrential rains that unleashed flash floods alongside the Guadalupe River in San Angelo, Texas, on June 4, 2025, on this display screen seize obtained from a social media video.
Patrick Keely | Patrick Keely Through Reuters
President Donald Trump mentioned Saturday that Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem was touring to Texas and his administration was working with officers on the bottom.
“Melania and I are praying for the entire households impacted by this horrible tragedy,” Trump mentioned in a press release on his social media community.
‘Pitch black wall of demise’
In Ingram, Erin Burgess woke to thunder and rain in the course of the evening Friday. Simply 20 minutes later, water was pouring into her dwelling from the river, she mentioned. She described an agonizing hour clinging to a tree together with her teenage son and ready for the water to recede sufficient to stroll up the hill to security.
“That is the one factor that saved me, was hanging on to him,” she mentioned.
“My son and I floated to a tree the place we hung onto it, and my boyfriend and my canine floated away. He was misplaced for some time, however we discovered them,” she mentioned.
Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, mentioned police got here knocking on doorways however that he had obtained no warning on his telephone.
“We acquired no emergency alert. There was nothing,” Stone mentioned. Then “a pitch black wall of demise.”
‘I used to be scared to demise’
At a reunification heart in Ingram, households cried and cheered Friday as family members acquired off rescue autos. Two troopers carried an older lady who couldn’t get down a ladder. Behind her, a girl clutched a small white canine.
Later, a lady in a white “Camp Mystic” T-shirt and white socks stood in a puddle, sobbing in her mom’s arms.
Barry Adelman mentioned water pushed everybody in his three-story home into the attic, together with his 94-year-old grandmother and 9-year-old grandson.
“I used to be having to take a look at my grandson within the face and inform him the whole lot was going to be OK, however inside I used to be scared to demise,” he mentioned.
‘Nobody knew this sort of flood was coming’
Authorities had been coming below growing scrutiny over whether or not the camp and others within the space obtained correct warning and whether or not sufficient preparations had been made.
The forecast for the weekend had referred to as for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a warning in a single day Friday for a minimum of 30,000 folks. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick mentioned the potential for heavy rain and flooding lined a big space.
“Every little thing was achieved to provide them a heads up that you might have heavy rain, and we’re not precisely certain the place it will land,” Patrick mentioned. “Clearly because it acquired darkish final evening, we acquired into the wee morning of the hours, that is when the storm began to zero in.”
A drone view of autos partially submerged in flood water following torrential rains that unleashed flash floods alongside the Guadalupe River in San Angelo, Texas, on June 4, 2025, on this display screen seize obtained from a social media video.
Patrick Keely | Patrick Keely Through Reuters
Kerr County Choose Rob Kelly, the county’s chief elected official, mentioned: “We don’t have a warning system.”
When pushed on why extra precautions weren’t taken, Kelly mentioned nobody knew this sort of flood was coming.
Extra pockets of heavy rains anticipated
The slow-moving storm caught over central Texas is bringing extra rain Saturday, with the potential for pockets of heavy downpours and extra flooding, mentioned Jason Runyen, of the Nationwide Climate Service.
The risk may linger in a single day and into Sunday morning, he mentioned.
Common tourism space susceptible to flooding
The realm is called “flash flood alley” due to the hills’ skinny layer of soil, mentioned Austin Dickson, CEO of the Neighborhood Basis of the Texas Hill Nation, which was gathering donations to assist with the response.
“When it rains, water would not soak into the soil,” Dickson mentioned. “It rushes down the hill.”
River tourism trade is a key a part of the Hill Nation economic system. Century-old summer time camps herald children from all around the nation, Dickson mentioned.
“It is usually a really tranquil river with actually stunning clear blue water that individuals have been drawn to for generations,” Dickson mentioned.
