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Rescue and recovery efforts following Friday's catastrophic Guadalupe River floods continued on Sunday, as the death toll rose further, rains continued to fall, and cell phones rung with a new array of warnings that the Kerrville area may see even more floodwaters.
At least 68 people have died from the river flood on Friday. That includes 40 adults and 28 children. There are 10 girls from Camp Mystic who are still missing, along with one counselor.
Severe weather continued to ravage communities farther east. Several more people died after heavy flooding in the Austin region on Saturday.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood watch for Bandera, Bastrop, Bexar, Blanco, Burnet, Comal, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Hays Kendall, Kerr, Medina, Travis and Williamson counties. The watch will expire at 7 p.m.
Around 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, the National Weather Service alerted the public with a flash flood warning for the Kerrville area until 6:30 p.m. "This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order," the alert read. TPR also received reports of evacuation operations in the Kerrville area.
The danger posed by more rain was starkly highlighted at a 3 p.m. press conference on Sunday, during which officials warned of an unconfirmed report of a new "wall of water" moving down the north fork of the Guadalupe River. An alert was transmitted to cell phones, and aircraft were dispatched to confirm the surge.
In a statement on Sunday, the Trump administration approved a disaster declaration for Texas "to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding from July 2, 2025, and continuing" for "affected individuals in Kerr County. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals recover from the effects of the disaster."
Federal funds were also made available to Kerr County government agencies and nonprofits to pay for rebuilding or repairing their damaged facilities.
The statement added: "Individuals who sustained losses in the designated areas should first file claims with their insurance providers and then apply for assistance by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 1-800-621-3362 or by using the FEMA App."
I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters, who were at the summer camp, in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.
— Pope Leo XIV (@Pontifex) July 6, 2025
Officials reported that about 850 people have been rescued from the area impacted by the Guadalupe River floods.
Congressman Chip Roy shared the story with reporters about of the rescue of a young girl: "She floated on a mattress for three hours yesterday morning, and we just got the text notice that she survived, and we've located her and that she's safe and sound."
State and county officials on Sunday did not offer additional information on the 11 missing girls attending the 99-year-old Camp Mystic, a riverside retreat that was hosting some 750 campers, or a missing camp counselor.
Among the dead was Dick Eastland, the director of Camp Mystic. His nephew Gardner Eastland confirmed his death in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Jane Ragsdale, a camp director and counselor at the Heart O' the Hills Camp for Girls on the Guadalupe River, was also among the people who died.
Ava Steindl attended the camp beginning in 2010 and was a counselor there in 2017. Of Ragsdale, she said, "she taught me and most of these girls everything that we know, from basic life skills to learning how to change a tire."
Thomas Mayo's daughter Caroline started attending Heart O' the Hills when she was six years old. He said the impact that Ragsdale had on thousands of girls and their parents was immeasurable. "She loved the camp, and she loved those kids," Mayo said. "And it's a darker place today without her in it."
Ragsdale became a co-owner of the camp in 1976 and became camp director in 1988. Although camp was not in session on Friday, some of the camp counselors were staying at the camp for the Fourth of July holiday.
Many distraught parents on Sunday still waited for word on their loved ones. Tanya Powell said on Saturday that Ella Rose, her 21-year-old daughter, was still missing.
"She was near the camp in a house with three of her friends," she explained. "They go to school. They're college seniors in San Antonio. And they were here for the weekend, and we lost touch with them about 4 a.m. and haven't gotten any word from them."
The state has deployed hundreds of search-and-rescue personnel and more than a dozen helicopters to the region, with a focus on boys and girls summer camps, parks and low-lying areas. Boats raced along the Guadalupe on Saturday looking for survivors on the riverbanks and in trees. First responders set up aid stations for residents who had lost or damaged homes.
"So many people have been swept up into an extraordinary catastrophe," Gov. Greg Abbott said. "It needs God, but it also needs a robust response by the state and local governments and by people who live in these communities impacted by this."
Abbott signed a disaster declaration for Kerr and 13 other counties impacted by Friday's flooding, enabling them to access state resources for emergency operations. On Saturday, he added more counties to that declaration, including Bexar.
Dear San Antonio,
— Shakira (@shakira) July 5, 2025
Our hearts and prayers are with those affected by the flood in Central Texas.
We are donating a portion of tonight’s show proceeds to Catholic Charities of San Antonio, who are providing disaster relief to the families impacted.
If you would like to join me in…
Pop superstar Shakira announced that she donated a portion of the proceeds from her Saturday night concert in San Antonio to help flood relief efforts.
She took time during her performance to remember victims of the devastating flood in the Hill Country. Before the show, Shakira posted on her social media her plan to donate a portion of the concert's proceeds to Catholic Charities, and she also shared a link for her fans to make donations to help victims.
'People underestimate Mother Nature all the time'
By Saturday afternoon, people strolled the riverbanks and the water crossings to view for themselves the malevolent power of water.
Some gingerly stepped over branches, pieces of concrete and other wreckage to get closer looks at a pickup truck half submerged in muck and bent like a neglected toy. Children waded in muddy puddles. Nearby brush and trees were filled with flotsam, including shreds of black plastic sheeting and metal shards. A soaked U.S. flag was crumpled among the branches, its vibrant colors of red, white and blue contrasting with the greens and browns of broken vegetation all around it.
James and Lisa Allison, both retired ranchers who live in Kerrville, called what they were looking at "overwhelming." James Allison remembered welcoming the rain at first on Friday morning, "but as the morning progressed, it started becoming more than just a small flood." Lisa Allison said a modest flood with rain did not faze her. She remembered a major flood in 1978, but what she saw on Friday was worse. And the death toll was unprecedented.
Brian Rubino, a retired firefighter, was stunned as he processed the scale of destruction around him. He pointed to the roof ripped away from a park pavilion. The former professional rescuer kept in mind "the destructive force of water, knowing the way this particular flood hit, there was nothing you could do. ... This thing hit so fast. ... People underestimate Mother Nature all the time."
Mary Stone, a teacher who lives in Kerrville, said she was shocked when she viewed the riverbank area where she normally walks. "It's devastating," she said, as she viewed a car mangled in a nearby tree and chunks of asphalt where she said she regularly parks her car. But she held on to hope. Stone said the disaster was "unsettling, but at the same time I know that we'll move forward. That's how this community is."
Ricky and Dody Pedraza, who live in Comfort, shared that hope. "Kerrville will bounce back," Ricky Pedraza said. "All these little Hill Country towns — they will bounce back."
Warning of a flash flood
Frustration and anger began to grow among members of the public as their grief deepened. Some of them are asking if they received adequate warning of the flash flood on Friday.
On July 3, the NWS issued a Flood Watch for the Hill Country, forecasting up to seven inches of rain overnight. Totals reached up to 12 inches in some areas — far exceeding the initial forecasts — which swelled the Guadalupe River by 20 feet in less than two hours.
On Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blamed the lack of severe weather alerts in the Texas Hill Country before the flash flood on the NWS's outdated technology.
"We know that everybody wants more warning time, and that's why we're working to upgrade the technologies that have been neglected by far too long to make sure that families have as much advanced notice as possible," she said.
The NWS has seen mass layoffs under the Trump administration.
Kerrville city officials have pushed back on criticism that more could have been done to evacuate the region ahead of the rain.
Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice told reporters that the flooding occurred quickly, adding that the north and south forks that feed into the Guadalupe River reached peaks at about 3:30 Friday morning.
"I was on the river trail at that time and everything was fine," he said. "Within an hour [or] two-hour period, the water was up almost to the bridge."
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said there was not a warning system in place on the Guadalupe River to detect rising waters.
"We do not have a warning system on the river," Kelly said. "We didn't know this flood was coming. Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming. We have floods all the time."
How it happened
Jason Runyan, a meteorologist with the NWS, said a combination of factors lead to the unexpected rain.
"The first being some high amounts of moisture for this time of year — some near records of moisture — vertically into the atmosphere," Runyan said. "The second were the remnants of a midlevel disturbance from what used to be tropical storm Barry. So a combination of that disturbance and these record levels of moisture have led to the very heavy rainfall, especially over Kerr County."
All that rainfall on Friday drained into the Guadalupe River Basin. He said it started up by the headwaters near Hunt, in western Kerr County, and "traveled downstream through Kerrville where it crested" and then traveled toward Comfort.
"We saw some pretty sharp and steep rises on the river," he said, "in some cases rivaling the 1987 flood, the famous 1987 flood." That year, 11 inches of rain flooded the region, and ten teenagers died when their church bus ran into flood waters.
Friday's floods, Runyan said, were so high and forceful that some of the water gauges along the river were affected or washed out entirely. "So it's a pretty catastrophic type flood wave coming down the Guadalupe River."
Because of the damaged river gauges, it may take the U.S. Geological Survey a few days to get accurate data on how high the river crested in the Hunt and Kerrville area.
He said some parts of the Hill Country, including Kerrville on Friday and Burnet on Saturday, were placed under a rare flash flood emergency, which is different from a flash flood warning.
"Typically, most people are familiar with flash flood warnings," he said. "Our typical flash flood warnings are when we expect imminent flooding in areas — rises and streams and creeks that go over low water crossings."
Flash flood emergencies, Runyan explained, are "saved for days where we're expecting catastrophic type damage or widespread damage or even loss of life."
The Texas Newsroom's Ana Campbell and NPR's Sergio Martínez-Beltrán contributed to this report.
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