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The flood risk from excessive rainfall in central and south-central Texas today has been upgraded to a level 3 of 4 in response to a persistent cluster of thunderstorms stretching from the Rio Grande into Hill Country. This includes the hard-hit flood zones in and around Kerr County.
Numerous flash flood warnings have been in place since this morning and will continue into the afternoon for parts of Uvalde, Bandera and Kinney Counties, where up to 6 inches of rain have fallen since midnight. Six inches of rain is about two months’ worth for the region.
The thunderstorm complex is expected to weaken through the afternoon, but the upgrade was still warranted because it’s extremely humid and the ground is still saturated, the Weather Prediction Center said. More humidity indicates the storms are capable of heavier rainfall rates.
The Frio River in Uvalde County has already risen 4 feet this morning and is forecast to reach major flood stage this afternoon.
Camp Mystic co-director Richard “Dick” Eastland received an alert about “life threatening flash flooding” on his phone around 1:14 a.m. July 4, about an hour before he started evacuating young campers, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The National Weather Service’s alert warned of “life threatening flash flooding” in Texas’ Kerr County — where the all-girls camp is in a flood zone. The alert did not include an evacuation order.
Eastland, who ran Camp Mystic for decades along with his wife, “started to assess immediately himself after (the) warning and, in the process, contacted family by walkie talkie,” Eastland family spokesperson Jeff Carr told CNN on Monday.
Carr said the relocation of campers to the recreation hall started between 2 and 2:30 a.m., based on observations of the river conditions. “But there was no information available concerning the magnitude of what was coming,” he said.
“Camp leaders promptly responded to alerts as they have always known to do based on the information available to them,” Carr told CNN.
After those evacuations began, the National Weather Service issued a more dire warning for Kerr County at 4:03 a.m.: “Move to higher ground now! This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation,” the alert said.
Eastland died while trying to rescue girls from Bubble Inn, a cabin near the Guadalupe River that housed many of the camp’s youngest girls.
A total of 27 Camp Mystic campers and counselors died. As of Monday morning, two girls remained unaccounted for, Carr told CNN.
The fact that Eastland received the 1:14 a.m. flood warning around is notable, as many others in Kerr County said they never got that same early morning alert.
Last week, Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring told CNN he didn’t get the alert on his phone. When asked if he was concerned by that, the mayor responded, “Yes, of course it does.”
Only a few people spoke during the public comment portion at the start of Monday’s Kerr County Commissioners meeting — the first since the deadly Texas flooding on July 4.
Most comments praised local leaders and first responders, but some residents raised questions and concerns about the county’s rebuilding and recovery efforts.
“I’m so proud to be a member of this community,” Ann Carr said. “That’s why we’re here, not to complain, if anything, just to say thank you. Thank you to the commissioners. Thank you for the police department. Thank you for all the first responders.”
Carr added that after seeing the Guadalupe River flood the land around it, she wants the county to drain a lake near her home.
John Rivenburgh, a local entrepreneur, said he and other business owners have lost money due to the flooding and wanted to know how local businesses can apply for financial assistance. He also said he’s heard reports of looters in the area and asked about protection.
The final speaker during the public comment portion was Christine Pugh, who described her remarks as a “statement of appreciation.”
She got emotional as she spoke.
“This tragic event has proven the greatness of humanity,” she said. “Please pray for the families who were affected. Thank you for blessing Kerr County with kind hearts and love of mankind.”
Kerr County officials are asking residents and the surrounding community for patience as search and recovery efforts continue following the July 4 floods in central Texas.
Sheriff Larry Leitha said his team’s work was delayed for most of Sunday because the river levels continued to rise. But their efforts would continue, he said at Monday morning’s meeting of county commissioners.
“I think we’ll still go strong for another month or two,” Leitha said, “up to maybe six months winding down.”
The sheriff’s office said 2,200 people from multiple agencies have been deployed to assist in the recovery efforts. County Judge Rob Kelly said search and rescue continues to be a top priority.
We’re “trying to get a handle on things so just be patient on us as we try to move forward,” he said. “Emergency management it’s a process, and you do it one step at a time and you work through it one step at a time.”
Commissioners in Kerr County, Texas, are meeting in their first official court hearing since more than 100 people in the county, including children and counselors at a summer camp, were killed in catastrophic flooding last week.
The first item on the agenda at the bimonthly meeting: the July 4 flooding. The commissioners will “consider, discuss, and take appropriate action following update on status of recovery efforts,” according to a meeting agenda. Other agenda items will focus on authorizing overtime pay for employees who responded to the flooding and establishing a central location to assist affected citizens.
The meeting is currently being livestreamed. You can watch the meeting at the top of the page.
The Kerr County commissioners’ court consists of County Judge Rob Kelly and four commissioners and is the main governing body for the county, responsible for budgetary, tax and revenue decisions for the population of about 50,000 people.
City council members in Kerrville, Texas, have requested additional security, citing “targeted threats,” as emotions run high amid search and recovery efforts following devastating floods that have killed more than 100 people in the city and the surrounding county.
During the first meeting of city officials since the floods, Councilmember Brenda Hughes requested that the city provide additional security for staff members.
“We’re not only dealing with all the aftermath from this tragic event, but now we have to worry about threats that are coming to staff,” she said. “I want it on the record that I would like additional security here and I’m not leaving here until we get it.”
Hughes did not elaborate on the nature of the threats but said she wants the city to be proactive rather than reactive.
Assistant City Manager Michael Hornes reassured the council that their security remains a priority as the city navigates the massive recovery effort.
Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. concluded the meeting by thanking the city’s staff.
“This flood was impossible to accurately and precisely predict,” Herring said. “But what (the council) could predict absolutely is that we … knew that city staff would go above and beyond the call of duty to meet the needs of our community.”
Power has been restored to Camp Mystic, the nearly 100-year-old camp on the banks of the Guadeloupe River that lost 27 campers and counselors as well as longtime co-director Dick Eastland during flash flooding on July 4.
“We have restored power at Camp Mystic for the primary purpose of communicating with our Mystic family,” the camp said on its website.
Leaders of the Christian camp cited a bible verse that said “You are the light of the world.”
“Our Mystic girls will forever shine just like Matthew 5:14-16,” the camp message said.
In a subsequent post over the weekend, the camp thanked the efforts of its counselors to save campers during the flooding.
“We want to take time as we continue to grieve the loss of our precious girls, to thank all of our counselors that embodied the Mystic Spirit and put their campers first as they guided them to safety,” camp leaders wrote. “There are many counselors and others that we claim as heroes that night and we will be forever grateful.”
At least 150 people are still missing 10 days after abysmal flooding devastated central Texas, claiming at least 132 lives.
Heavy rain is pounding some of the same areas already devastated by the July 4 floods, including Kerr County – where more than 100 people were killed in the flooding. Now, county commissioners are set to have their first official meeting since the disaster.
Here’s what to know for today:
Fresh flooding: “A dangerous situation is occurring” in parts of central Texas, including southwest Kerr County, the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office said Monday morning. “More heavy rain is on the way. Flooding is already happening.”
An important meeting: The Kerr County commissioners’ court will have its first bimonthly meeting Monday since more than 100 people died in the county and officials came under scrutiny over flood preparations. The commissioners’ court is the main governing body for the county of about 50,000 people.
Presidential visit: President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited Kerrville, Texas, on Friday and met with families affected by the flooding. The president commended first responders and expressed condolences for the lives lost.
Major disaster declaration: The federal government added additional counties to Trump’s major disaster declaration in central Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said. That allows qualifying Texans who sustained damage to apply for grant funding to assist with repair and recovery expenses.
Support and charity: The governor also announced the launch of the Texas Flooding Emotional Support Line, a new crisis support service for affected residents. And the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country said it has received more than $30 million in donations that will be distributed as grants.
The Kerr County commissioners will hold a regularly scheduled meeting this morning in the wake of the deadly floods that swept through the central Texas community.
The meeting comes as scrutiny intensifies over the disaster response at all levels of government.
The commissioners will “consider, discuss, and take appropriate action following update on status of recovery efforts,” according to the meeting agenda.
Local officials are facing questions over their actions in the hours — and even the years — leading up to the catastrophic flooding that killed more than 100 people in the county earlier this month.
We will have live coverage starting this morning.
Ground search operations were suspended for several hours in Kerrville, Texas, Sunday due to flood danger brought on by another round of storms, authorities said.
“All search crews need to evacuate the river corridor until further notice,” the Kerrville Police Department wrote in a Facebook post that morning. “Any volunteer search parties in the Guadalupe River corridor need to heed this warning. The potential for a flash flood is high.”
Several hours later, the department wrote on its page that the flash flood warning had been lifted. A Kerrville government spokesperson told CNN search operations had resumed.
Slow-moving thunderstorms produced heavy rain, flash flooding and rapid river rises across parts of central Texas on Sunday, complicating the recovery from the devastating floods that killed more than 120 people ahead of Fourth of July weekend.
The storms prompted evacuations in San Saba County, which is about 2 hours north of Kerrville by car.
Just over a week after deadly flash floods swept through central Texas, slow-moving thunderstorms brought heavy rain, and a potential for flash flooding and rapid river rises to the region Sunday.
While the most significant rain happened Sunday morning, more thunderstorms are continuing this morning and rivers are forecast to continue to remain swollen early this week.
A flash flood emergency was issued for southeastern San Saba County, including Colorado Bend State Park, where six to eight inches of rain fell in six hours. In Sutton, Texas, flooding caused cars to stall on Interstate 10 and water was approaching some homes, according to the National Weather Service.
San Saba County is about three hours north of Kerr County where officials have reported 106 deaths and at least 140 people still missing following flooding on July 4.
The state conducted water rescues in San Saba County and nearby Lampasas and Schleicher counties Sunday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on X.
Multiple urban search and rescue teams from across the country that responded to the deadly floods in central Texas told CNN they were not deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency until at least Monday evening — days after any victim had been found alive.
CNN has previously reported that the decision to authorize deployments from a federal network of Urban Search and Rescue teams more than 72 hours after the calamity frustrated FEMA officials. In the past, the agency would have quickly staged these teams near disaster zones in anticipation of urgent requests for assistance, they said.
Multiple officials also said a new rule requiring DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to sign off on relatively small expenditures from her agency, which oversees FEMA, created bureaucratic hurdles during a critical time.
That meant the response was slowed down at a time when quick action was most needed, officials inside FEMA told CNN.
What DHS is saying: “Secretary Noem is leading a historic, first-of-its-kind approach to disaster funding: putting states first by providing upfront recovery support — moving money faster than ever and jump-starting recovery,” a spokesperson for the department said.
Noem has defended her handling of the disaster, and the response by FEMA appears consistent with the Trump administration’s view for how emergencies should be handled under their vision of a restructured FEMA: States take the lead in the response, and the federal government provides support when necessary.
