Texas is in mourning as the flood disaster continues to escalate. Officials now confirm at least 109 people are dead — and the number keeps rising by the hour.
According to The Times UK, search crews are uncovering more victims with every new hour. The missing count stands at over 160 people, including entire families, elderly residents, and young children.
Camp Mystic remains the epicenter of the horror — with 27 confirmed dead and several girls still unaccounted for. Parents are still camped outside waiting for word, as volunteers and first responders sift through miles of debris, rooftops, and collapsed buildings.
The emotional toll is immeasurable. “We thought we had more time,” one survivor told reporters. “But the water just came, fast and without warning.”
This is now being called the deadliest flood in modern Texas history.
Families Wait for Word of Missing as Texas Floods Death Toll Hits 120
Officials defended their actions in the hardest-hit county, where no survivors have been found since Friday. Statewide, 173 people remain unaccounted for, the governor said.
Search crews sought flood victims along the Guadalupe River near Center Point, Texas, on Tuesday.Credit…Loren Elliott for The New York Times
Officials in Kerr County struggled to provide answers on Wednesday about their response to a devastating flood that swept through the Texas Hill Country nearly a week ago, killing at least 120 people statewide.
The bulk of those deaths were in Kerr County, where the death roll reached 96 and officials said 161 people were still missing — a major increase from the numbers they were citing earlier in the week. Statewide, 173 people were unaccounted for as searchers continued to probe the muddy remains of cabins, campers and trailer parks.
Pressed about possible lapses in disaster preparation, Gov. Greg Abbott announced an agenda on Wednesday for a special session of the State Legislature this month that includes consideration of flood warning systems. But the session, which was announced last month, will address 14 other topics, including tax cuts and further restricting abortion.
Facing questions at a news conference on Wednesday about a lack of warning sirens and other aspects of their disaster response, officials in Kerr County gave an extensive account of rescue efforts as the Guadalupe River rose early on July 4, saying hundreds of people had been saved by local emergency crews.
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“They rescued people out of vehicles. They rescued people out of homes that were already flooded, pulling them out of windows,” said Officer Jonathan Lamb with the police department in Kerrville, the county’s largest city. He added, “I know that this tragedy, as horrific as it is, could have been so much worse.”
Video transcript 0:00/1:16Texas Officials Defer Questions About Flood Disaster PreparationDuring a news conference on Wednesday, Kerr County officials recounted their response to the devastating flood in Central Texas on July 4.
“First responders from emergency services throughout Kerr County promptly responded to the recent emergency as the situation unfolded. This incident will be reviewed. You have my word. When or if necessary, if improvements need to be made, improvements will be made.” “Folks, I don’t know how many lives our K.P.D. team saved in an hour in Kerrville, but I know that this tragedy, as horrific as it is, could have been so much worse.” “I believe those questions need to be answered to the family of the missing loved ones, to the public, to the people that put me in this office. And I want that answer. And we’re going to get that answer. We’re not running. We’re not going to hide from anything — that’s going to be checked into.”
During a news conference on Wednesday, Kerr County officials recounted their response to the devastating flood in Central Texas on July 4.CreditCredit…Reuters
But officials said other answers about preparations and response would have to wait for an extensive review. “If improvements need to be made, improvements will be made,” the county sheriff, Larry Leitha, said at the news conference.
Asked about the timeline for when increasingly urgent warnings from the National Weather Service were shared with residents, the sheriff asked for more time. “I believe those questions need to be answered,” he told reporters, adding, “We’re going to get that answer. We’re not running. We’re not going to hide.”
Governor Abbott, when asked similar questions on Tuesday about investigating what went wrong, referred to such inquiries as the “words of losers” and compared disaster response to football, saying only losing teams focused on their failures.
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The governor said state lawmakers, who cut property taxes by $51 billion this year while funding only a small portion of a backlog of flood management projects totaling some $54 billion across the state, would be focused on solutions instead, pointing to the upcoming special session.
The wide-ranging agenda he announced on Wednesday included four specific items related to the floods, including a request to improve the early warning system and other preparedness infrastructure in flood-prone areas. The governor also asked lawmakers to strengthen emergency communications and other response infrastructure.
The jam-packed legislative agenda also includes proposals to further reduce property taxes, regulate hemp-derived products, redraw the state’s congressional maps and restrict public knowledge about “unsubstantiated complaints” against police officers.
Mr. Abbott released the agenda as the grim search for the missing spread further across Hill Country, and some family members received the news they had been dreading. A woman whose mother, stepfather, aunt, uncle and cousin were missing from the floods learned that the bodies of her mother and stepfather had been found.
“To have her as a mother was a treasure I will forever cherish,” the woman, Hailey Chavarria, wrote in a Facebook post about her mother, Michelle Crossland. “I’m sorry it’s not the update anyone wanted.”
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The number of missing people cited by the governor on Tuesday far outstripped the number that local officials had previously acknowledged, suggesting that the statewide death toll could more than double. It’s unclear how the list of the missing was assembled, and officials did not answer inquiries about it on Tuesday evening.
Jermaine Jarmon, 52, who lives north of Austin in Travis County, was among those awaiting news on Wednesday. His 16-year-old daughter, Felicity Jarmon, was still missing. Mr. Jarmon, also known as “J.J.,” had already received word that his longtime partner, Alissa Martin, 54, and his son Braxton Jarmon, 15, had died in the floods.
The family was caught up in the fast-moving floodwaters that surged out of the creek running through their backyard. Mr. Jarmon said the family had heard no official warnings that the flood was coming. A neighbor alerted him, he said, not the fire department a mile away.
“They could have gone up and down the street with sirens on,” he said.
For now, as he waits for word of his daughter, Mr. Jarmon said he was trying to survive one day at a time. “That’s all I can do,” he said. “For the rest of my life.”
The floods, striking at a region filled with summer camps and vacationing families, now stand among the deadliest U.S. disasters for children in several decades. In Kerr County alone, 36 children were killed, including many from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls.
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Twenty-seven campers and staff members have been confirmed dead, according to the camp. The bodies of five campers and a 19-year-old counselor had not yet been recovered as of Wednesday morning, officials said.
Where flash flooding killed dozens in Central Texas
Deaths were reported across several counties as of Monday morning. Most of those killed were in Kerr County, home to an all-girls summer camp called Camp Mystic.
BurnetCountyWilliamsonCountyColorado RiverAustinTravisCountyKerr CountyGuadalupe RiverCampMystic KendallCountySan AntonioVictoria30 mi.50 km. © Mapbox © OpenStreetMap
Texas
Note: Another death was reported in Tom Green County, northwest of the map.
In addition to the deaths in Kerr County, at least seven people were killed in Travis County, eight in Kendall County, five in Burnet County, three in Williamson County and one in Tom Green County.
Stories of the lost continued to emerge on Wednesday. The daughter of Katheryn Eads, who was camping in Kerr County when the floods swept through, described her mother in an email to The New York Times, saying Dr. Eads had worked in early education as a psychologist, helping children in the foster care system, and then spent time as a college professor.
“She was an incredible wife, daughter, mother, grandmother and person who spent her life helping kids,” wrote Dr. Eads’s daughter, Victoria Eads. Dr. Eads was camping in a trailer with her husband, Brian Eads, who survived by clinging to a tree.
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“We both got swept away, and then I lost her,” Mr. Eads said while searching for his wife at a church shelter on the day of the floods. He tried to swim through the swift-moving dark water toward her voice, he said, but lost track of her when he was struck in the head by flood debris.
Reporting was contributed by Emily Cochrane, Jack Healy, Campbell Robertson and Jenna Russell.
Texas flooding death toll climbs to 119 as search for more people continues
Amid cleanup efforts, residents and news outlets question the government’s pre-flooding alarm and warning systems
The number of people who have died from the flooding in Texas continues to rise, with at least 119 dead throughout the state, officials said on Wednesday morning.
Search crews continue to look for people, as residents and news organizations question the government’s alarm and warning systems.
In Kerr county, the area that was worst affected by last Friday’s flood, officials said on Wednesday morning that 95 people had died. The other 24 people who have died are from surrounding areas. The Kerr county sheriff said 59 adults and 36 children had died, with 27 bodies still unidentified.
People are slowly returning to their properties to survey the damage from the devastating flash flood, as local officials continue with rescue, recovery and cleanup efforts.
There are 161 people believed to be missing in Kerr county due to the flash floods, making up the majority of the 173 missing in the entire state. Camp Mystic, the all-girls Christian camp that was gravely affected by the flood, still has five campers and one counselor missing.
As cleanup efforts continue, more and more people are scrutinizing the government’s alert system to warn people before the flood. Journalistic investigations have revealed that first responders asked that a mass-alert system in Kerr county be triggered on Friday morning. The alert system sends text messages and “delivers pre-recorded emergency telephone messages” to some people in the area.
Dispatchers delayed a 4.22am request from volunteer firefighters for an alert to be sent, saying they needed special authorization, according to reporting from Texas Public Radio (TPR) based on emergency radio transmissions they reviewed. Some residents received flood warnings within an hour. Others told TPR they did not receive an alert until 10am – nearly six hours after first responders’ request. A separate story from KSAT confirms TPR’s reporting.
There are inconsistencies regarding local officials’ response. In his first press conference on 4 July after the flood, the Kerr county judge said the area did not have an emergency alert system.
“I believe those questions need to be answered, to the families of the missed loved ones, to the public, you know, to the people who put me in this office. And I want that answer and we’re going to get that answer,” the Kerr county sheriff, Larry Leitha, said.
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“We’re not running, we’re not going to hide. That’s going to be checked into at a later time.”
There are no outdoor weather sirens to blast alerts in some communities in the area. Since 2015, Kerr county officials have applied for grants for a flood warning system, the New York Times reported. For years, officials have also warned the series of summer camps in the area of incoming floods by word-of-mouth. A Change.org petition was launched after the flood for an early warning siren system and has more than 35,000 signatures.
Rescue and recovery efforts are continuing. The Kerr county sheriff’s department is working on rescue and recovery efforts, the sheriff said, adding that it was an “all hands on deck” situation.
During Wednesday’s press conference, local officials asked people to be careful and give search crews space during their efforts. “We are using very heavy equipment” to search and clear up fallen trees and debris, a sheriff official said.
On Sunday, the Trump administration declared the flooding a “major disaster” and deployed federal resources to assist the state.