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Questions are swirling over whether officials could have done more to warn residents ahead of the floods
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At least 121 people have been killed and 173 others are missing as Texas officials deflect questions over the state’s response to the catastrophic flash floods.
Kerr County remains at the center of the disaster after the Guadalupe River burst its banks on Friday. Ninety-six people in the county are dead, including 36 children, officials said Thursday. At least 161 others were still missing in the county.
Questions are mounting over whether local, state and federal officials could’ve done more to warn residents about the floods. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said his office is “in the process” of assembling a timeline of the actions that local officials took ahead of the disaster.
Among the dead are 27 girls and staff members from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp situated on the bank of the Guadalupe River. Five campers and one 19-year-old counselor remained missing.
Several of the cabins were built on “extremely hazardous” floodways where water moves at its highest velocity and depth, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Just two days before the flood, the camp passed its annual state safety inspection and had a written disaster plan in place.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management announced damage assessments are underway for areas hit by catastrophic floods along the Guadalupe River on July 4.
The Texas Senate and House announced the creation of the “Select Committees on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding” Thursday.
The committees will meet jointly to examine the state’s flood warning systems and flood emergency communications.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said the creation of the committees “is just the beginning of the Legislature looking at every aspect of this tragic event,” referring to the catastrophic flash flooding in Central Texas on July 4.
“This effort is about moving quickly to help Texans recover and laying the foundation to better protect our communities—and our children—from future disasters,” House Speaker Dustin Burrows said.
Ninety-six people in hard-hit Kerr County are dead, including 36 children. In total, 120 people were killed and 173 are still missing after the devastating floods.
The National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office wrote on X, “Generally quiet weather is expected tonight.”
“The dry and mostly sunny break from the wet weather continues into Friday, though an isolated shower or storm can’t be ruled out over the Coastal Plains. Rain chances return this weekend into early next week,” the office said.
Governor Greg Abbott has requested that four more Texas counties be added to President Donald Trump’s major disaster declaration following Friday’s deadly floods.
“Damage assessments indicate that multiple homes in these counties have major damage or are destroyed as a result of this disaster,” Abbott wrote in a letter Thursday. “As we assess damages in the other affected counties, I reserve the right to request assistance for additional counties in Texas.”
Search and rescue teams from Nebraska have arrived in Kerr County, Texas to assist with recovery efforts.
“Thank you [Governor Jim Pillen] and our fellow Americans in Nebraska who deployed their Type 3 Urban Search & Rescue Team to help with the aftermath of flooding in Kerr County,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote on X. “Governor Pillen, your support is vital to our response efforts.”
At least 120 people are dead and 173 are missing in central Texas after the Guadalupe River swelled early Friday, causing destructive flash flooding throughout Kerr County.
Now, new before-and-after satellite images of several sites throughout Kerry County show the devastation caused by the floods as crews embark on a seventh day of search and rescue efforts.
Keep reading:
Over just two hours, the Guadalupe River at Comfort, Texas, rose from hip-height to three stories tall, sending water weighing as much as the Empire State building downstream roughly every minute it remained at its crest.
The force of floodwater is often more powerful and surprising than people imagine.
Keep reading:
There were many flash flooding warnings in Kerr County, Texas ahead of Friday’s devastating floods, but those alerts didn’t reach some of the campers and residents who didn’t have cellphone service, who had silenced notifications, or who didn’t have their phones with them.
Excessive warnings can cause alert fatigue which leads some to turn off notifications and increase their risk during emergencies.
Gustaf Kilander has the story:
At least 121 people have died as a result of the devastating floods in central Texas.
The new tally, increased from 120, comes after an eighth death was announced in Travis County, Texas.
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