July 5, 2025 - News on deadly Texas floods

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From left: Steve Edwards, Rob and Melissa Kamin and Brad Perry.

Families are holding out hope that their loved ones are found safe after they went missing at an RV park in Kerrville, Texas, when devastating floods hit the area.

Several people were reported missing from HTR TX Hill Country Campground as a number of campsites in central Texas were engulfed in floodwaters.

Brad Perry was last seen around 5 a.m. on July 4, his son Alex Perry told CNN. The deluges began the evening before and continued overnight.

Allison Edwards said her dad Steve Edwards was also last seen at the campground in the early morning on July 4, around the same time a flash flood emergency warning was issued in Kerr County.

Before the heavy rain and flooding inundated the area, Melissa and Rob Kamin may have tried to leave the campground, their daughter Lorel Carr said.

“My papa (Melissa’s dad) mentioned that they might have tried to evacuate before the storm hit,” Carr said.

At least four people have died in Travis County, Texas, after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of the area, authorities said Saturday night.

Severe flooding has now killed at least 50 people in Texas, including 43 in Kerr County and three in Burnet County.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday signed an expanded disaster declaration, including Travis County. The county is about 130 miles northeast of hard-hit Kerr County.

Travis County Judge Andy Brown told residents to “avoid flooded roads, stay tuned to official alerts, & do not attempt to return to affected areas until officials declare them safe.”

The Travis County Office of Emergency Management continues to conduct search and rescue operations amid devastating flooding, Brown said.

Three people are dead and two are still missing in Burnet County, Texas, Saturday after torrential rainfall caused substantial flooding, county Emergency Management Coordinator Derek Marchio told CNN.

The county has suffered damage to major roadways and bridges, Marchio said.

Following widespread power outages, some people are seeing their power restored Saturday evening, Marchio added.

Earlier in the day, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an expanded disaster declaration to include Burnet and five other counties.

The deaths reported in Burnet County bring the death toll up to 46, with 43 fatalities reported about 114 miles away in Kerr County.

Hearing the screams of a woman outside of his Texas home, Carl Jeter immediately leaped into action.

The woman, who was on a camping trip with her family on the Guadalupe River, was swept away by floodwaters and separated from her family, Jeter told CNN. She was in the water for about four hours – stuck under debris-ridden water and passing several dams and a road – before pulling herself onto a tree many miles away from the campsite.

He then dialed 911.

Thirty minutes later, authorities still hadn’t arrived, so Jeter got in his car and flagged down a Department of Public Safety officer in the area. A swift water team arrived later, securing a life vest on the woman before she jumped from the tree into the team’s boat.

After Jeter helped rescue the woman, she waited at his home for a few hours until a family member picked her up and took her to the hospital.

The father of Blair, 13, and Brooke Harber, 11 has confirmed to CNN his daughters have died. Blair and Brooke, pictured left to right, went missing during the catastrophic flooding in Kerr County, Texas.

Neither girl was attending Camp Mystic at the time of their disappearance.

RJ Harber’s parents, Charlene and Mike Harber, are still missing but he believes the couple is deceased, he told CNN.

Blair and Brooke Harber, pictured left to right, went missing during the catastrophic flooding in Kerr County, Texas.

Members of a search and rescue team look for people near Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on Saturday.

Search and rescue operations remain the priority in central Texas, according to Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice, as crews continue to look for the missing along the Guadalupe River.

He added authorities were recovering and identifying bodies Saturday. “We knew today was going to be that day, so our numbers are going to constantly be changing,” he said.

“We’re in a marathon, and we got to make sure we always think about that and look after each other,” Rice said.

There are still 27 children missing from Camp Mystic, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said at a Saturday news conference, as officials rescue people from campsites after the Guadalupe River surged Friday.

“We’ve been rescuing people out of these camps by the hundreds all day,” Rice said.

The private Christian summer camp is nestled near the Guadalupe River, which rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours during torrential rains Friday that triggered flash flooding in parts of Texas.

Everyone at the approximately 18 other nearby camps along the river has been accounted for, officials previously said.

Rice said the holiday weekend complicates counting missing people outside of the total missing from Camp Mystic, so officials won’t be providing that number.

“Campers are coming in for Fourth of July weekend, people are camped along the river bank, people are coming in to visit – there’s a number that we just don’t know yet,” he said. “We’re not going to put a cap on this; we’ll just continue until we find everything else.”

At least 43 people died in Kerr County, Texas, after severe flooding hit the state, according to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha.

The fatalities include 28 adults and 15 children, Leitha said at a news conference Saturday. The sheriff added five children and 12 adults have yet to be identified.

Officials in Texas will hold what they expect will be their last news conference of the day at 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) in Kerrville. Authorities will provide updates on the state’s response to severe flooding impacting parts of Texas as search and rescue efforts continue.

A Texas Department of Public Safety official combs through the banks of the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic on Saturday in Hunt, Texas.

The official death toll has risen further following catastrophic flooding in parts of central Texas.

At least 32 people, including 14 children, have died, according to local officials. There are still more than two dozen people missing from Camp Mystic, a girls summer camp in Kerr County.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an expanded disaster declaration today, adding six new counties, and vowed to continue adding others as needed.

Search and rescue efforts:

Summer camps:

Forecast:

Federal response:

A US Congressman says his two daughters were evacuated from Camp Mystic, the hard-hit summer camp for girls in Hunt, Texas, where more than 20 campers are still missing.

Rep. August Pfluger announced he and his wife were “now reunited” with their daughters in a post on X Saturday.

“The last day has brought unimaginable grief to many families and we mourn with them as well as holding out hope for survivors,” he wrote.

“Please join us today as we pray for miracles,” he added.

CNN’s Ed Lavandera got a firsthand look at the destruction from flooding at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas, where the Guadalupe River rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours during torrential rains that triggered flash flooding in parts of the state yesterday.

More than 20 campers remain unaccounted for after the disaster.

Watch Lavandera’s report below:

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See aftermath at summer camp in Texas where multiple people are still missing after flooding

03:30 - Source: CNN

See aftermath at summer camp in Texas where multiple people are still missing after flooding

03:30

Renee Smajstrla, the 8-year-old Camp Mystic camper who went missing during the torrential flooding in Kerr County, Texas, has passed away, her family confirmed to CNN.

“It’s truly devastating,” Shawn Salta, Smajstrla’s uncle, told CNN.

Salta said his niece was recovered on Friday.

Renee Smajstrla

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the government response and the National Weather Service in the wake of the tragic flooding in Texas that has left 32 people dead, including 14 children.

“When President Trump took office…he said he wanted to fix, and is currently upgrading the technology. And the National Weather Service has indicated that with that and NOAA, that we needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years, and that is the reforms that are ongoing,” Noem said.

The president’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which the administration is already abiding by, does make cuts and even closes some weather research labs that are vital to forecast improvement. The Department of Government Efficiency, formerly led by Elon Musk, has also cut hundreds of employees at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the NWS.

Asked about the impact of those cuts during a press conference Saturday, Noem continued to defend the government and the president, saying that she will bring “concerns back to the federal government.”

“I do carry your concerns back to the federal government, and to President Trump, and we will do all we can to fix those kind of things that that may have felt like a failure to you and to your community members, but we know that everybody wants more warning time, and that’s why we’re working to upgrade the technologies have been neglected by far too long,” Noem said.

Still, this storm was extremely unpredictable and truly unprecedented, the water rising very high very quickly.

As CNN has previously reported, the NWS issued a flood watch early Thursday afternoon that highlighted Kerr County as a place at high risk of flash flooding through the overnight. A flash flood warning was issued for Kerr County as early as around 1 a.m. CT on Friday. A more dire flash flood emergency warning was then issued for Kerr County at 4:03 a.m. CT, followed by another one for Kerrville at 5:34 a.m. CT.

Correction: This post has been updated to reflect that Trump’s fiscal year budget is what affects the National Weather Service.

An official combs through a bank of the Guadalupe River on Saturday in Hunt, Texas.

As flood waters recede in central Texas, ground crews are able to uncover and search additional areas, Texas Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said.

Dogs are also assisting in searching banks where people may be missing, Kidd said. Crews are assigned to different areas and are reporting back to command if they find anyone, he added.

At least 32 people, including 14 children, are dead following torrential rains and flooding in Texas, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a Saturday news conference.

The sheriff’s office is working to identify some of the deceased, Leitha said. Officials are still working to locate the 27 people still missing from Camp Mystic, he added.

The private Christian summer camp is nestled near the Guadalupe River, which surged suddenly on Friday amid relentless rainfall. Everyone at the approximately 18 other nearby camps along the river has been accounted for, officials previously said.

Camp Mystic, located in the unincorporated community of Hunt in western Kerr County, Texas, hosts approximately 750 children.

Officials said Saturday afternoon that search efforts will continue until everyone who is missing is found.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott underscored the urgent focus on finding survivors of the devastating floods during a press conference Saturday, and said he is directing all state agencies involved to prioritize lifesaving operations.

“My instruction to every state agency involved in this is to assume everybody who is missing is alive,” Abbott said. “And there’s a need for speed, not just every hour, every minute counts, which is why there’s people in the air, people in the water, people on the ground right now, because they’re looking to save every last life.”

Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, echoed the governor’s message, making it clear while the shift from rescue to recovery operations will eventually be necessary, the current mindset is firmly focused on rescue.

“History would tell us that after a certain time period, those chances (of survival) diminish,” Kidd said. “Our hope and prayer is that there are still people alive that are out there, and we’re still actively searching for them.”

US Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said state officials are “far from having finished the job” of search, rescue and recovery after deadly floods hit the state.

Authorities say more than 20 girls are still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas. Roy noted the “heroic efforts of people that worked in those camps, directors of the camps, people who own the camps, who not just risk their lives, gave their lives to try to go save the lives of those kids, that’s who they are as Texans.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference in Kerrville, Texas, on Saturday.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem addressed the ongoing federal response to the catastrophic flooding in Texas, emphasizing the urgent need for resources, coordination and continued federal support as the search for missing people intensifies.

In addition to ground efforts, federal officials have requested more aviation assets to aid in aerial search and rescue.

“We, just at the request of a previous conversation less than an hour ago … requested more fixed-wing aircraft from the Coast Guard to come and help us,” Noem said. She added many of the aircraft will be equipped with thermal imaging to allow round-the-clock searches.

“Some of the assets that other agencies may offer don’t have that kind of equipment but the Coast Guard does have it so that will be deployed so that the search and rescue efforts don’t stop even when it does get dark at night.”

She reassured Texans FEMA would remain fully engaged and ready to provide additional assistance based on evolving needs from state leadership.

“We’ll continue to stay engaged, and I’ll be here,” Noem said, noting her plans to visit Camp Mystic, where more than 20 girls are still unaccounted for, along with other parts of the community to assess damage and offer support.

“The number one priority now is people,” Noem stated. “(It) is making sure we’re finding people as fast as possible and we’re returning them to their families.”

While damage assessments to infrastructure are ongoing as bridges, roads and power lines have all sustained impact, she said the focus remains on saving lives before turning fully to long-term recovery.

“The state of Texas is amazing in how it responds to disasters,” she said. “You are an example to the nation of getting through these difficult times. But also know that you’re not alone, that you have the entire country’s hearts with you.”