July 7, 2025: News on deadly Texas floods

Our live coverage of the deadly flooding in central Texas has moved here.

Matthew Crowder during an interview with CNN.

Matthew Crowder, after arriving at his work early Saturday, rescued a family from rising floodwaters after seeing water creep up dangerously close to a nearby home.

Crowder had arrived at his job at a paintball range in Jonestown, north of Austin, to take photos of the flooding when he decided to approach the home, yelling at those inside to wake up and evacuate.

“It was just one of those gut feelings. I had seen how much (the water) had risen in just the moments that I was there,” Crowder told CNN’s Omar Jimenez.

Crissy Eliasher, along with her three kids and another child who was staying the night at their home, credit Crowder for saving her family’s life, describing him as “our angel on this Earth.”

Crowder told CNN he had called 911, but in that short conversation he had started to see the house creak and trees falling down. Moments later, a boy with a dog exited the home, followed by Eliasher.

“Even two days later, it’s just short frames in my memory of terror and panic. And it happened so fast… We just started screaming. ‘Where is the police? Where’s the fire department? I can’t walk through this,’” Eliasher told CNN. “My kids were so brave and they grabbed a dog under their arm and no shoes, no shirt. And they walked through a raging river that formed under our house and started to carry our house away.”

“My daughter was nearly washed away and my son grabbed her and saved her, by her hair. And he (Crowder) just kept telling us, kept walking and grabbed us and helped us get to just enough high ground to get to the next steps,” Eliasher told CNN.

Eliasher said they lost everything in the flood and needed to get “a roof over these kids head.”

“We lost everything. We don’t have flood insurance. Our car, our house, all their things. It’s all gone.”

Videos shared from a Camp Mystic nurse show campers evacuating on a bus Friday while passing devastation from the floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas.

The group can be heard singing a hymn, followed by gasps and “oh, my god” as they see the scale of the disaster with cars piled up on top of each other.

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Video: Campers evacuate from floods while singing worship songs on the bus

00:49 - Source: CNN

Video: Campers evacuate from floods while singing worship songs on the bus

00:49

This undated image shows Chloe Childress posing for a picture.

Chloe Childress, a 19-year-old counselor at Camp Mystic and recent high school graduate, was killed during the catastrophic flooding in Kerr County, Texas, her family said.

“Our family was shocked to hear of the horrific tragic flooding in the Hill Country, and we were devastated to learn that our precious Chloe was among the victims,” the family said in a statement shared with CNN affiliate KHOU.

Childress recently graduated from The Kinkaid School in Houston and was spending her summer mentoring young girls at Camp Mystic.

“She was looking forward to dedicating her summer days to loving and mentoring young girls,” her family said. “While we know that her joy is now eternal and her faith has become sight, our hearts are shattered by this loss – and by the heartbreak of other families like ours.”

Jonathan Eades, head of The Kinkaid School, remembered Childress as someone with an ability to connect with others.

“Chloe had a remarkable way of making people feel seen,” Eades said in a statement. “She was wise beyond her years, with a steady compassion that settled a room. She lost her life upholding this selfless and fierce commitment to others.”

A private drone flying illegally in restricted airspace collided with a rescue helicopter during search-and-rescue efforts in Kerr County, Texas, Monday, officials said.

“The helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing, and a critical piece of response equipment is now out of service until further notice,” Kerrville city officials said in a statement.

Kerr County includes the areas hardest hit by deadly flooding on July Fourth.

Kerrville officials called the incident “entirely preventable,” and reminded residents Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) are federal rules meant to safeguard lives during emergencies.

“When you fly a drone in restricted areas, you’re not just breaking the law – you’re putting first responders, emergency crews, and the public at serious risk,” the city said.

Downstream from Kerrville, Texas, the town of Comfort successfully carried out evacuations, raising questions about Kerr County’s response.

CNN’s Pamela Brown reports from Comfort, where a volunteer firefighter says the town’s sirens and evacuations were crucial in getting people to safety.

You can also watch this video on YouTube Shorts.

The family of 8-year-old twins told Dallas area media that their daughters died in the flooding in central Texas.

John and Lacy Lawrence told CNN affiliate KTVT that their twin daughters, Hanna and Rebecca, died in the flooding at Camp Mystic.

Young campers and a counselor were evacuated by helicopter from Camp Mystic Friday after floods impacted the area, as shown in a photo obtained by CNN from a local official. Faces have been obscured by CNN to protect the privacy of those shown.

Young campers and a counselor were evacuated by helicopter from Camp Mystic Friday after floods impacted the area, as shown in a photo obtained by CNN from a local official.

The evacuated girls are shown covering their ears to shield the helicopter rotor noise.

As CNN reported, multiple evacuation flights by local, state and federal officials on Friday moved people from Camp Mystic and the surrounding area to safer ground.

Caroline Cutrona, a counselor at Campy Mystic, appears on CNN on Monday.

Caroline Cutrona, a counselor at Camp Mystic, said she was at Cypress Lake up the hill with 14 campers between the ages of 9 and 10 when the catastrophic flooding took place.

The higher ground meant they could not see Guadalupe River, she said. While the cabins shook and kept her awake through the night, Cutrona thought it was lightning and thunderstorm, which she had witnessed at the camp multiple times in previous summers.

“We’ve had thunderstorms and lightning at Camp Mystic multiple times, and it’s always been OK. And so I always thought it was going to be OK,” she said.

It was her 11th summer at Camp Mystic, she told CNN.

Cutrona said that all camp counselors have to turn in their phones at work, so she did not get the weather emergency alerts sent out.

The severity of the tragedy started becoming clear bit-by-bit in the morning — first, when the group received only a small amount of milk to be shared for breakfast, and then when another counselor came to the cabin to talk to the girls.

Later in the day, a camp director informed all counselors that 27 girls and the camp co-founder were missing after the flooding.

CNN honors some of the victims of the devastating floods that hit central Texas, leaving the death toll surpassing 100, including at least 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp that sits along the Guadalupe River.

You can also watch this video on YouTube Shorts.

A portion of Highway 1340 is covered by the Guadalupe River in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, on Monday.

Three-and-a-half days after deadly flooding hit Texas, rescuers are still searching for 24 missing people.

The region’s response to the extreme weather has left many questions still unanswered.

Here are some of them:

Christian Fell appears on CNN on Monday.

A Texas man says he is blessed to be alive after devastating floods left him stranded with nothing but a small meter box to cling on to.

Christian Fell tells CNN he woke up to thunder in the early morning hours of July 4 only to find half of his home was ripped away by flash flooding.

“I get up to investigate, and when I swing my feet over the side of the bed, I realized I was standing in water,” Fell told CNN’s Erin Burnett. Fell lives in Hunt, Texas, an unincorporated community in western Kerr County, which has reported the most deaths as of Monday evening.

Fell says he clung to the electric box on the side of the home for three hours.

As he clung to the meter box, Fell says the rapid flood waters carried away cars with their hazard lights flashing on and off.

The prospect of death certainly crossed Fell’s mind, he added.

“Standing there with nothing else to hold on to but a metal pipe screwed into a wall,” Fell said. “It’s not like an ideal situation.”

Over the past 67 years, Camp Mystic has welcomed 21 relatives of Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson, the former president’s family said in a statement Monday.

Three generations of Johnson family members found “joy, comfort, and belonging” at the Kerr County, Texas camp they called their “happy place.”

“Mystic has always been more than just a camp. It’s where we learned to work together, to be
responsible members of a community, to be a friend, to live our faith, and to love and be loved. It has touched the lives of thousands, and those who spent summers there—even decades ago—still sign their letters with, ‘With Mystic Love,’” the statement reads.

The Johnson family offered their condolences to those who lost loved ones in the recent floods and praised those who braved the ordeal.

“In the midst of sorrow, we have also heard stories of incredible bravery—of counselors, campers, and the Mystic community responding with courage, compassion, and faith. We grieve for everyone affected, but we are not surprised by the strength and love shown in those moments. That is the Mystic spirit we’ve known and cherished,” the statement reads.

The Johnsons have been a staple of the Texas Hill Country community since the former president was first elected to Congress in the 1930s. The LBJ Ranch in Gillespie County, Texas — about an hour east of the recent major flood zone — is now a historical site managed by the National Park Service.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will hold a news conference at 6 p.m. tomorrow in Kerrville on the state’s response to the flood devastation, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

Abbott will also receive a briefing on the state’s response.

Prior to the briefing and news conference, he and Dustin Burrows, speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, will take an aerial tour to survey the damages caused by the floods and visit Camp Mystic.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott discusses the ongoing search and rescue efforts along the Guadalupe River during a press conference on Saturday, in Kerrville, Texas.

More than 20 state agencies are responding to flooding across Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said today, as rescuers continue to search for dozens of missing people in devastated areas.

Additionally, 1,750 personnel and more than 975 vehicles and other assets have been deployed, the governor said in a statement.

Those assets include rescue boat teams from the state’s Parks and Wildlife Department and Blackhawk helicopters from the Texas National Guard to help with flood rescues, according to the statement.

Tactical and law enforcement personnel from the Department of Public Safety are also assisting, the governor said.

“Under Governor Abbott’s direction, the Texas State Operations Center (SOC) remains at Level II (Escalated Response) to support requests for assistance from local officials as they keep responding to the excessive rainfall and flooding which began last week and continues to impact the state,” the statement said.

If someone near you received a Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and you did not, it may be due to inadequate cell reception, or because when on a call, some mobile phones will not show an alert — this varies by make and model.

Not receiving an alert may also be because your mobile phone is:

Why this matters: The National Weather Service warned of “life-threatening flooding” along the river in a series of early morning alerts. However, questions remain about how many people received those warnings, whether critical vacancies at forecast offices affected the dissemination of alerts, and whether warning fatigue had been growing among residents in a region described as one of the most dangerous in the country for flash flooding.

A database of Wireless Emergency Alerts shows flood warnings were transmitted to mobile devices in central Texas — including Kerr County — on the morning of July 4 between the critical hours of midnight and 6 a.m. central.

A spokesperson for Verizon confirmed the alerts were distributed to mobile devices at the following times and locations:

Central Kerr County, including Camp Mystic:

Points along Guadalupe River, including Ingram, Kerrville and Center Point:

Keli Rabon, right, and her son Braydon Davis, appear on CNN on Monday.

Counselors at Camp La Junta in Hunt, Texas, hoisted campers up into the rafters of the cabins to save them from rising flood waters, said one mother whose son was rescued.

Keli Rabon told CNN her sons, Braeden and Brock, were at the camp in Hunt, Texas, when the Guadalupe River started flooding. Brock, who just finished kindergarten, was in one of the most low-lying cabins, she said.

“It’s pretty heroic of those counselors and quick thinking. Meanwhile, the cabin kind of started to deteriorate around them,” Rabon said.

Rabon, who lives in Houston, said while the flooding was happening, she was getting texts from the camp that they had lost power and wifi and were working to keep the campers safe.

“While that sounds promising, it still doesn’t give you much detail” as the emergency was unfolding, she said. Now, Rabon said she and her family are “coming to terms with what happened” and helping her sons process the experience.

Braeden Davis, Rabon’s older son, said in the moment, he was just worried about his brother.

Britain’s King Charles wrote to US President Donald Trump expressing his “profound sadness at the tragic loss of life” in the Texas floods, according to the British Embassy in Washington.

The king offered his “deepest sympathy” to the families who lost their loved ones and commended the “courage and selflessness of the emergency service and volunteers,” the embassy said.