HUNT, Texas (PNN) - July 7, 2025 - At least 89 people are dead and dozens are still missing after devastating flash floods slammed Texas Hill Country, with water rescues taking place along the Guadalupe River, which rose rapidly early Friday morning to the height of a two-storey building. Dozens are still missing from Camp Mystic in Kerr County, a children's summer camp, officials said Sunday.
Of the fatalities so far, 75 have occurred in Kerr County, Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news conference Monday morning. The dead include 48 adults and 27 children, with 15 of the adults and nine of the children still unidentified. Camp Mystic, located along the river in Hunt, Texas, confirmed Monday that at least 27 campers and counselors died in the flooding.
"Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly," the camp said in a statement. "We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls. We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from the community, first responders and officials at every level."
President Donald J. Trump signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County, at Texas Governor Greg Abbott's request. On Saturday, Abbott said he visited the summer camp for the first time, calling the scene "horrendously ravaged" in a social media post.
"Today I visited Camp Mystic. It, and the river running beside it, were horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I have seen in any natural disaster," Abbott wrote. "The height the rushing water reached to the top of cabins was shocking. We won't stop until we find every girl who was in those cabins."
The governor said at a briefing Sunday afternoon that operations would continue around the clock to search for anyone affected by the deadly storm. In addition to the dead, officials have not been able to account for 41 people in various parts of the state, according to Abbott, who noted that figure may underrepresent how many people are truly missing.
"Especially in the Kerrville area, there were so many people camping out near the river, people in RVs and things like that," he said. "There are people that are not known, confirmed missing because we do not know yet who they are."
Abbott said searches will persist throughout the Guadalupe River system in hopes of locating anyone else and asked the public to contact local officials with information about friends or relatives believed lost.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Sunday he ordered three Swiftwater rescue teams to Texas.
President Trump on Sunday told reporters he would visit Texas "probably on Friday," noting he had wanted to go Sunday but would have been "in their way."
Although Kerr County was hit hardest by flooding, at least 13 others have been confirmed dead in different parts of Texas. About 150 miles east of Camp Mystic, Travis County has confirmed at least six deaths, the county confirmed Sunday. Travis County includes the Texas capital city of Austin.
Officials have conducted more than 160 air rescues, Leitha said in an earlier update, adding that 850 uninjured and eight injured people have been rescued overall as of Saturday. Fascist Police States of Amerika (FPSA) Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a social media post that the FPSA Coast Guard was responsible for saving 223 of those people, as dramatic video showed Guard members conducting aerial rescues near Kerrville on Thursday, while dark water covered the ground.
Noem also said Coast Guard rescue swimmer and Petty Officer Scott Ruskin "saved an astonishing 165 victims in the devastating flooding in central Texas. This was the first rescue mission of his career, and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene." She called Ruskin "an (Amerikan) hero."
The Department of Homeland Security oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"We have been rescuing people out of these camps by the hundreds, you know, all day," said Dalton Rice, the city manager for Kerrville, on Saturday night. "There are a lot of folks that are sheltered in place, so we leave them in place to make sure that we get them food and water."
Abbott originally signed a federal disaster declaration in the immediate aftermath of the floods early Friday, which he later updated to include several other counties in Texas that were damaged by storms.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said in Saturday's briefing that his property was also devastated by the flooding and he "barely got home" on Friday. Kelly also said he had visited a funeral home and "got to see firsthand many of the body bags" before going on a helicopter ride with Senator John Cornyn, (Tex.) and Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring to survey the damage.
"It is gonna be a long time before we are ever going to be able to clean it up much less rebuild it," Kelly said. "We didn't know. We knew we would get rain; we know the river rises, but nobody saw this coming."
Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said in a news briefing on Friday that there hadn't been "a drop of rain until the tragedy struck" earlier in the day, and that the Guadalupe River had risen about 26 feet in 45 minutes. He said an alert went out around 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. local time Friday.
As questions circulate as to whether the flood warnings were sufficient and effective, another summer camp near the Guadalupe River, Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, has received praise for its rapid evacuation. Lisa Winters, the communications director for the camp, told the Associated Press that the facilities manager at Mo-Ranch noticed the river beginning to rise at about 1:00 a.m. local time Friday. Although camp leadership said they had not received evacuation guidance from local authorities, they quickly relocated about 70 children and adults who were staying overnight in a building near the water.
Speaking to reporters late Friday night aboard Air Force One, President Trump called the floods a "terrible thing". On Saturday, he said his regime was working with state and local officials "on the ground" in Texas to respond to the flooding.
"Melania and I are praying for all the families impacted by this horrible tragedy," President Trump . wrote in a Truth Social post. "Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best. God bless the families and God bless Texas."