Desperate search for missing girls from summer camp after Texas floods
kill at least 24
[July 05, 2025]
By HANNAH FINGERHUT and JIM VERTUNO
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — At least 24 people were killed and a frantic
search continued overnight for many others missing in the Texas Hill
Country, including more than 20 from a girls camp, after a storm
unleashed nearly a foot of rain and sent floodwaters spilling out of the
Guadalupe River.
The destructive force of the fast-rising waters just before dawn Friday
washed out homes and swept away vehicles. There were hundreds of rescues
around Kerr County, including at least 167 by helicopter, authorities
said. The total number of missing was not known but the sheriff said
between 23 and 25 of them were girls who had been attending Camp Mystic,
a Christian summer camp along the river.
On social media, parents and families posted desperate pleas for
information about loved ones caught in the flood zone.
“The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of
hundreds of campers at Camp Mystic. “A helicopter landed and started
taking people away. It was really scary.”
She said a raging storm woke up her cabin around 1:30 a.m. Friday, and
when rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the girls to hold as the
children in her cabin walked across bridge with floodwaters whipping
around the calves and knees.
The flooding in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday
caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise. Officials
defended their preparations for severe weather and their response but
said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was, in effect,
the equivalent of months' worth of rain for the area.
One National Weather Service forecast this week had called for only
between three and six inches (76 to 152 millimeters) of rain, said Nim
Kidd, the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
“It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.
At a news conference late Friday Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said
24 people had been confirmed killed. Authorities said 237 people had
been recued so far.
Helicopters, drones used in frantic search for missing
A river gauge at Hunt recorded a 22 foot rise (6.7 meters) in about two
hours, according to Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the National Weather
Service’s Austin/San Antonio office. The gauge failed after recording a
level of 29 and a half feet (9 meters).
“The water’s moving so fast, you’re not going to recognize how bad it is
until it’s on top of you,” Fogarty said.
On the Kerr County sheriff's office Facebook page, people posted
pictures of loved ones and begged for help finding them.
At least 400 people were on the ground helping in the response, Texas
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said. Nine rescue teams, 14 helicopters and 12
drones were being used, with some people being rescued from trees.
‘Pitch black wall of death’
In Ingram, Erin Burgess woke to thunder and rain at 3:30 a.m. Just 20
minutes later, water was pouring into her home directly across from the
river, she said. She described an agonizing hour clinging to a tree and
waiting for the water to recede enough so they could walk up the hill to
a neighbor's home.
“My son and I floated to a tree where we hung onto it, and my boyfriend
and my dog floated away. He was lost for a while, but we found them,”
she said.
Of her 19-year-old son, Burgess said: “Thankfully he’s over 6 feet tall.
That’s the only thing that saved me, was hanging on to him.”
Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, said police came knocking on doors at
5:30 a.m. but that he had received no warning on his phone.
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A man surveys debris along the Guadalupe River after a flash flood
struck the area, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP
Photo/Eric Gay)
“We got no emergency alert. There was nothing," Stone said. Then "a
pitch black wall of death.”
‘I was scared to death’
At a reunification center set up in Ingram, families cried and
cheered as loved ones got off vehicles loaded with evacuees. Two
soldiers carried an older woman who could not get down a ladder.
Behind her, a woman in a soiled T-shirt and shorts clutched a small
white dog.
Later, a girl in a white “Camp Mystic” T-shirt and white socks stood
in a puddle, sobbing in her mother’s arms.
Barry Adelman, 54, said water pushed everyone in his three-story
house into the attic, including his 94-year-old grandmother and
9-year-old grandson. The water started coming through the attic
floor before finally receding.
“I was horrified,” he said. “I was having to look at my grandson in
the face and tell him everything was going to be OK, but inside I
was scared to death.”
‘No one knew this kind of flood was coming’
The forecast had called for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a
warning overnight for at least 30,000 people. But totals in some
places exceeded expectations, Fogarty said.
Patrick noted that the potential for heavy rain and flooding covered
a large area.
“Everything was done to give them a heads up that you could have
heavy rain, and we’re not exactly sure where it’s going to land,"
Patrick said. "Obviously as it got dark last night, we got into the
wee morning of the hours, that’s when the storm started to zero in.”
Asked about how people were notified in Kerr County so that they
could get to safety, Judge Rob Kelly, the county's chief elected
official, said: “We do not have a warning system.”
When reporters pushed on why more precautions weren't taken, Kelly
said: “Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming.”
Popular tourism area prone to flooding
The area is known as “flash flood alley” because of the hills’ thin
layer of soil, said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation
of the Texas Hill Country, which was collecting donations to help
nonprofits responding to the disaster.
“When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” Dickson said. “It
rushes down the hill.”
River tourism industry is a key part of the Hill Country economy.
Well-known, century-old summer camps bring in kids from all over the
country, Dickson said.
“It’s generally a very tranquil river with really beautiful clear
blue water that people have been attracted to for generations,”
Dickson said.
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Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press reporters
Adrian Sanz in Memphis, Tennessee, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake
City, John O'Connor in Springfield, Illinois, and Susan Haigh in
Norwich, Connecticut, also contributed.
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