Authorities said that at least 43 people are dead in Kerr County, including 15 children, after flash flooding along the Guadalupe River in Texas on Friday, July 4. Multiple people in other counties have also been found deceased, the Associated Press reported.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a press conference on Saturday, July 5, that 850 people were evacuated.
Authorities cautioned that information is rapidly changing. “Tragic incidents like this affect us all,” Leitha said, adding that officials will not stop “until every person is found.”
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said that 27 people remain unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp in Hunt, Texas. The city of Mountain Brook, Alabama, wrote on Facebook that eight-year-old Sarah Marsh, who was at Camp Mystic, died in the flooding.
“This is an unimaginable loss for her family, her school and our entire community,” Mayor Stewart Welch said in a statement.
Another person confirmed dead in the flooding is Jane Ragsdale, the co-owner and director of Heart O’ the Hills, another camp in Hunt.
“We are mourning the loss of a woman who influenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful,” Heart O’ the Hills said in a statement. The camp was not in session during the flooding.
The National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio on Saturday, July 5, put out a flood watch for several counties, including Kerr.
The NWS said a flash flood emergency was issued for River Road along the Guadalupe River between Sattler and Gruene in Comal County. Four to six inches of rain fell there, the NWS said, as it urged those in the area to evacuate “immediately” or move to higher ground if they couldn’t leave.
In addition, the Georgetown Police Department said it is advising residents of Two Rivers, San Gabriel and Waters Edge apartments to evacuate because of rising river levels. Georgetown Animal Shelter, VFW Post, Masonic Lodge, Holly Street Village, and San Gabriel Crisis Center were all evacuated, police said.
Extreme flooding from July 4 started just before dawn “within less than a two-hour span,” Rice previously said, according to Reuters.
“This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time that could not be predicted, even with radar,” Rice said.
Authorities said the Guadalupe River surged to 22 feet in just half an hour on Friday, NBC News wrote. In Comfort, Texas, it reached a height of 30 feet.
Texas Game Wardens wrote Friday, July 4 that they made entry into Camp Mystic and were evacuating campers. Gov. Greg Abbott signed a disaster declaration for 15 counties affected by flooding, which he later expanded to six other counties. At a July 5 press conference in Kerrville, Abbott said the flooding caused “extraordinary devastation.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at the same press conference that she met with President Donald Trump about the disaster declaration, and “he has indicated that he will honor that and he will accept that.”
Trump on Truth Social said his administration is working with state and local officials “on the ground in Texas.”
“Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy,” Trump said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
