Texas floods toll rises as families of missing wait and hope

The search for those swept away by flash floods in Texas have taken on new urgency, as the death toll climbed to 70 and nearly a dozen girls from a private summer camp remained missing.

The search for those swept away by punishing flash floods in Central Texas over the holiday took on new urgency Sunday, as the death toll climbed to 70 and nearly a dozen girls from a private summer camp remained missing.

Rescuers combing the swollen banks of the Guadalupe River were holding out hope that survivors might still be found. The potential for more bad weather Sunday also loomed over ground and air operations. The National Weather Service warned of more rainfall and slow-moving thunderstorms that could create flash floods in the already saturated areas in Texas Hill Country.

The majority of the 68 fatalities thus far were recorded along Guadalupe River basin in Kerr County. Of 59 dead in Kerr County, 38 were adults and 21 were children, according to the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office. An unknown number of people remained missing, including 11 girls and a counsellor from Camp Mystic, a well-known summer camp located on the Guadalupe River.

Another nine fatalities were recorded in other flood-hit counties, including Travis County, where 13 people were still missing Sunday, and Burnet County, where seven people were missing. In Williamson County, which had one fatality, two people were missing, officials said.

Rescue workers search for missing people on the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas. Picture: AFP.

Janie Hunt, 9 years old, was among the Mystic Camp girls who died, her mother said Sunday. Eight-year-old Sarah Marsh, a camper from Mountain Brook, Ala., also died in the flood, according to the city’s mayor. Camp Mystic’s longtime director, Dick Eastland, was among the victims, according to Texas Rep. August Pfluger, who said Eastland “poured his life” into the camp for decades.

President Trump on Sunday said he’d signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County, where federal agencies were already assisting with rescue and recovery work.

The popular river basin had been crowded with families and campers ready to enjoy the July Fourth holiday when pounding rain brought about catastrophic flash floods just before dawn Friday that wiped out homes, carried away vehicles and smashed into RVs and summer cabins.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for potential flash flooding in parts of Central Texas as early as Thursday afternoon. At about 1am local time on Friday, after a storm system stalled over the area and dumped far more rain than had been forecast, a warning that flash floods were imminent was issued.

By 4am, a flash-flood emergency was issued for the area around Camp Mystic. A wave of water surged through the river, with the worst of the flooding near Camp Mystic happening between about 4am and 4.30am, according to a flood gauge. In Kerrville, further downstream, the river rose almost 35 feet between 5.15am and 6.30am. Many didn’t make it to safety.

In nearby Kerrville, families and friends of the missing huddled at the Calvary Temple Church Saturday night. Some came in to jot down their contact information and leave it with the reunification organisers. Others waited outside, sitting on benches that overlooked the parking lot’s entrance, hoping vehicles carrying their loved ones would cross the pavement.

As the sun went down, Hailey Chavarria, a 28-year-old teacher from Austin, paced. Five of her family members – her mother, stepfather, uncle, aunt and cousin – had disappeared from a local campsite during Friday’s storms, she said. She had been up until 3am. Saturday trying to find them at various reunification sites. Her fiance and others searched the banks of the Guadalupe River with flashlights.

“It’s very confusing. We’ve been told, ‘go here, go here, no, go here,’” she said. “And they’re telling us that they can’t tell us anything.”

Her missing family – mom Shellie Crossland; stepfather Cody Crossland; uncle Joel Ramos; aunt Tasha Ramos; and cousin Kyndall Ramos – were all from Midland, Texas. They were camping in the Kerr region when the flooding began, she said.

A truck owned by her mother and stepfather had been found empty with their belongings inside. Another of Chavarria’s cousins on the camping trip, Devyn Smith of Midland, was found by rescuers clinging to a tree, shouting for help as water rushed by. She was rescued more than a dozen miles away from the family’s campsite, Chavarria said. She is recovering in a nearby hospital.

She said her family had received a call saying 17 survivors would be transported to Calvary Temple Church, but details have been scant.

It’s “frustrating as somebody who’s looking for, I mean, my whole family, almost,” she said.

Another girls’ summer camp, Heart O’ the Hills, said it was fortunate to be between sessions when the flooding occurred, but said its director and longtime co-owner, Jane Ragsdale, had died. “We at the camp are stunned and deeply saddened,” said a note on the camp’s website. She “was exactly the type of strong, joyful woman that the camp aimed to develop with the girls entrusted to us each summer.” Write to Collin Eaton at [e-mail] and Ginger Adams Otis at [e-mail] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 06, 2025 12:33 ET (16:33 GMT) Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.