Name: At least 89 dead and more than 40 are unaccounted for amid Texas flash floods
Uploaded: 2025-07-08T00:16:15.000Z
Duration: 6 min 29 s
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Right now on WFAA news at four o'clock, crews are on the ground and in the water, still desperately searching for those still missing in the deadly Central Texas floods.

Right now, 41 people are still listed as unaccounted for.

89 people have died, including 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic.

More than 400 first responders and more than a dozen canine units are helping in the search and rescue efforts today.

Volunteers on foot and on horseback in one of the hardest hit areas of Kerr County say that large amounts of debris there are hindering their efforts to find the missing.

For a lot of days, a lot of hours spent chainsawing in order just to be able to traverse, you know, 50 feet down the river.

And, you know, as the water moves, the debris also, you know, sometimes it falls into the water.

You have to worry about these snapped trees falling on top of rescuers.

There have been a couple of instances of that happening.

And with chances of rain on the way, could it hamper efforts even further as crews continue to race against the clock to find more people?

For a better idea at where this flooding took place, here is a map on your screen showing especially the Kerrville-Hunt-Ingraham area.

And that is where we find Chris Lawrence this afternoon, who is on the ground in Kerrville.

Chris, what are you seeing there today and how are people there processing all of this?

Jason, let me take the second part of your question first.

I think a lot of folks here are still coming out of that initial feeling of shock.

Although I will say we have heard a lot more talk today about what needs to be done to make sure this never happens again.

As to the first part of your question, what we're seeing,

I can tell you the Guadalupe River is actually not as high as it was.

You can see it's still running, but I want you to take a look out there and see some of those trees and like that so you can see and get an idea of just how high that water was at one point to push those trees down.

And when you've heard that search and rescue person talk about all the stuff in the water, that gives you an idea why they're having so much trouble.

I also have a few photos that I would really love you to take a look at because take a look there on your screen right now.

These are some of the victims who have lost their lives, who are still missing, as well as those who survived.

In fact, one counselor at Camp Mystic spoke about what she's lost in just the past few days.

I've lost near friends, best friends, my boss, my godchildren, my house, my car, you know, all those materialistic things, but it's those people that still haven't been found, some of them, just praying for their recovery and everyone else affected as well.

Yeah, we also are starting to hear a lot more from state lawmakers and federal ones as well.

Senator Ted Cruz spoke out today about the emergency response in Kerrville and Kerr County as a whole and said, yes, in hindsight, there probably would have been more evacuations.

Everyone would agree, in hindsight, if we could go back and do it again, we would evacuate particularly those in the most vulnerable areas, the young children in the cabins closest to the water.

We would remove them and get them to higher ground if we could go back and do it again.

Yeah, there really is no more pressing issue for officials to tackle right now than how to prevent something like this.

And we did just get word this afternoon that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said they will be addressing the issue of sirens, warning sirens in the upcoming special session.

And he made a promise that if local officials cannot afford those sirens, the state will step in and make sure that those are paid for.

Again, the one thing I will say about this and being down here and talking to so many folks, you really get a sense of the incredible generosity.

When you have a tragedy like this and in a horrible situation like this flood, it can bring out the best in a lot of people and you can see those generous hearts really stepping forward.

For a little bit more on the relief efforts and that generosity, here's my colleague, Dia Wall.

I'm at City West Church here in Kerrville and I'm actually in the front parking lot and they didn't host worship services over the weekend.

Instead, they opened their doors for volunteers who are helping in the response to the disastrous flooding here in Kerr County.

And as you can see, we've got the Salvation Army here on site.

They've been meeting with folks from the community, getting them resources and the support they need.

And there's also a nonprofit here called Mercy Chef.

They have this huge refrigerated truck filled with food that they're helping to prepare on site and they're doing it inside of this mobile kitchen.

They're cooking thousands of meals per day to feed, again, those first responders who are on the ground.

And it takes a ton of volunteers to make this happen.

In fact, we met a couple from Lucas right there in Collin County who saw the news of the tragedy and just had to respond.

So they've been prepping food and helping in the relief efforts here.

And we feel for each person that we're feeding because they've had loss and big loss.

When you're in the trenches and you've lost everything and somebody hands you that box of food, it's a hot meal.

It just gives, I feel like it just gives up some energy and they know it was made from love.

Mercy Chefs and their volunteers are preparing 3,000 meals a day and they're all going out to first responders.

They've even got a trolley that's going into some of those hardest hit areas to the crews that are doing really the saddest parts of recovery.

They tell us it's just a small way to help out in a serious time of need.