Local officials in several Texas counties have now confirmed a total of 80 fatalities in connection with the devastating flooding that happened over the weekend in and around the central Texas town of Kerrville. Among those deceased in Kerr County are 40 adults and 28 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said Sunday.
Death Toll Rises, Many Still Missing
As Fox Weather reports, the death toll includes 68 deaths in Kerr County, 5 deaths in Travis County, 3 deaths in Burnet County, 2 deaths in Kendall County, 1 death in Tom Green County, and 1 death in Williamson County. “Among those who are deceased, we have 40 adults and 28 children,” Leitha said. “18 adults are pending identification and ten children are also pending identification.”
Perhaps the most tragic of all the tragic reports has been about the dead and missing children who had been enjoying a summer excursion at Camp Mystic. “At present there are ten Camp Mystic campers unaccounted for, and one counselor. We continue to offer our condolences to those affected, and we will work tirelessly till we reunite them with their families,” he continued. Dick Eastland, the camp’s longtime director, also died while trying to rescue the young campers from the catastrophic floodwaters.
As NBC News reports, the grandson of Camp Mystic’s longtime director — Dick Eastland — said his grandfather was “a dear friend, fishing buddy, hunting guide, golf partner, avid Texas Longhorns fanatic, my #1 fan, and above all else: a hero,” George Eastland wrote in an Instagram tribute.
“If he wasn’t going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for,” George Eastland wrote. “That’s the man my grandfather was. A husband, father, grandfather, and mentor to thousands of young women, he no longer walks this earth, but his impact will never leave the lives he touched.”
CNN anchor Pamela Brown was a camper at Camp Mystic 30 years ago, so she knows firsthand that it has been “a magical place” for generations of girls. Today she is back there, covering the aftermath of the flood tragedy, and how “so much innocence has now been lost.”
“That river was the source of so much joy and fun for us,” Brown said while anchoring from Hunt, Texas, on Sunday evening. Campers would spend “hours and hours” in the Guadalupe River, “The Situation Room” anchor said, jumping on an inflatable trampoline and looking for dinosaur fossils. “To think that that same river is the source of this devastation,” she said, “it’s just hard to wrap my head around.”
Brown pointed out that “so much of the camp experience here is being in nature” while learning “good sportsmanship and a sense of belonging” at a young age. On Instagram, Brown posted a video of her old bracelet from camp, with a charm that “I LOVE CAMP MYSTIC.” “My heart is breaking,” she wrote.
Drones Helping in Search and Rescue Efforts
Texas Air National Guardsmen are using remotely piloted military drones to help in the search for people who are missing after flash floods hit central Texas early Friday. “The 147th Attack Wing are using MQ-9 drones for critical search and rescue missions today,” the Texas National Guard said in an X post Sunday. “The unarmed MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), has tremendous technological capabilities to gather high-resolution imagery and assess the impact of flooding in surrounding areas,” the post said.
The unmanned drones are typically used by the military to conduct surveillance, are being launched from a Texas military base in Houston, a National Guard official said at a news conference Sunday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared a specialized flight route across Texas airspace for the drones to make the voyage to conduct surveillance over the flooded Hill Country area, the official said.
More Rain Forecast and New Flood Warnings Issued
On Sunday, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Central Texas as more heavy rain was expected to impact the area. The alert was issued for Ingram and Hunt, Texas until 7:30 p.m. local time, urging residents to “move immediately to higher ground.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, also shared the alert in a post on X urging residents to get off roads near waterways. “KERR COUNTY/HUNT Incoming: more rain inbound. Ground is saturated, please move to higher ground and get off of roads near waterways. Please be safe,” Roy wrote.
During a news conference, Texas officials shared that they had received “unconfirmed reports of another wall of water” forming. “Another thing I’m getting right this minute during this press conference is reports of an additional wall of water coming down some of the creeks going into the forks,” Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd said. “And I want you to think about that for a second. If you’re not from that area and you don’t know the low water crossings, you could find yourself in a very dangerous situation,” he continued.
Kidd said they were, “evacuating parts of the river right now because we’re worried about another wall of water coming down in those areas. This is the live updates that we’re getting right now from the field is there are unconfirmed at this point reports of additional water coming in. And as the governor mentioned, there’s rain still falling on the area.”
“We’ve got DPS aircraft that are flying up to try to find this wall of water right now, and the people in the reported areas, again, unconfirmed, that are on our communication systems. We’re asking them to get out of the water and out of the way so that we don’t wind up having to do additional rescues.”
Kerr County discussed establishing flood warning system 9 years ago
As CNN reports, records show officials in Kerr County, Texas, previously considered funding an early warning system with emergency sirens to better alert residents about floods but that effort apparently never came to fruition before recent deadly floods struck.
In a 2016 meeting, a county commissioner described a plan to examine how to enhance Kerr County’s flood warning system. The following month, the same commissioner said the county was “probably the highest risk area in the state for flooding” and described the county’s warning system at the time as “pretty antiquated” and “marginal at the best.”
In 2018, local officials discussed how their application for a warning-system grant had not been accepted but described efforts to apply for other state funds, meeting minutes show. Again in 2021, meeting minutes show how county commissioners discussed possibly allocating funds for a flood warning system that specifically included sirens. An engineer said a county commissioner had “identified” $50,000 for the system.
But the county’s top elected official has said the county does not have such a system. “We do not have a warning system,” Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said at a news conference Friday. Since Friday’s flooding, local residents have launched a petition for such a system.
Local reporting shows emergency sirens were activated elsewhere on Friday, though the extent to which that would have made a difference in Kerr County is unclear.
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