Flooding from the Guadalupe River devastates Texas Hill Country with a rising death toll and hundreds still missing.
SAN ANTONIO — It’s a week since the Guadalupe River rose to historic levels in parts of the Texas Hill Country, flooding communities just as families were preparing to awaken for July Fourth festivities.
It’s a week that’s seen devastation, resilience, heartbreak and heroism in one of the most idyllic regions of the state. Hundreds of local, state and federal personnel, supported by countless volunteers, continue to comb through the brush and debris in Kerr County, the hardest-hit region where officials on Thursday morning said 161 were still unaccounted for.
At least 96 bodies have been recovered so far in Kerr and neighboring Kendall County, 36 of them children. The death toll is expected to grow as the scope of the search continues to widen along the Guadalupe.
“Our entire focus since day one has been on rescue and reunification,” Kerrville Police Sgt. Jonathan Lamb said. “People from all over Texas, all over the country, continue to show their support in so many ways. And we are thankful.”
Search crews for the past week have endured stifling heat as they search for any signs of survivors. The storms sent RVs and cars slamming into each other as the Guadalupe rose 30 feet in a matter of hours. The ensuing floods ripped homes from their foundations, carried vehicles downstream for miles and tore through trees in their path—creating hazardous conditions for search crews.
“Everyone knows someone one way or another, so just to know that this many lives and this many people have been affected, it’s just a lot,” said August Wolverton, a Kerrville native.
Volunteers have flocked to Kerrville to help with everything from searching to keeping first responders fed. In Center Point, a team of them helped bring the local volunteer fire station back to life after floods ravaged it.
And the community of Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old all-girls Christian camp located in Hunt, Texas, is reflecting and mourning when the summer getaway spot was hit particularly hard by the disaster. More than 700 were at the camp on July fourth; staff later said that 27 campers and staff members died.
Five girls and a counselor are among the missing.
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FEMA aid arrives
A disaster recovery center managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state of Texas and the Small Business Administration opened Thursday at the First Baptist Church in Kerrville, offering survivors a hub to register for federal assistance and other services. Only a few people passed through the quiet church gymnasium in the late afternoon.
“The word’s not out yet, the first few days are always slow,” said Laurie Fried, long term recovery specialist for The Salvation Army in Texas.
A row of brooms and buckets filled with cleaning supplies stood behind the nonprofit Community Council of South Central Texas’ table, where staff were distributing grocery store gift cards for income-qualified households and offering financial assistance for hotel stays and utility bills.
The cleaning kits were for those mucking out flooded homes, but the council’s community service coordinator, Nina Ruiz, said they had only passed out about seven of them that day. “A lot of the people don’t have homes to clean up,” she said.
On Wednesday, hundreds prayed, wept and held one another at a prayer service, among the first of many somber gatherings to come in the weeks ahead.
“Our communities were struck with tragedy literally in the darkness,” said Wyatt Wentrcek, a youth minister.
David Garza drove more than an hour to support his loved ones.
“I’m from here, and I was here in the ’78 flood and the ’87 flood,” Garza said. “I just wanted to be a part of this.”
Calls for better flood preparation in the future
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on state lawmakers to approve funding for new warning systems and emergency communications in flood prone areas when the Legislature meets later this month. Abbott also asked for financial relief for the response and recovery efforts.
“We must ensure better preparation for such events in the future,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
Public officials in the area have come under repeated criticism amid questions about the timeline of what happened and why widespread warnings were not sounded and more preparations were not made.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha has said those questions will be answered after the victims are recovered.
Local leaders have talked for years about the need for a flood warning system, but concerns about costs and noise led to missed opportunities to put up sirens.
President Donald Trump has pledged to provide whatever relief Texas needs to recover and is planning to visit the state Friday.
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