Survivors Describe ‘Absolute Chaos’ In Texas Floods

Text us with your experiences, photos or videos from the Texas floods at (404) 793-7182.

The threat of more heavy rain and flooding looms over central Texas Monday, as hundreds of emergency workers and volunteers continue their search to find people swept away in the historic flooding there.

The floods have now claimed at least 89 lives across six counties. At least 850 people were rescued or evacuated but the hope of finding more survivors is dwindling.

Weather in your inbox

Forecast Location

Sign Up

By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time.

Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. said at a news conference Monday morning, "I need to tell my community and those families who are waiting, this will be a rough week. Primary search continues, and we remain hopeful — every foot, every mile, every bend of the river."

Weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce says, “The combination of a lingering atmospheric disturbance and high levels of moisture will keep the threat of locally heavy rain in play through much of Monday across central Texas, from around Interstate 35, including Austin and San Antonio, westward into the flood-ravaged hill country.”

Dolce adds that rain totals could be 2 to 4 inches in spots, with much higher amounts possible where any storms stall out over one area. So “flooding is once again possible, especially given how saturated the ground has become.”

In the hardest-hit area of Kerr County, 75 people died, 27 of them were children. Many of them were from Camp Mystic, a private all-girls summer camp near Texas' Guadalupe River. Heartbreaking images show how the camp was inundated and mattresses from cabins were swept away.

10 campers and one counselor were still missing on Monday. In a statement on their website, the camp confirmed that they lost 27 campers and counselors in the disaster. Part of that statement said, "Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly."

The statement also said they were deeply grateful for the outpouring support from the community, first responders and officials.

At Camp Mystic on Saturday, helicopters flew overhead as people walked among the destruction.

“The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.”

(MORE: 'They Were Littles,' Mom Says Of Texas Campers)

At least 14 others have been confirmed dead in five other counties - Travis, Burnet, Tom Green, Kendall and Williamson.

During Monday morning's news conference in Kerrville, city manager Dalton Rice spoke about the massive size of the disaster area, noting that search and rescue operations are covering more than 60 miles between Kerr and Comal counties.

Rice said, "We have different segments that are gridded out, each one of those segments are taking anywhere between an hour to three hours, up to two kilometers for each segment. So what that means is we’re running into a lot of technical challenges with terrain, with water, even potentially with weather you know in the rising fields."

(MORE: Texas Campers Sing During Flood Evacuations)

The catastrophic flooding came in the middle of night on Thursday, surging into people’s homes in the wee hours of July Fourth. Lorena Guillen, the owner of a local restaurant, told the Associated Press that if people had seen what July third looked like, they would have never guessed what was coming that night.

Guillen said, “Hearing the screams because you couldn't see anything, it was pitch black, but hearing people's screams, kids screaming, asking for help, cars were floating away with the lights on. You could see the lights and you can hear honking. And there was like not one or two, but there were dozens of vehicles just floating away and I was just, it was just too much."

(MORE: How The Deadly Texas Flood Happened)

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration across 21 counties. President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County, activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Texas.

The Guadalupe River, fed by torrential rain, rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. In a post on X, Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist and flooding expert in the region, said preliminary data from a USGS team shows the river went on to hit an elevation of more than 37 feet, according to a gauge in the Hunt area. That would surpass a flood record set in 1932. In Kerrville, a peak gauge height of more than 34 feet was recorded, the third highest recorded for that location.

Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Department of Emergency Management, said at a news conference Saturday afternoon, “The entire river is being searched from the northernmost impact all the way as we run down. You have assets in the air that are still doing searches. You have boats that are in the water doing searches. And you have ground crews doing searches.

“That process is going to keep going. We are not stopping until we find everyone that’s missing.”

(MORE: How To Help After The Texas Flooding)

A U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer from New Jersey is being praised for his heroic actions that saved nearly 200 people at Camp Mystic. Petty Officer Scott Ruskin was on his first mission and became the only triage coordinator on the scene after his team decided he would stay there to help coordinate rescues. Ruskin was able to get 165 people out of the flood zone and onto rescue helicopters, working along with the Army National Guard. The Coast Guard said 230 people were eventually evacuated from Camp Mystic during those efforts on Friday.

Many survivors were allowed to start returning to what’s left of their neighborhoods on Sunday and while they told terrifying stories of the flooding, they also shared stories of helping neighbors escape and how their communities are coming together to pick up the pieces and help each other.

A woman living in a devastated mobile home park in Georgetown said, “There’ve been some neighbors that have come that live close by offering to help, offering food whatever they can do it’s good to know people in Texas can help at a time like this.“

MORE ON WEATHER.COM:

4 Things To Know About Flash Flood Emergency Warnings

House Slams Into Bridge During Texas Floods