Officials race to find Texas flooding survivors as rescue efforts continue : NPR

The men roll on a plane on the Guadalupe river while they are looking for people who have disappeared in Hunt, Texas, on July 6, 2025, after serious sudden floods which took place on the holiday weekend in July.

Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP via Getty Images

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Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP via Getty Images

Center for Center in Texas are desperately looking for survivors after a sudden flood on Friday at least 78 people dead and dozens of people, including many children.

Until now, more than 850 people have been saved – a lot by helicopters, officials said. On the dead, 68 of them were in Kerr County, officials announced at a press conference on Sunday afternoon. The number of deaths in the county includes 40 adults and 28 children, said Sheriff Larry L. Leitha. In addition to deaths in Kerr County, 10 other people died due to floods in the surrounding counties, according to officials.

Meanwhile, research continues 10 girls and a missing advisor to camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp next to the Guadalupe river, said Leitha.

W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas emergency management division, said those responsible always maintain hope and are “very fueled by the compassion we feel for these families”.

“We are doing everything we can to find their loved ones missing,” he said.

More than 400 stakeholders of more than 20 County agencies of Kerr helped research and rescue, said Leitha earlier on Sunday. In addition, more than 100 vehicles and a dozen K-9 units traveled the area around the Guadalupe river in search of survivors, according to the Sheriff’s office in Kerr. More than 1,000 staff members help research and rescue operations, according to the Texas Emergency Management Division.

The research area was extended from Kerr County to include the counties of San Saba and Burnet, who were also affected by the floods, officials announced on Sunday.

Although the first stakeholders faced challenges such as heat, snakes and impracticable roads due to floods and debris, the withdrawal of debris was still in progress and improved, officials announced on Sunday. Civil servants are also warned Residents do not steal drones in research areas, including along the Guadalupe river, because it hinders agencies’ research drones.

President Donald Trump, who posted on Sunday on his social media platform that he had signed a The Declaration of Emergency for the County of Kerr, later said that the flood was “horrible” and that it would probably visit the center of Texas on Friday.

“So we say that God bless all the people who have experienced so many things and that God bless – God bless the state of Texas, it’s an incredible place,” Trump told journalists.

Trump also said that he would discuss FEMA later when he was asked if he had still planned to eliminate the agency.

More precipitation to come

A volunteer is looking for missing people, after serious sudden floods that took place during the holiday weekend on July 4, in Hunt, Texas, July 6, 2025.

Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP via Getty Images

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Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP via Getty Images

Warnings of the flash floods were issued for the county of Kerr at 7:30 p.m., some parts of the country of the hills were under surveillance of sudden floods until 7 p.m., according to the National Office of Meteorological Services in Austin / San Antonio.

The field in the areas that have been flooded remain saturated and even “a little rain, precipitation and watershed can cause problems,” according to the director of Texas Department of Public Safety Freeman F. Martin, who spoke on Sunday.

An emergency alert telephone message was sent to residents of the region on Sunday afternoon telling them to seek higher land due to “great confidence in the river floods in North Fork de River”.

Sunday, the governor of Texas Greg Abbott warned residents on Sunday to be “extraordinarily careful” for the next 24 to 48 hours and to avoid driving on flooded roads.

He said people had died when they were swept away in vehicles and warned residents that water on the roads could increase very quickly.

“You may think you can cross it, only to know when you are there that it is too late and you are swept away,” said Abbott. “If there is water on the road, you must be safe. There is an old saying for a reason …” Turn, don’t drown you “.”