Released 911 calls reveal desperate pleas and tragic outcomes during Texas Hill Country flood

KERRVILLE, Texas — Many voices were frantic and desperate. A few were steady and calm in the midst of fearful and growing danger and, in some cases, inevitable catastrophe.

They came from families huddled on rooftops to escape rising, swirling waters, mothers panicking for the well-being of their children and onlookers who heard people screaming for help in the darkness as they clung to the treetops.

A man, trapped high in a tree as it began to break under the pressure of floodwaters, called for a rescue helicopter, which never arrived.

Their pleas were among more than 400 calls for help made in Kerr County last summer, when devastating flooding hit during the night of the Fourth of July holiday. Recordings of the 911 calls were released Friday.

The sheer volume of calls would overwhelm two county emergency dispatchers on duty in the Texas Hill Country as catastrophic flooding inundated cabins and youth camps along the Guadalupe River.

“The water is filling up really fast, we can’t get out of our cabin,” a camp counselor told a dispatcher, above the screams of campers in the background. “We can’t get out of our cabin, so how can we get to the boats? »

Amazingly, everyone in the cabin and the rest of the Camp La Junta campers were rescued.

Flooding killed at least 136 people statewide over the holiday weekend, including at least 117 in Kerr County alone. Most were from Texas, but others were from Alabama, California and Florida, according to a list released by county officials.

A woman called for help as water approached her home near Camp Mystic, a century-old summer camp for girls, where 25 campers and two teenage counselors died.

“We’re okay, but we live a mile from Camp Mystic and two little girls came down from the river. And we got to them, but I don’t know how many others are out there,” she said, her voice shaking.

A spokesperson for the parents of the children and counselors who died at Camp Mystic declined to comment on the release of the recordings.

Many residents in the hard-hit Texas Hill Country said they were caught off guard and given no warning when flooding overtook the Guadalupe River. Kerr County leaders were questioned about whether they had done enough right away. This summer, two officials told Texas lawmakers they were asleep during the first hours of the flooding and a third was out of town.

Using recordings of first responders’ communications, weather service warnings, survivor videos and official testimony, The Associated Press compiled a timeline of the chaotic rescue effort. The AP was one of the media outlets that filed public information requests for recordings of the 911 calls to be released.

Many people were rescued by boats and emergency vehicles. A few desperate calls came from people floating in RVs. Some survivors were found in trees and on roofs.

But some of the calls broadcast Friday were from people who did not survive, said Kerrville Police Chief Chris McCall, who warned the sound was disturbing.

“The tree I’m in is starting to lean and it’s going to fall. Is there a helicopter nearby?” Bradley Perry, a firefighter, calmly told a dispatcher, adding that he saw his wife, Tina, and their camper van swept away by the water.

“I probably have five minutes left,” he said.

Bradley Perry did not survive. His wife was later found hanging from a tree, still alive.

In another heartbreaking call, a woman residing in a riverside cabin community told a dispatcher that water was flooding their building.

“We are flooded and we have people in shacks that we can’t get to,” she said. “We are flooded almost to the top.”

The caller speaks slowly and deliberately. Faint voices of what sounds like children can be heard in the background.

Some people called back repeatedly, climbing higher and higher into homes to let rescuers know where they were and that their situation was becoming increasingly dire. Families called from second floors, then attics, then roofs sometimes for 30 or 40 minutes, revealing the speed and height of the waters.

As daylight began to break, the volume of calls increased, with people reporting survivors in trees or stuck on rooftops, or cars floating down the river.

Britt Eastland, co-director of Camp Mystic, called for search and rescue and the National Guard, saying at least 40 people were missing. “We have no power. We have almost no cell service,” he said.

911 records show that relatives and friends from outside the unfolding disaster and those who had moved to safety had called for help for loved ones stuck in the floodwaters.

A woman said a friend, an elderly man, was stuck in her house with water up to his head. She had realized her phone was disconnected as she tried to relay instructions from a 911 operator.

Overwhelmed by the endless calls, dispatchers tried to comfort panicked callers but were forced to move on to the next one. They advised many of those trapped to get to their rooftops or run to higher ground. During some calls, children could be heard screaming in the background.

“There’s water everywhere, we can’t move. We’re upstairs in a room and the water is rising,” said a woman who called from Camp Mystic.

The same woman called back later.

“How can we get to the roof if the water is so high?” » she asked. “Can you send someone here already? With the boats?”

She asked the dispatcher when help would arrive.

“I don’t know,” the dispatcher said. “I don’t know.”

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Associated Press reporter Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Ed White in Detroit; Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Mike Catalini of Trenton, New Jersey, contributed.