
Deadly Texas floods: What were the warnings?
Questions have been raised over extreme weather warnings in Texas, after heavy rain caused fatal flash floods along the Guadalupe River.
At least 51 people have died from the flooding in Texas, with an unknown number of people - including 27 girls from Camp Mystic in Kerr County - still missing.
As rescue teams continue to search for the missing, local and federal officials have come under fire over their flood preparations and about why those along the river weren't warned of the risks sooner.
What happened?
As much as 10ins (25cm) of heavy rain fell in just a few hours overnight in central Kerr County on Friday, causing the banks of the Guadalupe River to burst at around 4am local time.
Homes were washed out and vehicles swept away by the downpour - equivalent to months' worth of rain - while 27 girls staying at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river, went missing when the fast-rising floodwaters hit.
The death toll stands at:
• At least 43 people, including 15 children and 28 adults, in Kerr County,
• One person in Kendall County,
• At least four people in Travis County,
• At least two in Burnet County,
• And one person in the city of San Angelo.
1:20
What flood warnings were there?
Private forecasting company AccuWeather said it and the National Weather Service (NWS) sent warnings about potential flash flooding hours before it began, urging people to move to higher ground and evacuate flood-prone areas.
The NWS also issued flash flood emergencies - a rare alert notifying of imminent danger - at 4.23am local time.
In a statement, AccuWeather said that "these warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety".
It also called Texas Hill County one of the most flash-flood-prone areas of the US because of its terrain and many water crossings.
However, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management Nim Kidd said that one NWS forecast earlier in the week had called for up to six inches of rain.
"It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw," he said.
3:35
Were they enough?
Locals have told various news agencies that while there had been phone alerts late into the night, forecasts headed into Friday evening did not predict the extreme conditions.
Christopher Flowers, who was staying at a friend's house along the river when the flooding started, told the Reuters news agency: "What they need is some kind of external system, like a tornado warning that tells people to get out now."
Kerrville resident Darryl Huffman told Sky's US partner network NBC News that he did not believe the storm would pose such danger before its arrival.
"I looked out the window and it was barely sprinkling outside," he said, "so I had no indication that the river was going to be right outside my driveway".
Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, said it appeared evacuations and other proactive measures could have been undertaken to reduce the risk of fatalities.
He said in a statement: "People, businesses, and governments should take action based on Flash Flood Warnings that are issued, regardless of the rainfall amounts that have occurred or are forecast."
Separately, the NWS's union told NBC News the agency's offices in central Texas were well-staffed and had issued timely warnings, "giving preliminary lead times of more than three hours before warning criteria were met".
What have officials said?
Local and federal officials have said they had not expected such an intense downpour of rain and insisted that no one saw the flood potential coming.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county's top elected official, said: "We know we get rain. We know the river rises. But nobody saw this coming."
"We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States," he said, adding: "We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever."
Mr Kelly separately noted that while the county considered a flood warning system along the river that would have functioned like a tornado warning siren about six or seven years ago, "the public reeled at the cost".
At a news conference with the Texas governor, Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem said on Saturday that "everybody knows that the weather is extremely difficult to predict" before saying "we have all wanted more time and more warning and more alerts and more notification" from the NWS.
She said a "moderate" flood watch issued on Thursday by the NWS had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system.
Will forecasting get better?
While Ms Noem said technology for the NWS would be upgraded, the White House has previously been criticised after Donald Trump 's administration ordered 800 job cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - the parent organisation of the NWS.
A 30% cut to its budget is also in the pipeline, subject to approval by Congress.
Professor Costa Samaras, who worked on energy policy at the White House under President Joe Biden, said NOAA had been in the middle of developing new flood maps for neighbourhoods and that cuts to NOAA were "devastating".
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Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Texas flooding live: At least 95 dead - as new pictures show devastation at children's camp
Watch: Young girls sing hymns as floods bring devastation to parts of Texas Here's our US correspondent Martha Kelner's latest report on the flooding in Texas. She was speaking on The World With Yalda Hakim. Emergency responders are now in their fourth day of search and rescue efforts now. At least 95 dead in Texas floods The number of dead across Texas has now risen to 95. Four deaths have been confirmed in Burnet County, our US partner network NBC News reported, citing officials. The vast majority of those killed by the flash floods were in Kerr County, where 75 people have died. The others have died in: Travis County: seven Kendall County: six Williamson County: two Tom Green County: one National Weather Service warns: 'Flash flooding likely' Thunderstorms are said to be on the move, with flash flooding "likely" in some areas today, a forecaster has warned. In its latest update, the National Weather Service warned: "Scattered incidents of flash flooding remain likely for the next few hours." It added as much as four inches of rain an hour was possible. The warning referred to areas in the Texas midwest, the Edwards Plateau and west-central Texas. Kerr County implements burn ban as fires interfere with search and rescue efforts Kerr County has implemented a burn ban after fires interfered with search and recovery efforts. The county is the worst-hit area by the Texas flash floods. After an emergency meeting earlier today, all precincts in Kerr County are implementing a burn ban. "People burning debris were causing an issue with ongoing, primary search-and-rescue operations in and along the Guadalupe River," the county said in a statement shared on social media. Heat created by fires, lit by residents in an effort to clear debris, interfered with drones and heat-detecting equipment being used in searches for the missing. The fires also "present other problems" for emergency workers trying to recover bodies, the sheriff said. Don Harris, Kerr County commissioner for Precinct Four [where much of the flooding occurred], said: "We understand that everyone has got plenty of debris. "We know that. But pile it up and wait. " The ban will be in place until at least next Monday. Help sent by neighbouring state A neighbouring state sent aid to Texas and said it will "always answer the call" to help. Louisiana governor Jeff Landry sent Texas 14 swift-water rescue workers to help with the flash flood response. He also sent a task force leader, three boat operators, three boat bowmen, and three boat support personnel. "Our first responders are among the best in the nation, and these men and women will always step up when disaster strikes," Landry said in a statement. "Louisiana stands with Texas, and we are committed to doing whatever it takes to assist in their recovery." In pictures: Wall of debris in aftermath of floods in Ingram - as Mexican firefighters come to US aid Here are some of the latest pictures from Texas. Firefighters from Mexico joined the emergency response to help the clear up. In places, a wall of debris was left by the flash floods. Jesus Gomez said his team recovered the body of one victim killed in the floods. "It's hard, but first responders, we're a different breed, pretty much," Gomez said. The team is from Acuna, a Mexican border town about 120 miles (193km) southwest of Kerrville, Texas. Five million people in Texas still covered by flood watch alerts Rain has continued to fall in parts of Texas today. We have been reporting on what this means for Texans and rescue efforts - with the the threat of flooding still very real. To bring home the scale of the warnings, our US partner network NBC News says five million people in central Texas are still covered by flood watches. Affected areas include San Angelo, Killeen, Kerrville, San Antonio and Austin. Slow-moving showers and storms with heavy rain continue to impact parts of the already-saturated region, NBC added. The victims and people missing that have been named so far As we've been reporting today, 10 girls are still missing from Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas, after Friday's floods. At least 91 are now dead across Texas, the White House said earlier this evening. The first details of victims and those still missing began emerging at the weekend. The director of Camp Mystic, Dick Eastland, is confirmed to have died in the flash flooding - he died while trying to save children at the camp, local media reported. His grandson George paid tribute to him on Instagram, saying: "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." Renee Smajstrla was one of 700 girls at the summer camp when flash flooding swept through. Her uncle confirmed, in an email on Saturday to The Washington Post, that the eight-year-old was among those who died. He said of her: "We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life," adding - "she will forever be living her best life at Camp Mystic". Tap below for a full list of the victims we know about so far. 'The road ahead will be long': Texas city issues update One of the cities hit by the flash floods in Texas has warned "the road ahead will be long". Burnet County has confirmed four deaths so far. In an update, the city of Burnet thanked emergency services and told residents how they can help recovery efforts. They were directed towards central hubs, where aid can be donated. Residents were also asked to separate "hazardous materials" from "general debris". "Please continue to use extreme caution and do not attempt to cross low-water crossings." Watch: Flash floods 'raged' through parts of Texas Jay Gray, senior national correspondent with our US partner network NBC News, has been talking to us - describing how water "raged" through Kerr County. He also said, despite a lot of debate in the US about whether the warnings came fast enough, that wasn't as much of a focus in the local area. Watch his full report, talking to chief presenter Mark Austin, below:


The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Texas officials long feared for riverbank summer camps. A warning system was rejected as too expensive
Officials in Kerr County, Texas, had long been concerned about kids' summer camps along the banks of the Guadalupe River, an area known as 'flash flood alley.' The camps in the idyllic Texas Hill Country, where children from the surrounding big cities of San Antonio, Austin and Fredericksburg came to fish, horseback ride, and snorkel, relied on a word-of-mouth system from camps further up river when it came to flooding, according to The New York Times. But in 2015, a flood in Wimberley, 75 miles east of Kerrville, killed 13 people and hundreds of homes were destroyed and damaged when the Blanco River crested to nearly 30 feet in a matter of hours. It brought the dangers of flash flooding front of mind for officials in Kerr County who debated at local meetings whether to bolster their flood emergency system with weather sirens now used by other cities. Tom Moser, a former Kerr County commissioner, proposed that Kerrville establish a similar system to one that had been put in place in Wimberley. But it was deemed to expensive by fellow commissioners. 'It sort of evaporated,' Moser, who retired in 2021, told The Times. 'It just didn't happen.' On the Fourth of July, downpours and catastrophic flooding in hill country devastated Camp Mystic, the Christian girls' summer camp on the Guadalupe River. The river rapidly rose 20 feet in 95 minutes in the early hours of the morning. Camp Mystic confirmed Monday that 27 girls, some as young as eight, and staffers had been killed. Ten girls remain missing and one counselor, according to local officials. Moser wasn't the only one who had pushed for a better emergency warning system, according to The Wall Street Journal. Former Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer, who had responded to the 1987 floods that killed teens at a camp in Kendall County, was hoping to install outdoor warning sirens in Kerrville. The sirens in Kendall County, which is about 81 miles away from Kerr County, went off on Friday. Rob Kelly, the Kerr County judge and its most senior elected official, also said budget concerns waylaid any action. 'Taxpayers won't pay for it,' Kelly recently told The Times. He said he didn't know if people might reconsider in the wake of this tragedy. In 2018, Kerr County applied for a $1 million grant for a flood warning system. The application was not selected, according to KXAN. In 2020, a commissioner said the county had been 'trying to get a new flood warning system here.' As recently as a May budget meeting, commissioners were discussing a system being developed by a regional agency. Attempts to improve response on a state level were also met with resistance in the last few months. A bill that would have established a statewide plan to improve the state's disaster response did not pass at the statehouse. But, had it passed, it still would not have gone into effect until after the Hill Country flooding, The Texas Tribune noted. And it's not just smaller communities that lacked warning systems. The city of Austin, which also saw fatalities in the floods and is one of the state's largest cities and home to nearly a 1 million residents, doesn't have an emergency warning system. But, a spokesperso n for the city of Austin told KXAN the fastest way to get information out is with 'the technology we have today' and there was a concern that sirens could 'cause confusion.' Since the disaster, 446 people have signed a petition for an early warning siren system in Kerr County. Moser said Kerr County had previously taken some measures to mitigate potential danger, including installing flood gauges and barriers, according to The Washington Post. This weekend, Texas Governor Greg Abbott says a special session at the Capitol will focus on better warnings for floods. It's hard to know how much of a difference a flood warning system would have made last Friday, Moser said. But, he believes it could have had some benefit. As of Monday afternoon, the death toll stood at 91 people with dozens more still missing. 'I think it could have helped a lot of people,' said Moser.


Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Schumer wants probe of National Weather Service response in Texas
WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's top Democrat on Monday asked a government watchdog to investigate whether cuts at the National Weather Service affected the forecasting agency's response to catastrophic and deadly flooding in Central Texas. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Department of Commerce's acting inspector general Monday to probe whether staffing vacancies at the NWS's San Antonio office contributed to "delays, gaps, or diminished accuracy" in forecasting the flooding. He asked the watchdog to scrutinize the office's communications with Kerr County officials. The NWS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Schumer's letter. It defended its forecasting and emergency management in a statement Monday, adding that it assigned extra forecasters to the San Antonio and San Angelo offices over the holiday weekend. A top three leadership role at the NWS's San Antonio office has been vacant since earlier this year after Paul Yura, the U.S. forecasting agency's warning coordination meteorologist, opens new tab for San Antonio, accepted an offer from the Trump administration to retire. Yura's role was to form relationships with local emergency managers and officials, with the goal of building trust in the community before disaster strikes. DOGE, the Trump administration's cost-cutting effort, has been pushing the NWS to cut jobs. It gave hundreds of employees the option, opens new tab to retire early, rather than face potential dismissal. The NWS's San Antonio office is responsible for forecasting the area's weather, collecting climate data and warning the public about dangerous conditions. Texas officials criticized the NWS over the weekend, arguing it failed to warn the public about impending danger. The office sent a stream of flash flood warnings on Thursday and Friday across the digital and radio services it uses to communicate with public safety professionals, according to alert records. The messages grew increasingly urgent in the early morning hours on Friday. The team sent an emergency text message to area cell phones at about 1:14 a.m., calling it a "dangerous and life-threatening situation." Phones must have reception or be near a cell tower to receive that message, said Antwane Johnson, former director of FEMA's public alert team. Mobile coverage is spotty in areas around the Guadalupe River, according to Federal Communications Commission records last updated in December. "Even though those messages were issued, it does not mean it got to the people who needed them," said Erik Nielsen, who studies extreme rain at Texas A&M University. The death toll from the catastrophic floods reached at least 78 on Sunday, including at least 28 children. It is not clear whether the opening for a warning coordination meteorologist contributed to NWS's forecasting and alerts. Jon Zeitler, the office's science and operations officer, also left NWS's San Antonio office around the same time in April, according to his LinkedIn profile. Zeitler was responsible for training new hires. Reuters could not confirm why he exited. The office's other management roles are filled, according to its website, opens new tab. U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday was asked by reporters about whether federal government cuts hobbled the disaster response or left key job vacancies at the NWS under Trump's oversight. "They didn't," Trump told reporters prior to boarding Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey.