Washed Away
A Scramble to Save Lives During Texas Floods
BY Claudia Lauer, Gene Johnson, Jamie Stengle and Mark Thiessen
Cries for help came from the pitch-black woods, from rooftops and from attics that shifted unsteadily as the water rose. Firefighters and police raced to help, having little guidance on where or how. Top emergency leaders were asleep or out of town.
A sheriff's deputy pauses while combing through debris on the banks of the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on Saturday, July 5, 2025, after a deadly flash flood swept through the area. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Using recordings of first responder communications, weather service warnings, survivor videos and official testimony, The Associated Press has assembled a chronology of 12 moments in the chaotic rescue effort as a flash flood barreled east through the Hill Country of Central Texas before dawn on July 4. The flooding killed at least 136 people — including more than two dozen children and counselors at Camp Mystic, a century-old summer camp for girls that was among the first areas inundated.
Here are some of the harrowing moments of the July 4 flood response.
12:30 to 1:15 a.m. CDT
In a Slack chat, a National Weather Service forecaster tells emergency managers, meteorologists and news media that the agency is monitoring Kerr County, but so far there has been little rain. Within 40 minutes, two weather cells combine, creating a dramatically more dangerous situation. A flash flood warning goes out at 1:14 a.m.
With the storm making already spotty cellphone service worse, some people report receiving the first National Weather Service notification on their phones, while others say they never received it. After 2 a.m., water rises quickly at Camp Mystic. Campers and counselors evacuate their cabins and try to wade to safety. None of the emergency communications between midnight and 6 a.m. reviewed by AP concern responses to the camp.
3:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. CDT
Kerr County emergency dispatchers request the first water rescue at 3:35 a.m. Emergency calls come in for homes flooding along Highway 39. A later call from Camp La Junta staff reports dozens of boys are in the water after a cabin flooded.
Several volunteer fire departments and other law enforcement officers respond to areas around the Guadalupe River after realizing the severity of the situation. Frantic calls would come from people on rooftops and in attic rafters who say they felt the cabins moving under them. Calls would also come from people who scrambled up trees after it was too late to leave by car.
4:16 a.m. CDT
A U.S. Geological Survey river gauge about a half mile (0.8 km) east of Hunt is already recording almost 24 feet (7.3 meters) of water – considered major flood stage for the Guadalupe River. As the water rises in a home near the river, Jane Towler tells her son and a family friend that they need to be prepared to go up into the attic.
Kerr County’s “CodeRed” alert system, which allows the county to send alerts to people’s cellphones, would become a point of contention after the flood. Residents and others ask why county officials didn’t use the alerts at the height of the emergency. Fire rescuers had asked for a “CodeRed” alert as early as 4:22 a.m.
East of Hunt, the swell of water overtakes an area full of out-of-town campers.
4:35 a.m. CDT
A fire rescuer calls out that there are children in the water at the RV parks behind Howdy’s restaurant on the western edge of Kerrville. Soon after, she asks for law enforcement to help rescuers stop adults from jumping in the water and risk being dragged away while trying to get to the children.
Rescuers work to evacuate the RV parks as several of the vehicles are swept away, some with families still inside. Interviews with family members and others would later reveal that more than 40 people staying in the area died.
4:45 a.m. CDT
A crew of rescuers from San Antonio arrive to help, but with no command center established, they wait for instructions in a fast food parking lot – less than 2 river miles (3.2 km) from the RV park. The rising water overtakes their trucks and strands their boats for hours. Radio traffic shows that an official command center wouldn’t be set up until after 6 a.m.
Out-of-town crews rely on word of mouth to determine where and how to help. Many rescuers on the banks can’t reach people in the swollen river.
Rescue workers are seen a boat as they search for missing people near Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept through the area Sunday, July 6, 2025, in Hunt, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
4:59 a.m. CDT
A firefighter runs along the river trying to find people he can hear in the water but cannot see.
Volunteer firefighters are forced to think on their feet in a scenario many have never experienced before. They move teams to bridges and river crossings, trying to find places they can pull people from the water without boats.
5:09 a.m. CDT
Screams sound in the distance as waters rise at an RV park along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville.
Testimony from Kerr County leaders at a legislative hearing at the end of July would confirm that the county’s top official was out of town, the sheriff was asleep and the emergency management coordinator was sick in bed when the floods and the emergency response began.
5:32 a.m. CDT
With no incident command set up, additional rescuers from state task forces and neighboring counties continue to rely on others in the field for direction. A dispatcher tells rescuers to seek assignments at the Lakehouse parking lot.
Rescuers spend hours in darkness trying to find people they could hear but not see in the river and in homes. They shout to alert their counterparts downstream about people floating toward them.
5:54 a.m. CDT
Floodwaters are seen in the area of an RV park located along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville.
As daylight breaks, emergency personnel are able to see the catastrophic scope of the flooding from the air.
6 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. CDT
Rescuers struggle even as day breaks to find survivors some of whom are clinging to trees and debris. They scan the water from bridges and crossings.
As the morning stretches on, dispatchers start getting calls from people spotting possible survivors.
8:33 a.m. CDT
A Kerr County dispatcher alerts rescuers to a person in a tree trying to signal a passerby for help.
Rescues, including by helicopter, continue into the afternoon. Crews also begin recovering bodies of victims. For many families holding out hope of having their loved ones returned, it would take days or weeks, because of the massive amount of debris and the widespread search area along the Guadalupe River.
Firefighters from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, load a body into a raft as they prepare for a water recovery along the Guadalupe River days after a flash flood swept through the area July 7, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP Photo/Eli Hartman)
Later July 4
A helicopter conducts a rescue near an RV park located along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville.
In the ensuing days the death toll grew to at least 136; three people remain missing. Residents along the Guadalupe River and the families of victims have questioned why they had no notice of the impending flood. The waters rose quickly in the middle of the night, and hard-hit Kerr County lacked an updated flood warning system; state and local agencies had missed opportunities to finance one. Local officials told Texas lawmakers who visited the area weeks later that they also need better communications systems and broadband. Questions have also been raised about why top emergency officials weren’t involved sooner. Lawmakers say they are intent on learning lessons from the catastrophe.
Associated Press reporters Sean Murphy, Seth Borenstein, Nadia Lathan, Christopher L. Keller and Stephen Smith contributed to this report.
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