Updated July 7, 2025 at 12:44 PM EDT
After a weekend of catastrophic flooding in central Texas, search operations continue as questions swirl about whether officials could have done more to warn people before the river's rapid rise.
The Guadalupe River swelled more than 26 feet in less than an hour early Friday morning, sweeping low-lying homes, cars and trees downstream and washing away much of Camp Mystic, an all-girls' Christian summer camp.
The overall death toll is at least 85, officials confirmed Monday morning, as search and rescue efforts continue in several Central Texas counties.
But those efforts have been complicated by fallen debris, heat, snakes and continued rainfall. A flood watch is in effect through Monday evening in south central Texas, including the embattled Kerrville area.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Sunday that the state is broadening its area of focus for rescue efforts — citing the lives lost "in the greater region" — but pledged that Kerrville remains a top priority.
"We will remain 100% dedicated, searching for every single one of the children who were at Camp Mystic as well as anybody else in the entire riverbed to make sure that they're going to be recovered," Abbott said.
President Trump signed a federal disaster declaration on Sunday to help with those efforts, and said he will visit the state this week. Here's what else we know so far.
1. The death toll is expected to rise
In Kerr County, the hardest-hit area, the number of dead rose to 75, local officials said Monday. This figure includes 48 adults and 27 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said.
At least 10 other people have died in surrounding counties.
Camp Mystic, located on the banks of the Guadalupe River some 18 miles from Kerrville, says it is grieving the loss of 27 campers and counselors. Separately, the death of the camp director was confirmed by family. There are 10 campers and one counselor who were still unaccounted for as of Monday morning, Leitha said.
The century-old institution was hosting some 750 campers, according to Texas Public Radio.
Dalton Rice, Kerrville's city manager, told reporters Monday that it has been difficult to nail down the exact number of people still missing due, in part, to prank callers and scammers contacting the local hotline to call in fake missing persons reports.
Of the likely still-missing, Rice said, "it's a lot."
Abbott noted Sunday: "Especially in the Kerrville area, there were so many people who were just camping out … adults camping out near the river, people in RVs and things like that," he said. "There are people who are missing who are not on the known confirmed missing [list] because we don't yet know who they are."
Officials urged residents to alert local officials if any of their loved ones may be missing in the Kerrville area — and to avoid potentially dangerous road conditions and so as not to interfere with rescue operations.
2. Search and rescue efforts continue
Officials say more than 850 people have been rescued so far. The Texas Military Department said on Sunday that it has rescued 520 individuals, through 361 Black Hawk air evacuations and 159 ground rescues.
More than 400 first responders from over 20 agencies have been assisting with the search and rescue efforts in Kerr County. Officials there said on Sunday that there has been a "full response from local, state and national first responders," with air, water, K9 and other assets involved.
3. Federal forecasters and Texas officials are pointing fingers
Questions are piling up about whether a region nicknamed "Flash Flood Alley" should have done more to prepare for Friday's deluge, such as evacuating local summer camps.
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice declined to answer those questions at a press conference on Sunday, saying the "rain hit at the most inopportune time and right in the most inopportune areas."
Some Texas officials have suggested that the National Weather Service (NWS) didn't adequately warn them of the extent of the danger, which the federal agency denies.
According to NPR's timeline, the Texas Division of Emergency Management activated emergency response resources as early as Wednesday. On Thursday, it posted on social media and informed local officials about the risk of potential flooding.
Separately, the NWS' Austin/San Antonio office issued a flood watch for multiple counties, which it upgraded to a flood warning just after midnight on Friday and expanded in the early morning hours.
By 4:06 a.m, with river levels rising quickly, it warned of an ongoing "very dangerous flash flooding event." The official social media pages of the City of Kerrville's Police Department and Kerr County sheriff didn't post about the emergency until after 6 a.m.
Meteorologists told NPR that it is extremely tricky to predict what a complex weather system will do and then convince people to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Some critics have questioned whether those efforts were further hampered by the Trump administration's cuts to the federal workforce, which cost the NWS nearly 600 workers earlier this year (some were rehired after backlash).
Trump denied that on Sunday. "I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe, and it's just so horrible to watch," Trump said.
4. Trump says he will visit later this week
Rice, the Kerrville city manager, said on Sunday that "local and regional partners are committed to a full review of the events and systems in place."
But with all eyes on rescue and recovery operations, federal and state officials say questions about what went wrong — and future preparedness plans — should be revisited later.
"Let's focus on finding those who can be found, then we can always assess what we need to do later, going forward," U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said on Saturday.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that he plans to visit Texas this week, "probably Friday."
"I would have done it today, but we'd just be in their way," he said.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, told Morning Edition on Monday it has been heartening to see the level of support Kerr County is getting from people around the world, including donations and volunteer sign-ups.
"But it's gonna take the community a long time to recover there," he said.
Texas Public Radio has compiled this guide to how to find and get help in the area.
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