My heart just hurts for all.

The thought of losing a child is so hard, and add to that the waiting.

Unfortunately, they may never recover all of the bodies. It's beyond any understanding.

oh, and Ruthie's John passed away in 2024.

It's up to 80 dead now 😞

• There used to be a link for NOAA weather radio when I brought up my weather on the iPhone. I don’t see it now. Anyone know how to get it?

For my iPhone, I just saw that it is:

Settings/Notifications/Government Alerts

Then I can opt in for any of the following:

AMBER Alerts

Emergency Alerts

Public Safety Alerts

Test Alerts

It looks like weather alerts are now being posted on X, which is where I go for earthquake updates. You can also get weather alerts on Wunderground and weather.com, but they are not automatic.

Photos of the aftermath.

The videos of the girls playing at camp and the one of the girls who escaped singing hymns on the bus could tear your heart out.

@Lars thank you for posting that link to the photos. They are the best (tho really the worst) of any I've seen.

What a tragedy, so many lives lost in such a short period of time. My heart goes out to the victims and their loved ones. That area is very hilly (Texas hill country) and substantial rain always causes massive flooding. The water just races down the rocky hills and has nowhere to go aside from the rivers. I'm not really sure advanced warning could have helped in this instance. There was no heavy rain forecast for the area. It may have awakened folks enough to get them into their cars and moving away. Hard to know if they could have evacuated in 45 minutes.

Where I grew up, the creeks had limestone beds, and when there was a lot of rain, the creeks would overflow over the roads, and came close to going over large bridges. Our house was on high enough ground that it was not in danger, but it was fairly close to a large creek, and the land between the house and the creek (which my father owned) would flood regularly and was often swampy.

I've only been to Texas once, many years ago. My very close friends were invited to appear at the Kerrville Folk Festival, so I did visit that area. Beautiful and so peaceful. It's difficult to reconcile my memories of the area with all the destruction and the scope of the tragedy.

The "before" pictures of those sweet little girls rip your heart out.

it's rare that i cry at news stories, i think the last time was 9/11. last night while watching coverage of the rescue efforts, my tears flowed freely. i can't even begin to imagine the terror of the families of the still missing and those whose loved ones bodies have been recovered.

the only flooding occurrence i experienced personally was in 1993 but there were very few houses involved, it was mostly farm land but i do remember the clean-up around the the area, daunting to be sure but zero comparison to what is going on now in texas.

lives lost, property lost, wildlife decimated, it's all just too much to bear. first responders and rescuers will also carry this trauma for the rest of their lives. 😢

This is a very informative article.

Link: https://apple.news/AStNk5WK5RBmEGEkyFkb1jw

❗️ETA Correction (Tuesday, July 8, 10:15 a.m.): This story has been updated to reflect that Camp Mystic was not accredited by the American Camp Association.❗️

My heart absolutely aches at this horrific tragedy. Those poor babies and their families, no words!

Up in my area, we do not build or even camp on low lying areas, close to water. Flood zones, even if only a 1 in 1000% chance of flooding, are clearly marked or delineated on a flood zone, city, map.

Elmer, I just checked an article I posted from Houston Chronicle. See above.

”Correction (Tuesday, July 8, 10:15 a.m.): This story has been updated to reflect that Camp Mystic was not accredited by the American Camp Association.”

A male resident of the area was being interviewed yesterday and said that he had no idea such flooding (26’) was even possible.

The community leaders need to be sure people understand the flash flood history and potential of that area.

Live in a flood zone and rain predicted? Stay tuned to weather alerts. Have provisions (water, flashlight, cell phone charged, life preservers, folding knife, …) and have a couple of rehearsed escape plans.

Hills, rivers and rocky terrain: Why the Hill Country keeps flooding

When storms roll in, water rushes downhill fast, gaining speed and force as it moves — often with deadly results.

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

When floodwaters tore through the Texas Hill Country on July Fourth weekend, killing more than 100 people — including campers and counselors at an all-girls summer camp along the Guadalupe River — Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly was quick to voice shock.

“We didn’t know this flood was coming,” Kelly said. Yet in nearly the same breath, he acknowledged that the region is “the most dangerous river valley in the United States” — one that deals with floods “on a regular basis.”

That contradiction — an expectation of danger paired with apparent surprise — has become tragically familiar in Central Texas.

Despite being part of a wide swath of Texas nicknamed “Flash Flood Alley,” this part of the Hill Country continues to suffer devastating losses — both in human lives and property — after floods that scientists and emergency planners have warned about for decades.

The region includes several Texas river basins: the Colorado

CONTINUED…
Why Texas’ Hill Country keeps flooding
When storms roll in, water rushes downhill fast, gaining speed and force as it moves — often with deadly results.

Read in The Texas Tribune: https://apple.news/AlekmMzcSTY2_HLmFcRVEwQ

Shared from Apple News

🔷 Texas Tribune — for future reference. No pay wall, but you can help support them w donations.

https://www.texastribune.org

I was in Katy, Tx at the time of this tragedy. Talking with neighbors, there wasn't one that hadn't been there and spent many happy vacations there. Many had stayed in cabins there. Kerville has long reaching emotions for many people in Texas. On my way to Katy, I shared a plane ride with a lovely older lady that said she was from Kerrville, they had retired there and couldn't say enough good things about the area and the people. That was on July 3. I hope she survived.

FWIW, many things churches do are not subject to government oversight, so there's that...

I was shocked to hear some families commenting that their daughters would be looking forward to attending the camp next year. I can’t even imagine that mindset.

I read carolb’s comment differently. That churches can give emergency help without the government interfering and controlling their humanitarian efforts. That is good. Except for some evangelical-political, these organizations are not about to let a corrupt government override and stifle their sensible efforts at relief.

I live in an area prone to major flooding and there were two really big floods back in the late 1980s. Though proof that such floods had the ability to really mess things up since then the push for development by builders has massively expanded the number of homes and people in harm's way. People are remarkably dumb. Apparently the same thing has been happening along this particular river in a state that abhors restrictions. It is only going to get worse. They have football after all for solace.

Religions really have some remarkable exceptions. Around here in this blue state they had been getting away with not being required to put money into the local fire and rescue departments. They had an exception. Sort of like you can get around the requirement for your child to be vaccinated because god told you not too and send them on to school to spread death and destruction. Do fire departments not show up when the local mega church is on fire since it is out of jurisdiction?

patriciae

I was thinking of church-run camps and their administration, actually.

Looks like they were negligent, ignorant or didn’t want to bother. ;(

Let the lawsuits begin.

It's not a 'for profit' secular camp

Where have you been Elmer? There have been 'for profit' Christian summer camps for as long as I have been alive. There must be 100s if not thousands of Catholic summer camps alone in the US that charge several thousand a head for 2-3 week camps. Where the profits go I have no idea, but some would end up supporting Catholic charities would be my guess.

I don't see anything at all hypocritical about that but then I don't hate Christian religions like you seem to. And no, I am not religious.

Has anyone read if they brought in search & rescue dogs yet to locate the missing? I haven't seen it mentioned

there have been search and rescue dogs on scene for several days. at this point, they are using mostly cadaver dogs. :(

Has it been mentioned here that Mexican Citizens from Mexico are helping with the rescue work?

Yikes! Heads are going to roll.

The camp counselors (college kids) did not have their phones. Apparently when they are ON duty, they are not allowed to have their phones. Perhaps bc the managment doesn’t want them chatting when they should be watching the kids.

But, of course, mobile phones are tools and can recieve emergency alerts. Think that policy over in Heaven, I guess.

ETA — that was a young woman counselor at an adjacent camp who made that comment.

Elmer, those quotes are gems. Some were new to me, but I caught this one earlier.

The dispatcher responds: “We have to get that approved with our supervisor.”

It's not the time to talk about it (potential solutions) ... the folks in charge always say after a tragedy. Repeat ad nauseum.

I pretty much lost it and cried last night. Someone in Texas has started a Facebook page for people to post pictures of the stuffed animals that have been found all along the flood area. The hope is that they can reunite them with their owners or provide one last item to the families of the children who died or who have not yet been found. There were hundreds of stuffed animals.

People are remarkably dumb. Apparently the same thing has been happening along this particular river in a state that abhors restrictions. It is only going to get worse. They have football after all for solace.

I’ve just been reading some of the comments, and I can’t believe how incredibly insensitive this comment is towards a grieving community. In fact many across the country are grieving right along with them, as disasters like this can happen at any time, anywhere. Yes, mistakes have been made there with warning systems not being in place, warnings being delayed that night for whatever reasons people had. I’m so glad everyone’s hindsight is still 20-20.

I read this story in Apple News about a family who went through the disaster. It is heartbreaking and yet descriptive of just how quickly this happened and even how quickly the waters started receding. Their family river house had been 50 yards from the riverbank. The writer works for the Texas Monthly.

https://apple.news/AA27XRFp7QNefcfYM93Y_kw

Seems like the insensitivity amounts to blaming the victims, when the real blame lies with the officials in charge. There's ideology involved in a number of these cases, depending on which state they live in - one that says individuals are only responsible for their own interests and well being, as opposed to collectively seeing to the common/public good for everyone.

They were instructed to remove buildings from the flood plains, and did not do so. Which ones? The cabins. It doesn't take hindsight to see what went wrong in this instance. Sure, there's a cluster of bad choices, but this one step alone, would've likely saved lives. They were told. They ignored it.

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/13/nx-s1-5465635/camp-mystic-flood-maps-fema-texas-flooding 

My heart goes out to all who were and are affected. Especially the siblings and parents of the campers.

No one is blaming victims. The member who first posted, ”People are remarkably dumb. Apparently the same thing has been happening along this particular river in a state that abhors restrictions. It is only going to get worse. They have football after all for solace.”

was NOT speaking about the flood victims, but more to those in charge of permitting who continued to allow structures to be built in the flood plain (with a reputation for flash floods), and those who agreed to allow one of the camps to NOt have their structure included in the flood plain map danger area.

(Rob, I think you might have confused things).

Even if your camp or house is something like 150 yards from the river’s edge, that is still NOT far enough away if it is at approximately the same elevation as a spot 10 feet away from the river when it is not flooding.

The substrate is very hard limestone (sedimentary ROCK).

I think for those own8ng property and perhaps some of those setting policy, there was a gross lack of comprehansion or understanding about how quickly this tyle of topography could and WOULD be inundated, and by the severity and power of auch flash flooding in essentially a hard paved area constricted by topography. It is essentially a channel.

This has been bothering me and I came up with an example or anology of sorts.

The L A River is a narrow, concrete channel. Dry much odf the time. But you’d better not be in it when there is a flood or heavy rains nearby. It quickly becomes a raging river contained and constricted by concrete floor and walls. A toilet of sorts.

LA River, https://ryangravel.com/2013/12/23/go-river-the-los-angeles-river/

LA River, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Los_Angeles_River_channelized.jpg

Nice for walking. Some homeless have built structures in the ”LA River”

But, when it floods, watch out!

FILE: In an aerial view, the Los Angeles River flows at a powerful rate as a huge storm slams into the West Coast on Jan. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles.

David McNew/Getty Images

The area where the camps were on the Guadaloupe river has a wider channel, but still dangerous and contained by steep bankings. On a larger and wider scale, but the same concept — when carrying fast moving floodwaters from a stalled climatic system that continued to rapidly deposit thousands of gallons of rain in a very short time.

The pink area is the frank flood plain. The gray area is the steep embankment, much like the concrete walls of the LA River. No kids or other humans are going to be able to navigate this embankment in a flash flood, particularly in the dark.

Article: https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/los-angeles-river-flood-history-18658793.php

Elmer, you're not paying attention.

“This has been bothering me and I came up with an example or an analogy of sorts.”

The camp area was in a flood plain, with steep bank on at least one side that did not lend itself to quick egress.

Flood plain known for intense robust flash flooding.

Elmer wrote:

The LA River has a steep bank because it's a big drainage ditch.

Understood.

There’s another lesson to be taken from the LA River. Plans were made for the future.

After disastrous flooding in 1938 — widespread desruction and loss of life — steps were taken to prevent a similar occurrence in Los Angeles. Thus the channelizing of the river with concrete sides and bottom.

My maternal grandparents had a chicken ranch in the San Fernando Valley, and were worried about their home when water reached the second step of the entrance to their kitchen. My paternal grandparents had photos of the damage in the San Fernando Valley.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_flood_of_1938

I didn't read all of the replies, but here (in my home state of Texas) we allow campgrounds and parks on floodplains since permanent housing is restricted in those areas and recreation is desired. It allows the floodplains to be utilized during times when we don't get flooding. To be perfectly clear, this area of Texas normally doesn't see much rain from May through October unless we have a hurricane ( heaven forbid). I am not going to place blame on any particular organization but I will state that all of these areas have huge signage warning of rapidly rising waters during a rain event and are closed when significant rain is expected.

Except they were not closed.

patriciae

New report that only 3 people are still missing.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/19/us/kerr-county-texas-floods-missing