Overview

• The confirmed death toll has risen above 100, with at least 104 fatalities including 27 campers and staff at Camp Mystic.
• Search and rescue teams remain on the ground under a regional flood watch, and officials warn the likelihood of finding survivors has faded four days after the floods.
• A torrent of record rainfall—exceeding 25 centimeters in spots—combined with steep hill-country terrain to propel the Guadalupe River over 26 feet in under an hour.
• The National Weather Service issued timely flood watches and a flash flood emergency, but Kerr County still lacks a local flood-alarm system after funding proposals failed since 2018.
• Democrats have blamed President Trump’s weather-agency staffing cuts for impairing forecasts, but meteorologists say there is no evidence that recent NOAA or NWS reductions hindered warnings.