Camp Mystic leader may not have seen urgent alert before Texas flood, family spokesman says

July 17, 2025:

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — The leader of Camp Mystic had been tracking the weather before the deadly Texas floods, but it is now unclear whether he saw an urgent warning from the National Weather Service that had triggered an emergency alert to phones in the area, a spokesman for camp’s operators said Wednesday (July 16, 2025).

Richard “Dick” Eastland, the owner of Camp Mystic, began taking action after more than 2 inches of rain had fallen in the area along the Guadalupe River, said Jeff Carr, a spokesman for the family and the camp. He said Eastland had a “home weather station” and was monitoring the rain on July 4, 2025.

But after initially portraying to the media this week that Eastland got the weather alerts about a flash flood, Carr told The Associated Press that critical moment in the timeline of the tragedy isn’t as clear as the family and staff first thought. No one in the family or camp staff, Carr said, could now say whether Eastland got the alert at 1:14 a.m.

“It was assumed that just because he had a cellphone on and shortly after that alert, he was calling his family on the walkie-talkies saying, ‘Hey, we got two inches in the last hour. We need to get the canoes up. We got things to do,’ ” Carr said.

The new account by the family comes as Camp Mystic staff has come under scrutiny of their actions, what preventive measures were taken and the camp’s emergency plan leading up to a during the catastrophic flood that has killed at least 132 people.

The flash-flood warning that the National Weather Service issued at 1:14 a.m. on July 4 for Kerr County triggered an emergency alerts to broadcast outlets, weather radios and mobile phones. It warned of “a dangerous and life-threatening situation.” The weather service extended the warning at 3:35 a.m. and escalated it to flash-flood emergency at 4:03 a.m.

Eastland died while trying to rescue girls and was found in his Tahoe that was swept away by the floodwaters, Carr said.

Even without a storm, the cellphone coverage at Camp Mystic is spotty at best, so campers and staff turn on their Wi-Fi, Carr said. He called ridiculous criticism that Eastland waited too long before beginning to evacuate the campers, which he said appears to have begun sometime between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m.

“Communication was a huge deficiency,” Carr said. “This community was hamstrung, nobody could communicate. The first responder, the first rescue personnel that showed up was a game warden.”

According to Carr, Eastland and others started evacuating girls from cabins nearest the overflowing river and moved them to the camp’s two-story recreation hall. Of the 10 cabins closest to the river, the recreation hall is the furthest at 865 feet (264 meters) with the closest cabin about 315 feet (96 meters), according to an Associated Press analysis of aerial imagery.

To reach Senior Hill, which was on higher ground , they would have had to cross an overflowing creek, Carr said. At times the young campers were climbing hills in bare feet, he said.

Some of the camp’s buildings — which flooded — were in what the Federal Emergency Management Agency considered a 100-year flood plain. But in response to an appeal, FEMA in 2013 amended the county’s flood map to remove 15 of the camp’s buildings from the hazard area. Carr said there were “legitimate” reasons for filing appeals and suggested that the maps may not always be accurate.

Just before daybreak on the Fourth of July, destructive, fast-moving waters rose 26 feet (8 meters) on the Guadalupe River, washing away homes and vehicles. Crews in helicopters, boats and drones have been searching for victims.

Officials say 97 people in the Kerrville area may still be missing.

July 15, 2025:

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Officials are keeping a wary eye on river levels as some crews resume the search for people still missing after catastrophic flooding pummeled Texas this month. Officials on Monday (July 14, 2025) also made plans to drain reservoirs as they searched for victims. The July Fourth floods killed at least 132 people. Some rescue efforts along the Guadalupe River resumed on Monday after being halted a day earlier due to a new round of heavy rain. State officials have said 101 people remain missing, a significant drop from the more than 160 people officials previously said were unaccounted for in Kerr County alone.

Story

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — For a second straight day, rain forecasts hampered the search Monday (July 14, 2025) for people still missing after deadly floods pummeled Texas, as officials made plans to drain reservoirs in the search for victims and lowered the number of people they said remain missing.

While some official crews resumed the search along the Guadalupe River in and around Kerrville in Kerr County, others held off or were ordered to stop because of worries about the forecast and the possibility of more flooding.

And local officials, who have faced mounting scrutiny over a perceived lack of action and warnings ahead of the July Fourth storm that killed at least 132 people, complained they have received threats to their safety.

The first pause in search efforts due to the weather came Sunday in Texas Hill Country, where the soil is still primed for enhanced water runoff.

The number of missing

At a news conference Monday, state officials said 101 people remain missing, including 97 in the Kerrville area. The other four were swept away in other counties.

That is a significant drop from the more than 160 people officials had previously said were unaccounted for in Kerr County alone, with 10 more missing in neighboring areas. State officials did not immediately respond to emailed requests for clarity on the big change in the number of missing.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott suggested it has been difficult to pin down a number. Campers, residents or people who registered at RV parks or hotels are easier to account for, he said. Others may have been reported missing by a friend, family member or coworker.

“Even though we are reporting 97 people missing, there is no certainty that all 97 of those people were swept away by the storm,” Abbott said.

‘Trailer after trailer after trailer’ swept away

Texas Hill Country is a popular destination for tourists where campers seek out spots along the river amid the rolling hills. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said during a commissioners’ meeting Monday that it’s been difficult to determine exactly how many tourists were in the area when the flooding occurred.

“We’ve heard accounts of trailer after trailer after trailer being swept into the river with families in the them. Can’t find the trailers,” Kelly said. “It’s what we don’t know. We don’t know how many of them there are.”

Kelly said he’d been told of one trailer that was found “completely covered in gravel” 27 feet (8.2 meters) below the surface of the river. He said sonar crews have been searching the river and local lakes and more are expected to arrive.

Commissioner Don Harris said officials plan to drain two reservoir lakes on the river.

“Who knows how many out there are completely covered,” Harris said.

The search

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Urban Search and Rescue teams fully resumed operations on Monday, said Obed Frometa, FEMA Blue Incident Support Team information officer.

Levi Bizzell, a spokesperson for the Ingram Volunteer Fire Department, which has been organizing about 200 searchers, said the department suspended operations for the day on Monday because of the expected rain in Kerr County.

“Everybody here wants to be out there working,” Bizzell said. “They literally come in in the morning whether they are tired or not, and they just want to get out there and work because they want to find closure for these families.”

Kerr County meanwhile advised all volunteers to leave the river area and move to higher ground, saying only those teams working under the direction of Kerr County Emergency Operations Center Unified Command were permitted in the response zone.

Members of the volunteer Lone Star Search and Recovery group said authorities pulled them off recovery operations on Sunday due to the rain, so they spent Monday helping clear debris from a badly damaged neighborhood instead.

“They don’t want us out there right now until it clears up,” said Aron Gutierrez, a volunteer who came from Fort Worth.

‘Playing a blame game’

In Kerrville, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Austin, local officials have come under scrutiny over whether residents were adequately warned about the rising water on July 4.

Authorities in Kerrville went door-to-door to some homes early Sunday warning that flooding was again possible, and pushed phone alerts to area residents.

Kerr County commissioners asked the public for their patience as the search and cleanup continues. Commissioner Rich Paces said during a meeting Monday morning that he has received death threats.

“They’re just playing a blame game,” Paces said.

During a special Kerrville City Council meeting, council member Brenda Hughes also complained of threats to city officials and staff, which she did not detail, and called for increased security at City Hall.

The July Fourth flood

The floods laid waste to the Hill Country region. The riverbanks and hills of Kerr County are filled with vacation cabins, youth camps and campgrounds, including Camp Mystic, the century-old, all-girls Christian summer camp.

Located in a low-lying area along the Guadalupe River in a region known as flash flood alley, Camp Mystic lost at least 27 campers and counselors.

The flood was far more severe than the 100-year event envisioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, experts said, and moved so quickly in the middle of the night that it caught many off guard in a county that lacked a warning system.

More rain

Areas that were hit by the July Fourth floods were forecast to get more rain Monday.

The Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas, where Camp Mystic is located, had risen to almost 11 feet (3 meters) by Monday afternoon, resulting in minor flooding, The river was expected to rise another 2 feet (61 centimeters) by Monday evening, causing moderate flooding, according to the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office.

The weather service had not received any reports of flooding of homes or roads as of Monday afternoon.

A series of thunderstorms that inundated areas west of Kerr County weakened as they passed through the area and there wasn’t much rain by late Monday afternoon, according to the weather service.

From Sunday night and Monday morning, southwestern Kerr County received up to 4.5 inches (11 centimeters) of rain. The Hunt area received about 2 inches (5 centimeters).

Swift water rescue teams have already been sent to Uvalde, Del Rio and Concan in anticipation of possible flooding in those communities on the Frio River, Nim Kidd, Texas emergency operations chief, said during the Monday news conference.

___ Vertuno and Lathan contributed to this report from Austin. Associated Press reporters Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Juan A. Lozano in Houston, Michael Weissenstein in Dobbs Ferry, New York; and Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Georgia, also contributed to this report.

July 14, 2025:

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Emergency crews temporarily suspended their search for victims of catastrophic flooding in central Texas. The halt comes with new warnings that additional rain would again cause waterways to surge. The search and recovery efforts were paused most of Sunday as thunderstorms with heavy rainfall swept through the area. Ingram Fire Department officials had ordered search crews to immediately evacuate the Guadalupe River corridor in Kerr County. Late Sunday afternoon, rescue efforts in western Kerr County were allowed to resume. Search-and-rescue teams have been looking for missing victims of the July 4, 2025, weekend flooding that killed at least 132 people and left more than 170 missing.