Desperate search for missing in Texas floods as death toll rises to 70

The flooded Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, on Friday, July 4, 2025. Camp Mystic, the Christian summer camp for girls on the Guadalupe River where at least 20 children were missing in catastrophic flooding on Friday, is nearly a century old. (Carter Johnston/The New York Times)

By Edgar Sandoval, Yan Zhuang, Campbell Robertson and Amy Graff

Hundreds of searchers were combing wide swaths of central Texas on Sunday morning looking for any survivors of devastating floods, including girls still missing from a riverside summer camp, as the confirmed death toll climbed to at least 70 and forecasters warned that downpours would continue in areas already reeling.

Eleven campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic, the girls’ summer camp in Kerr County, remained missing Sunday, according to Larry Leitha, the county sheriff. The sheriff also said that 22 of those found dead had not yet been identified, including four children.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said late Saturday that the camp had been “horrendously ravaged” by flooding from the adjacent Guadalupe River in ways he had not seen in other natural disasters, and that the rushing waters had reached the tops of cabins. “We won’t stop until we find every girl who was in those cabins,” he said on social media.

The rain continued to fall across central Texas on Sunday afternoon, with scattered thunderstorms bringing yet another chance for downpours to the Guadalupe River Basin. Up to 2 inches of rain was possible in the basin Sunday, potentially enough to cause more flooding, said Bob Fogarty, a meteorologist at the weather service’s office for Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding area. “It’s just a question of where the rain falls,” he said.

Here’s what else to know:

— Death toll: At least 59 of those killed in the floods, including at least 21 children, were in Kerr County, northwest of San Antonio. Elsewhere in Texas, four people were killed in Travis County, three in Burnet County, two in Kendall County, one in Tom Green County and one in Williamson County, authorities said. Dozens of people were still missing, including as many as 13 in Travis County, which includes Austin.

— The victims: As the death toll rose, investigators were trying to identify victims. Among them were 8-year-old and 9-year-old campers, and a 27-year-old man who died trying to save his family by punching a window through their trailer so they could escape the rising waters.

— An agonizing wait: The wait for news of the missing campers has been agonizing for the camp’s tight-knit community of parents and alumni.

— Accountability questions: Crucial positions at the local offices of the weather service were unfilled, prompting some experts to question whether staffing shortages made it harder for the agency to coordinate with local emergency managers as floodwaters rose.