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The Associated Press reports on the rescue operation by Texas Game Wardens at Camp Mystic on Friday afternoon and evacuated campers who had sheltered on higher ground.
Elinor Lester, 13, said she was evacuated with her cabinmates by helicopter after wading through floodwaters. She recalled startling awake around 1.30 am as thunder crackled and water pelted the cabin windows.
Lester was among the older girls housed on elevated ground known as Senior Hill. Cabins housing the younger campers, who can start attending at age eight, are situated along the riverbanks and were the first to flood, she said.
Campers in lower cabins sought shelter up the hill. By morning, they had no food, power or running water, she said. When rescuers arrived, Lester said they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge with floodwaters whipping up around their calves and knees.
“The camp was completely destroyed,” she said. “It was really scary. Everyone I know personally is accounted for, but there are people missing that I know of and we don’t know where they are.”
Her mother, Elizabeth Lester, said her son was nearby at Camp La Junta and also escaped. A counsellor there woke up to find water rising in the cabin, opened a window and helped the boys swim out. Camp La Junta and another camp on the river, Camp Waldemar, said in Instagram posts that all campers and staff there were safe.
Elizabeth Lester sobbed when she finally saw her daughter, who was clutching a small teddy bear and a book.
“My kids are safe, but knowing others are still missing is just eating me alive,” she said.
Families line up at a reunification centre in Ingram, Texas. Photograph: Eric Gay/APShare
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top local elected official, said at a news briefing on the disaster hours earlier:
Everybody is doing everything in their power to get these kids out.
Kelly said a number of scattered residential subdivisions, recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds were hit hard, Reuters reports.
Pressed by reporters why more precautions were not taken with stormy weather in the forecast, Kelly insisted a disaster of such magnitude was unforeseen.
“We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States,” Kelly said.
“We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what’s happened here. None whatsoever.”
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Teams have conducted dozens of rescues as the emergency response continued.
The state senator Pete Flores said: “We are in search-and-rescue mode, and we know that these first 24 hours are very important.”
As of Friday night, emergency personnel had rescued or evacuated 237 people, including 167 by helicopter, Reuters reports.
More rain is expected in the state, including around Waco, and flooding is anticipated downriver from Kerr county.
Search and Rescue teams in Comfort, Texas. Photograph: Eric Vryn/Getty ImagesShare
People have posted on Facebook asking for any information about their children, nieces and nephews attending one of the many camps in the area, or family members who had gone camping during the holiday weekend.
The Ingram fire department posted a photo of a statement from Camp Mystic, saying the camp experienced “catastrophic level floods”.
“We are working with search and rescue currently,” the camp said in its communication. “The highway has washed away so we are struggling to get more help. Please continue to pray and send any help if you have contacts to do so.”
ShareSearch and Rescue teams navigate upstream in an inflatable boat on the flooded Guadalupe River on 4 July 2025 in Comfort, Texas. Photograph: Eric Vryn/Getty Images
Here are some images coming to us over the wires:
Damaged vehicles and debris are seen roped off near the banks of the Guadalupe River after flooding in Ingram, Texas. Photograph: Michel Fortier/APFirst responders deliver people to a reunification centre after flash flooding in the area, Friday, 4 July 2025, in Ingram, Texas. Photograph: Eric Gay/APPeople are reunited at a reunification centre in Ingram, Texas. Photograph: Eric Gay/APShare
Dalton Rice, city manager for Kerrville, the county seat, told reporters the extreme flooding struck with little to no advance warning, precluding authorities from issuing any evacuation orders.
“This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time, that could not be predicted, even with the radar,” Rice said. “This happened within less than a two-hour span.”
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23 people from all-girls summer camp among those missing
At a news conference on Friday afternoon, Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick said 23 children from Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls, were unaccounted for of 750 who were staying there at the time.
He asked people to stay away from the area, saying the Texas division of emergency management had 14 helicopters and hundreds of emergency workers involved in search-and-rescue operations.”
Patrick said Donald Trump had been informed of the situation and responded: “Whatever we need, we can have.”
A hundred troopers would also take part in the search and rescue, a Texas official said.
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Updated at 10.19 BST
Desperate search for survivors after dozens killed by Texas flooding
Edward Helmore
At least 24 people have died after torrential rains unleashed flash floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas on Friday as rescue teams scrambled to save dozens of victims trapped by high water or reported missing in the disaster, local officials said.
Among the missing were 23 to 25 people listed as unaccounted for at an all-girls Christian summer camp located on the banks of the rain-engorged Guadalupe, 65 miles (105 km) north-west of San Antonio, authorities said.
The region was beset by death and disaster on Friday after months’ worth of heavy rain fell in a matter of hours. In less than an hour, the river rose 26 feet (7.9m).
The flooding swept away mobile homes, vehicles and holiday cabins where people were spending the 4 July weekend, the BBC said.
Search teams are conducting boat and helicopter rescues in the fast-moving water that overtook riverfront communities and children’s summer camps. But the search has been hampered by limited access to the area. Phones are down, which has also made communication with people difficult.
The US National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency for parts of Kerr county, located in south-central Texas Hill Country, following the heavy downpours.
Kerr county sheriff Larry Leitha said at least 24 fatalities have been confirmed from what his office called the “catastrophic flooding”.
A state of emergency has been declared in several counties and the White House has offered additional help.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One at the end of a day of public events on Friday, Trump said “we’ll take care of them,” when asked about federal aid for the disaster.
We’ll bring you the latest updates on this developing story.
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Updated at 09.24 BST