Texas flooding: Search teams near 1 week with over 170 still missing and their families awaiting closure

Couple says it took 'minutes' for Texas flooding to overtake RV park

FOX Weather Correspondent Katie Byrne reports from Kerrville, Texas where she is hearing stories of survival after the deadly flooding in Hill Country. At least 120 people are dead across the region. 

KERR COUNTY, Texas – It could take months for Texas families to experience some form of closure as more than 170 people remain missing nearly one week after deadly July Fourth flooding along the Guadalupe River devastated the sprawling Hill Country.

At least 120 people, including 39 children, are confirmed dead after flooding caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry dumped four months of rain in two days over Central Texas. No survivors have been found since the day of the flooding.

Many of the youngest victims were girls from Camp Mystic, an all-girls' Christian camp in Hunt, Texas, along the Guadalupe River. It’s one of half a dozen camps in the area, but not all camps were in session at the time of the flooding. As of Thursday, one counselor and five girls remain missing from Camp Mystic.

WHAT’S BEHIND ALL THE RECENT EXTREME FLOODING?

Just days after the catastrophic weather event, deaths directly from flooding surpassed Hurricane Helene’s death toll in North Carolina last year, and claimed more lives than Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas in 2017.

Volunteers remove trees damaged in the Central Texas floods along the Guadalupe River as they search for victims on July 9, 2025 in Center point, Texas. Over a 100 people have died in the Central Texas floods and over 160 people remain missing. 

(Joshua Lott/The Washington Post / Getty Images)

Thousands of first responders and volunteers are scouring the flooded terrain for the 161 missing victims in Kerr County. The search is incredibly difficult because the powerful flooding created tons of debris. Deaths and missing people have also been reported across Burnet, Travis, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties. More than 170 are missing across the region. 

Locals cleaning up are asked not to remove debris on their property until it’s been searched. 

"We are looking and searching the deeply impacted flood debris along the river," Kerr County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Jason Walder said. "So these areas are where a lot of this debris is bottlenecked. So it's a lot of large trees. It's a lot of the vehicles. It's a lot of home structures have built up in these areas."

A vigil for the Kerrville, Texas flooding victims on July 10, 2025.

(FOX Weather)

DEADLY WALLS OF WATER PUMMEL COMMUNITIES ACROSS THREE STATES IN JUST ONE WEEK, SPAWN UNPRECEDENTED DEVASTATION

Earlier in the week, Kerrville flooding survivor Bud Bolton told FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray, there are hundreds of RVs, tiny homes and campers bunched up along the river. He said he felt helpless as a 26-foot wall of water carried whole families down the river. 

"It's just all those screaming kids we had to listen to that we couldn't get to and couldn't save them," Bolton said. "And water rose, what, 28 foot and 45 minutes? Not much you can do."

Texas legislators to address flood warning, communication 

As questions continue to rise about how these deaths could have been prevented, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott added the flooding response and recovery to the top of the agenda for a special session happening on Monday, July 21.

Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference on July 08, 2025 in Hunt, Texas. Gov. Abbott announced more than 160 people were still missing after deadly floods early Friday. 

(Brandon Bell/Getty Images / Getty Images)

"We delivered on historic legislation in the 89th Regular Legislative Session that will benefit Texans for generations to come," Abbott said in a statement. "There is more work to be done, particularly in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Texas Hill Country. We must ensure better preparation for such events in the future." 

Legislators will work on improving early warning systems for flood-prone areas in the Lone Star State, emergency communications and response in these areas, emergency relief and discuss funding for the Hill Country flooding. 

What does healing look like for Texas?

The unprecedented flooding has left the whole Texas Hill Country community reeling. Everyone knows someone who died, if not directly, but indirectly. 

The tragedy that unfolded at Camp Mystic reached farther than the local community. Girls from all over the South attend the camp, which has been in operation for over 100 years.

FOX News Correspondent Kennedy Hayes spoke to Kerrville survivors and neighbors, Jamie and Jennifer, who were putting ribbons on trees to honor the victims.

"I was drawn to all the colors because I thought this is what the girls would have loved," Jamie said, pointing to the colorful ribbons. "I started putting white (ribbons) out there because I thought, ‘Oh, the innocence of all the girls.’"

On Wednesday, a vigil was held at the Kerrville Tivy High School football stadium, attended by hundreds to honor the dead and the missing. Tivy soccer Coach Reece Zunker and his wife, Paula, are among the flooding victims, the Tivy Boys Soccer team confirmed early this week. 

While school is out for the summer in Texas, with so many young victims, there will be dozens of empty seats come fall semester. 

Kerrville neighbors place ribbons to remember Texas flooding victims

FOX News Correspondent Kennedy Hayes spoke to neighbors who survived the flooding in Kerr County. Their uphill neighborhood, which normally does not flood did on July 4. The neighbors are placing ribbons to remember the more than 100 flood victims. 

Despite the utter destruction of a vast area, many survivors told FOX Weather this week they plan to rebuild and would never leave the beautiful region of Central Texas known for its shady trees and rolling hills. 

"There are so many people that would never leave. They grew up here, and they would never go someplace else," Jamie said. "This community is so deep-rooted, and so many people know one another. It's just been an outpouring of people hanging onto one another."