The death toll from the devastating floods in Texas climbed to at least 67 on Sunday, with 21 children among the victims, as the search continued for girls still missing from a summer camp. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha reported that his county alone accounted for 59 of the confirmed deaths, including all 21 children, marking it as the hardest-hit area in the Texas Hill Country.Sheriff Leitha stated that 11 girls and a camp counselor were still missing from a summer camp near the Guadalupe River, which overflowed following heavy rainfall that struck central Texas on Friday during the U.S. Independence Day holiday.
A Travis County official confirmed that four people have died as a result of the flooding, while 13 remain missing. Additionally, authorities reported one death in Kendall and two in Burnet County. In San Angelo, located in Tom Green County, a woman was found dead inside her submerged vehicle, according to the local police chief.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Leitha reported that 18 adults and four children in Kerr County remained unidentified. He did not clarify whether these 22 individuals were part of the county’s reported 59 fatalities.
Rescue done by team:
Officials reported on Saturday that over 850 people had been rescued—some found clinging to trees—after a sudden downpour dropped as much as 15 inches (38 cm) of rain across the area, roughly 85 miles (140 km) northwest of San Antonio. The precise number of individuals still unaccounted for remains unknown.
“Everyone in the community is hurting,” Sheriff Leitha told reporters, reflecting the widespread devastation.
On Sunday, following President Donald Trump’s major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had been activated and had started deploying resources to support first responders in Texas.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard helicopters and aircraft are currently engaged in active search and rescue efforts.
Local government involved:
However, the federal response has drawn scrutiny. While President Trump had previously proposed reducing the federal government’s involvement in natural disaster response—shifting more responsibility to individual states—some experts have raised concerns about the impact of these policy shifts. They raised concerns that reductions in the federal workforce—including personnel at the agency responsible for the National Weather Service—may have compromised the ability to accurately predict the storm’s intensity and deliver timely warnings.
Former NOAA Director Rick Spinrad noted that the Trump administration had implemented thousands of job cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the parent agency of the National Weather Service, resulting in understaffed weather offices across the country.
While Spinrad said he couldn’t confirm whether these staffing reductions directly contributed to the lack of advance warning ahead of the catastrophic Texas flooding, he emphasized that such cuts would inevitably weaken the agency’s capacity to provide accurate and timely forecasts.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees NOAA, acknowledged that the National Weather Service had issued only a “moderate” flood watch on Thursday, which failed to anticipate the scale of the extreme rainfall. She added that the Trump administration is currently working to upgrade the forecasting system.
The White House chose not to provide a statement on the issue.
Texas Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro expressed concern over the staffing cuts at the weather service, warning that reduced personnel could pose serious risks. He stated that during flash flooding, the absence of adequate personnel to carry out detailed analysis and precise forecasting can significantly increase the risk of a tragic outcome.
‘Complete Devastation’: Texas Floods Ravage Historic Girls’ Camp
The 11 missing girls and their counselor were part of Camp Mystic, a nearly 100-year-old Christian summer camp for girls, which had about 700 campers present when the flooding hit.
Katharine Somerville, a counselor on the camp’s Cypress Lake side—located on higher ground than the Guadalupe River side—described the chaos as torrential rain flooded even the highest cabins and knocked out power overnight.
“Our cabins, even those at the highest points on the hills, ended up completely underwater. The devastation is beyond anything we ever expected,” she told Fox News on Sunday.
Somerville said the girls in her care, all around 13 years old, were frightened but safely evacuated on military trucks. She confirmed that none of her group was harmed.
More rain was forecast for the region, and the National Weather Service extended a flood watch in Kerr County until 1 p.m. local time Sunday. The flooding developed swiftly on Friday morning, as rainfall far surpassed forecasts, causing the river to rise dramatically—reaching up to 29 feet (9 meters). By Saturday, Camp Mystic had turned into a disaster zone. Inside one cabin, mud lines reached six feet (1.83 meters) up the walls, and the interior was strewn with soaked mattresses, broken bed frames, and personal belongings caked in mud. Some structures had shattered windows; one had an entire wall ripped away.
Somerville, a former camper herself, praised longtime camp director Richard “Dick” Eastland, who reportedly died trying to save girls during the flood, according to local media.