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Texas Hill Country floods: What we know so far
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Community members add flowers to a memorial honoring victims of the flood in Kerrville on Wednesday.
Credit:
Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune
The floods swept away local residents, summer campers along the river and many visitors who were in the scenic area for the Fourth of July weekend.
At least 120 people died across Texas. In Kerr County alone, authorities confirmed at least 96 people died. Another 24 people died in five other Central Texas counties.
Earlier this week, the nearly century-old girls’ Camp Mystic confirmed that 27 campers and counselors were among the dead.
With 172 people still missing across the region, search operations by law enforcement, fire departments and volunteers continue.
The tragedy has left families like that of Tanya Powell mourning. Her 21-year-old daughter Ella Rose Cahill was found dead Tuesday.
“It was like a relieved, happy, sad, horrible, wonderful news. I mean, I can’t even describe it, because you’re so happy that she’s still not out there somewhere,” Powell said. “But at the same time, it’s like this final moment.”
Others, like the father of Ella’s boyfriend Aidan Heartfield, continue searching through debris and muddy waters, even as hopes to find anyone alive have dimmed. Local authorities have said they haven’t made a live rescue since last week.
Aidan’s dad, Thad Heartfield, has been channeling all of his energy into leading volunteer search efforts since the afternoon of July 4. A sliver of hope follows him that Aidan — his kind, smart and gentle 22-year-old son — will rest easy soon.
“I always think today’s the day I’ll get a call from a DNA match,” Heartfield said Wednesday. “I’m answering a lot of calls from numbers I don’t know. Every one of those calls, I think this could be that call.”
Roughly 2,100 emergency responders from 10 states have descended on Kerr County to assist with the recovery and cleanup efforts, according to officials. But the Hill Country’s rough terrain and the flood’s devastation — huge debris piles of trees snapped like toothpicks, pieces of broken buildings and mangled cars — have slowed search efforts.
Read more about families’ search efforts and the wreckage.