Number of people missing in Texas floods drops drastically to 3, Kerrville officials report

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Amber Esparza

Kids poke at debris caught in a tree along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville.

The number of people reported missing after the July 4 Texas flooding has plummeted from more than 100 to three, according to officials with the hard-hit city of Kerrville.

At one point in the recovery efforts, state and Hill Country officials said the number of people missing in the wake of the disaster stood at 160. They revised that number down to 100 last week.

Now, in a statement posted over the weekend, Kerrville officials said “extensive follow-up work” among state and local agencies confirmed that the majority still on the missing list are safe, dropping the number of people unaccounted for to the single digits.

“We are profoundly grateful to the more than 1,000 local, state and federal authorities who have worked tirelessly in the wake of the devastating flood that struck our community,” Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said in a statement. “Thanks to their extraordinary efforts, the number of individuals previously listed as missing has dropped from over 160 to three.”

However, it’s still unclear whether the death toll from the catastrophe has increased. The Kerrville statement doesn’t include new information on the number of fatalities, and the last official update came from Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday. At that time, he said the flood had claimed 135 lives.

Local, state, national and international search teams are continuing to carry out search and recovery efforts throughout the affected areas, Kerrville officials added.

“Our thoughts remain with the families still awaiting news, and we will continue to stand with them as efforts persist,” Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring, Jr. said in a statement.

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