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The search for those missing in catastrophic Texas floods resumes in some areas after pause for rain

Texas Floods Extreme Weather A young girl runs past crosses at a make-shift memorial honoring flood victims, Sunday, July 13, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (Eric Gay/AP)

KERRVILLE, Texas — (AP) — For a second straight day, rain forecasts hampered the search Monday for people still missing after deadly floods pummeled Texas this month, as officials made plans to drain reservoirs in the search for victims.

While some crews resumed the search along the Guadalupe River on Monday, others held off, wary of the forecast. Officials also asked for patience, saying some have been threatened for their perceived lack of action that could have prevented the deaths at least 132 people in the July 4 storm.

The first pause in search efforts due to the weather came Sunday in Texas Hill Country, where the soil is still primed for enhanced water runoff.

More than 160 people are unaccounted for in Kerr County alone, and 10 more in neighboring areas.

‘Trailer after trailer after trailer’ swept away

Texas Hill Country is a popular destination for tourists where campers seek out spots along the river amid the rolling hills. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said during a commissioners’ meeting Monday that it’s been difficult to determine exactly how many tourists were in the area when the flooding occurred.

“We’ve heard accounts of trailer after trailer after trailer being swept into the river with families in the them. Can’t find the trailers,” Kelly said. “It’s what we don’t know. We don’t know how many of them there are.”

Kelly said he’d been told of one trailer that was found “completely covered in gravel” 27 feet (8.2 meters) below the surface of the river. He said sonar crews have been searching the river and local lakes and more are expected to arrive.

Commissioner Don Harris said officials plan to drain two reservoir lakes on the river.

“Who knows how many out there are completely covered,” Harris said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Search and Rescue teams fully resumed operations on Monday, said Obed Frometa, FEMA Blue Incident Support Team information officer.

Levi Bizzell, a spokesperson for the Ingram Volunteer Fire Department, which has been organizing about 200 searchers, said the department suspended operations for the day on Monday because several inches of rain were expected to fall on Kerr County by late afternoon.

“Everybody here wants to be out there working,” Bizzell said. “They literally come in in the morning whether they are tired or not, and they just want to get out there and work because they want to find closure for these families.”

Kerr County meanwhile advised all volunteers to leave the river area and move to higher ground, saying only those teams working under the direction of Kerr County Emergency Operations Center Unified Command were permitted in the response zone.

‘Playing a blame game’

In Kerrville, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Austin, local officials have come under scrutiny over whether residents were adequately warned about the rising water on July 4.

Authorities in Kerrville went door-to-door to some homes early Sunday warning that flooding was again possible, and pushed phone alerts to area residents.

Kerr County commissioners asked the public for their patience as the search and cleanup continues. Commissioner Rich Paces said during a meeting Monday morning that he has received death threats.

“They’re just playing a blame game," Paces said.

During a special Kerrville City Council meeting, council member Brenda Hughes also complained of threats to city officials and staff, which she did not detail, and called for increased security at City Hall.

“We’re not only dealing with all of the aftermath of this tragic event, but now we have to worry about threats that are coming to staff, targeted threats that are specific to individual staff members,” she said.

More rain expected

Areas that were hit by the July Fourth floods were forecast to get more rain on Monday afternoon, including 1 to 2 inches (3 to 5 centimeters) in Kerr County, said Bob Fogarty, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office.

“It is not going to be good for them,” Fogarty said.

A line of thunderstorms that earlier dumped 3 to 5 inches (8 to 13 centimeters) in counties to the west was forecast to hit Kerr County, which remained under a flood watch advisory through 9 p.m. Monday.

The Guadalupe River remained below flood stage but that could as the storm rolls in, Fogarty said.

Yet more thunderstorms could hit the area Monday night and early Tuesday.

“We’re hopeful that it will not be in the Kerr County area, that maybe it’ll be a little further west, that they would not get as much rain," Fogarty said. “But we think that there’s going to be some more heavy rain overnight tonight and then hopefully it’ll dry out by mid-week.”

Bad weather forces a halt to search efforts

Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday on X that the state had rescued dozens of people in San Saba, Lampasas and Schleicher counties, and that people evacuated their homes in a handful of others.

The latest flooding damaged about 100 homes and knocked down untold lengths of cattle fencing, said Ashley Johnson, CEO of the Hill Country Community Action Association, a San Saba-based nonprofit.

“Anything you can imagine in a rural community was damaged,” she said. “Our blessing is it was daylight and we knew it was coming.”

The weather system brought widespread slow-moving storms and multiple rounds of heavy rain Sunday, pushing rivers and streams over their banks.

The July Fourth flood

Just before daybreak on the Fourth of July, destructive, fast-moving waters rose 26 feet (8 meters) on the Guadalupe River, washing away homes and vehicles. Crews in helicopters, boats and drones have been searching for victims.

The floods laid waste to the Hill Country region. The riverbanks and hills of Kerr County are filled with vacation cabins, youth camps and campgrounds, including Camp Mystic, the century-old, all-girls Christian summer camp.

Located in a low-lying area along the Guadalupe River in a region known as flash flood alley, Camp Mystic lost at least 27 campers and counselors.

The flood was far more severe than the 100-year event envisioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, experts said, and moved so quickly in the middle of the night that it caught many off guard in a county that lacked a warning system.

___ Vertuno and Lathan contributed to this report from Austin. Associated Press reporters Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Juan A. Lozano in Houston, Michael Weissenstein in Dobbs Ferry, New York; and Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Georgia, also contributed to this report.

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