Death Toll in Texas Floods Hits 120 As Search for Missing Continues/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ Texas flooding death toll rises to 120 as search continues for 161 missing. Officials caution that missing-person figures may be inaccurate due to duplicate reports and communication chaos.
Efforts intensify around devastated Camp Mystic and Hill Country communities amid difficult search conditions.
Quick Look: Texas Flood Disaster
- Confirmed Dead: 120 fatalities as of Thursday
- Missing: 161 people still unaccounted for
- Hardest-Hit: Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River
- Gov. Abbott’s Pledge: “We will not stop” search efforts
- Search Challenges: Debris, heat, and complex terrain
Death Toll in Texas Floods Hits 120 as Search for Missing Continues
Deep Look
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — The death toll from the catastrophic Texas flooding climbed to at least 120 on Thursday, while the search entered its seventh day for 161 people still reported missing, highlighting the chaos and uncertainty that follow natural disasters.
Officials warned the missing-person tally may not be entirely accurate. Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said hundreds were initially listed as missing after torrential rains swept through Hill Country on July 4th, but that number was trimmed as duplicate reports were removed and some people were found alive.
“There’s nothing to celebrate about how well we’ve done so far, but there’s a lot of work to be done,” Martin said, urging people who have reported someone missing to update authorities if their loved one has been found.
Jonathan Lamb of the Kerrville Police Department pleaded with residents Wednesday for up-to-date information.
“We need to keep an accurate count, as accurate as possible,” Lamb said. “If you’ve reported someone missing and they’ve been recovered safely, please let us know.”
The flooding struck in the middle of the night, sending raging water through the Hill Country region. One of the hardest-hit areas was Camp Mystic, a century-old all-girls Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River, where at least 27 campers and counselors perished. Many others from the camp and surrounding communities remain unaccounted for.
Search and recovery crews are working under grueling conditions, battling 88-degree heat, overturned cars, fallen trees, and thick mud that hamper rescue efforts.
Gov. Greg Abbott pledged continued efforts. “We will not stop until every missing person is accounted for,” he said, cautioning that the toll could rise.
Past disasters offer sobering reminders about the difficulty of tracking the missing. After the 2018 Camp Fire in California, authorities feared over 1,300 people were missing, but the death toll eventually settled just under 100. In the 2023 Maui fires, the initial list of missing exceeded 1,100, but the final confirmed dead was 102.
Sgt. Juan Valencia of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office in California, who worked on the Tubbs Fire in 2017, described the painstaking process of checking shelters, calling relatives, and scouring social media to confirm people’s whereabouts.
“Sometimes you find them miles away,” Valencia said, emphasizing the added complications of water disasters where floodwaters can carry victims far from where they disappeared.
Governor Abbott also warned against false reports of missing persons. “If you make a prank call or provide false information, that’s a crime. So you better be correct,” he said firmly.
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