Devastating flash floods took the lives of many people in the Hill Country this Fourth of July weekend. Cities such as Kerrville, Hunt, Liberty Hill, Georgetown and Seguin saw mass flooding events due to heavy rainfall.
The area around San Marcos still had flash floods but received significantly less rain than many cities in Central Texas. Emily Heller, National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio, said the 24 hour precipitation reports for Thursday, July 3 into July 4 showed the highest rain reported near San Marcos was in Fischer, which received 3.77 inches of rain. In Hays County, Dripping Springs was hit the hardest, receiving 2.9 inches of rain across July 4 and 5.
“We had deep tropical moisture from the remnants of [hurricane] Barry on top of our already moist atmosphere that we had the previous week, so it's basically just a stalled out upper level disturbance that has kept this pattern in place the past couple of days,” Heller said. “These storms have basically tapped into the deep moisture and the high rain rates, and the slow moving nature of storms has really contributed to the flooding.”
The areas under the NWS Austin/San Antonio purview that were hit the hardest were Kerr, Kendall, Burnet, Williamson and Travis counties. Heller said the highest reported 72-hour total as of 8:40 a.m. on Sunday, July 6 was 20.92 inches in Burnet County.
According to the article “What to know about the flash floods in Texas that killed more than 80 people” published July 6 in the Associated Press, the floods were due to a storm which deposited rainfall in an area that has dry dirt-packed soil that lets rain skid along the surface instead of being soaked into the ground. The massive rainfall sent rushing water flowing into the Guadalupe River causing the river to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes. These storms also caused other rivers such as the San Gabriel River to flood at dangerous levels.
The flooding happened in the early hours of morning on July 4 when many were asleep. The damage was so intense that it took out whole RV parks, took homes off of foundations and took cars and heavy debris downstream.
Tragedy struck in Kerr County as floods affected multiple youth camps along the Guadalupe River such as Camp Mystic and Camp La Junta. As of Sunday July 6, search and rescue teams have found 68 people, including 28 children, in Kerr county. The fatalities in counties nearby brought the total number of deaths to 79 as of Sunday evening with 27 of those being from the christian girls retreat Camp Mystic. Ten girls and a counselor from Camp Mystic were still unaccounted for as of Sunday evening.
“Primary search continues and we remain hopeful,” said Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring during a press conference held on Monday July 7.
Senator Ted Cruz, who also attended the press conference, said there have been over 850 high water rescues.
According to the Texas Tribune article “Camp Mystic says it’s ‘grieving the loss’ of 27 campers and counselors” published July 7, the number of fatalities across the Hill Country is at 90 as of Monday morning.
Officials are encouraging people to donate to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country to support the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund at cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201.
One can donate to help those affected by floods in Williamson county at the Central Texas Community Foundation website at ctxcf.networkforgood.com/projects/254933-wilco-cares-support-july-2025-flood-victims.
