Return to Transcripts main page
CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Officials: 109 Dead In Texas Floods, With Unknown Number Missing; Texas Governor Gives Update On Flooding. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired July 08, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. We have breaking news this afternoon. In just moments, Texas Governor Greg Abbott will hold a news conference to provide an update on his state's response to the floods that have devastated central Texas. We're going to bring that to you, live as it happens right here in THE ARENA at this hour.
Authorities are still searching for survivors. At least 108 people were killed, including 30 children, making this one of the deadliest floods in America in decades.
[16:00:05]
At least 23 people are still missing. And in a sign of just how desperate this search has become, police in Kerrville announced this morning that the last live rescue in that county occurred on Friday.
We, of course, have team coverage. CNN's Isabel Rosales is in center point, Texas. Kristen Holmes is live outside the white house and CNNs security correspondent, Josh Campbell is standing by for us. But, Isabel, of course, we do want to start with you.
What have you been seeing, hearing on the ground as this has continued today?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. So, this is the Guadalupe River right here. We are downstream, away from Hunt, where camp mystic is located. And you can see here in the distance, volunteers working together to clear the debris and keep moving up along the river to check for the missing people.
And look at this right here. Weve seen just these incredible sights for days now that really shows the force of these floodwaters to flip a trailer that easily, to flip kayaks easily, but also homes, homes in the water, entire vehicles. It's mind-blowing to see this in person.
And of course, the focus on these missing people to get answers and closure for their loved ones just down that way is a rock quarry where there are two vehicles, one of which is a trailer that's buried underneath the gravel that volunteers told me that they are using excavators.
And I did witness the heavy machinery to dig that out, to make sure that there's nobody inside. There is essentially what's become a lake down that way, that they're pumping water out of to get to another submerged vehicle.
So, it is, Kasie, expansive, this search site. You're talking about 30 miles from Hunt to where I'm at right now. And volunteers spread out across the banks of the River and also the tributaries that feed into the river as well.
The work is grueling, and they're under this hot Texas sun as well. This is going to take a while.
HUNT: Yes, indeed. Really so difficult.
All right. So, Kristen Holmes, the president, held a cabinet meeting earlier today. What did we hear from him about the devastation in Texas?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We heard a lot of what we had already heard from the president. He said that he was going to be going down there on Friday, that he had been in touch with the officials on the ground. He also said at one point that he had a really good relationship with the officials in Texas.
But what we heard the most when it came to Texas was from Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, of homeland security, who has actually been on the ground in Texas, at one point telling really emotional stories about her interactions with the families, the parents, as she was trying to figure out where their children were, as they were trying to find their children very painful to hear.
But she also talked about what she and the administration look at as their role when it comes to these kind of disasters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We as a federal government don't manage these disasters. The state does. We come in and support them, and that's exactly what we did here in this situation. We're cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA, streamlining it, much like your vision of how FEMA should operate. And it's been a much better response to help these families get through this terrible situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The president has been asked multiple times whether or not he still plans on phasing out FEMA. You heard Kristi Noem talking about it there. He had said last month that he wants to phase out FEMA after hurricane season, but we've seen FEMA on the ground. We've heard from these local officials that they're very critical, FEMA, as in, they're helping with this natural disaster.
And President Trump has now been asked twice and has not answered the question. I asked Karoline Leavitt the same question whether or not he still planned to phase out FEMA, and it was kind of a roundabout response. So, it's unclear how this might play into future disasters.
One of the big questions, of course, would be if he had already phased out FEMA, what would this federal response even look like? So, one of the things that we've been looking at and trying to get answers from the administration on.
HUNT: Yeah. All right. So, Josh Campbell, this, of course, turns to you because of course there are so many questions for officials at every level of government. Let's watch this exchange between CNN's Shimon Prokupecz and Texas officials. This was at a news conference earlier today. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. COL. BEN BAKER, TEXAS GAME WARDENS: We understand you have many questions. We understand that. But right now, this team up here is focused on bringing people home.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Who is -- who was in charge of the emergency operation center at the time that was getting any --
[16:05:00]
BAKER: Do we have another question?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And, of course, our viewers, Josh, may not know that you're from this area in Texas. You grew up near Camp Mystic. I mean, how do you interpret that response from local officials when they're pressed about these questions, about an alert system and the preparedness that was there or that wasn't there?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think two things can be true at the same time. On one hand, there is heroic, backbreaking work going on in this intensive search by first responders who are trying to find any survivors that may still be out there in order to provide closure for loved ones who have indeed lost family and friends, but have not located their remains. So that effort is very much underway. And we've heard authorities say, well, that's our focus right now.
But on the other hand, and I've been talking to family members and friends throughout that area, and what they say is it's not a reflexive response to try to blame someone, but they want basic answers to include, did an alert actually go out?
We know that early Friday morning, the National Weather Service had issued an ominous warning about floods that were likely to occur there, and that was set to trigger an emergency alert text message. But we still don't know if that actually went out.
I haven't spoken with anyone who got the alert. I haven't spoken with anyone who knows anyone who got that alert there in western Kerr County. And so that is a big question. Did the system work as it was intended to do?
And I'll point out, you know, in the past, I was involved in emergency response situations like this. For those who don't know, there's this joint operation center that goes underway anytime you have multiple agencies that are responding to a mass casualty event like this in that room, which we don't have cameras there, but it sits all the leadership of these different agencies that are assigned. You have all the people who are tasked with liaising and providing information and sending that back and forth between those first responders.
It defies logic that no one in leadership there has asked the basic question so far. Hey, did we send out an alert whenever this was first occurring? I understand that authorities, you know, they're not wanting to make that the major focus. But again, it's hard to fathom that that question is -- the answer to that question isn't already known.
And people want to know. Again, I talked to people there locally. They're not trying to blame local officials, but they want information because this is likely to happen again in the future, and they want to know that they can rely on emergency management systems to actually be in place and then spring into action, God forbid, if it, you know, there's a life-threatening situation that occurs that this type of technology, these types of alerts, could try to try to help save people just by sending out information like that. They want basic answers.
HUNT: Right, and it does, of course, raise so many questions about the systems that we have, if in theory, we all rely on cell phones, but when there's no service and these kids don't have their phones at camp at all, layers are really absolutely required here.
Isabel Rosales, I want to go back to you because we're just getting some brand new video in here to CNN. This is from an aerial tour. So, the governor, Greg Abbott, is taking this tour before he goes to speak to reporters with other officials. And just any minute now, actually. But this -- this is what he was doing right beforehand.
So, we can, you know, take a look. And it just really gives you a sense of the scale of this disaster. Obviously, we have been talking so much about the human scale, these families, these people who were lost. When you look at it from this view, you can really see just the breadth of destruction that this river has wrought in this area.
How does that line up with what you've seen?
ROSALES: Yeah, I've spoken to so many volunteers over the past 4 to 5 days now, and they're outlining exactly what you're seeing from that aerial view, just such a complex search site. I mean, not just in the length of the Guadalupe River. You're talking about 30 plus miles that they're looking through.
But look, look at how rough the terrain is. Rocky. There are cliffs. There are holes that have been gaped open by these flood waters.
Also, Mother Nature, they're dealing with this hot Texas sun. I have seen volunteers get bitten by the fire ants around here, too. Stepping over dangerous debris like downed barbed wire. Because this is rural Texas. So, this is such a complex scene for them, and they're doing their
best. They are all. Share this passion of trying to get answers for these loved ones, to bring them closure. And that's what's fueling them. So they're bringing everything that they can, ATVs to dogs, to horseback.
I've seen so many ranchers coming out here. One of them, a father breaking down, crying when he again was recounting to me, seeing the images of these children from Camp Mystic, the reason he was inspired to drive down here, bringing his horse that brings him up higher, where he can see things that maybe people walking around couldn't. Everyone wants to help and wants to give these families some answers.
HUNT: Of course.
All right, Isabel Rosales, Kristen Holmes, Josh Campbell, thank you to all of you.
And joining us now to talk more about this flooding and the disaster response, Republican Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas, of course, a senior member of the House Oversight Committee and a co-chair of the DOGE Caucus.
[16:10:07]
Congressman, thanks very much for being here.
I really appreciate your time. And I want to just start by asking you if you've been able to get answers about this from officials. We've obviously seen attempts to do that today.
REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): Yes, ma'am, I have and I may be able to shed some light on some facts and factors that, as the chairman of government operations for oversight, for government reform, on government operations, we have requested very specific information and received it.
I will give that to you now, as I read it.
The National Weather Service, NWS, was reporting early and consistent warnings beginning Wednesday, July 2nd. It was escalated with urgency beginning at 1:14 a.m. Friday, July the 4th, using AMBER alerts. The situation is the staffing for the San Angelo office, which is also experienced excessive flooding, that it was fully staffed with 12 forecast meteorologists at the time. The San Antonio office operated with 11 forecasters, only one vacancy.
And the union feedback was that they believed that the adequate resources were available. The sheriff's office in Kerr County, 201 minutes of lead time before the sheriff's office reported flooding at low water crossings, which means they were aware, but they did not report any increase in water on low water crossings at 4:35 a.m.
Two hundred seventy minutes after that first warning came, the emergency -- the sheriff called for an emergency at 5:34 a.m., which is in the mid -- virtually, in the middle of this, because it happened so immediately.
It is important to note that most people turn their phones off at night. It is important to note that the rules of the camp did not allow the campers to have phones or iPhones that they would pay attention to.
This is an unfortunate incident that happened literally over a 30- minute period of time. And so, I hope that some of these facts that I have been given point to the distress that comes from what was a high level system, weather wise, then turned into low, meaning it was 45,000 feet, then dropped down to the 15 foot or so level, and then just inundated them with this excessive water that happened. And it just it just happened so rapidly.
So I think that while we're not trying to do anything more than provide the information that I have been provided, I would say to you, this tragedy happened because of the excessive amount of water that fell within a 45 minute or less time frame that caused the worst flooding I have ever seen in my life that that went over 100 miles.
HUNT: So, sir, you just said and I just I appreciate you giving us the readout of what you've received. So, you just said that an AMBER alert went out after that 1:00 a.m. National Weather Service alert. So, you can confirm that residents were sent messages telling them to evacuate.
SESSIONS: I can confirm that the National Weather Service issued that, according to this, yes, I can. And that evidently, the sheriff received this at 5:34 a.m., as I understand it.
Once again, they had units that were out as early as 4:35 looking for low water crossing, looking for water that may have increased. And then at 5:35, they then evidently did see this excessive or a lot of water.
[16:15:08]
So that's the information I've been provided at -- subject obviously to any verification. But I think if we put the information out there, then people can then shoot at it as they need to, but that's the information I've been provided as a result of being the chairman of the subcommittee.
HUNT: I very much appreciate that, sir. I appreciate what you said also about the staffing. You said that there were 12 forecast folks in the San Angelo office, 11 in San Antonio.
We did speak here on CNN with a former NOAA administrator, and I want to play what he said to my colleague at Kate Bolduan, because then I just would like to clarify a little bit of what you're laying out for us. Let's watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RICHARD SPINRAD, FORMER NOAA ADMINISTRATOR: The lack of a warning coordination meteorologist, a critical position in the Austin, San Antonio weather forecast office suggests perhaps that part of the reason for the inability of emergency managers to communicate with weather forecast office through the systems you alluded to, may. Be attributable to the fact that there was nobody in that position. The individual who had that position took one of the retirements that the administration had offered up a couple of months ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: This position, of course, the meteorologist that is charged with overtime in not crisis times, building the kinds of relationships that are necessary to give warnings.
So, do you take from that that the cuts from DOGE had a direct impact, perhaps, on the ability of officials to respond to this disaster?
SESSIONS: Let me say this. If I did believe that, I would tell you. I believe that what happened is, is that this was such an enormous event that happened so rapidly. It's one thing to receive a warning at 1:00 in the morning, perhaps to go check and then nothing had occurred.
Once again, this is -- it was a rapid entry. And so, all I can tell you is perhaps you have to be a specialty meteorologist to see what's going on. I don't -- I don't know enough about it. I've taken some meteorology courses and I've -- but there were 11 people there that could have guided each other.
The problem was not the National Weather Service. The problem was the intensity of the rain somewhere between -- around 5:00 in the morning when people were asleep. I think we have already noted, although I have not gone into this end of it, it's really on the state of Texas that the county did not have warning signals that would be permissible, that you could hear if you had your phone off.
The alerts did come, but if your phone is off, you cannot hear it. And they are far enough out in the country, so to speak, that if no one's listening, if no one's aware, it's a problem.
Maybe, maybe we will find out. And I'm sure that we will. That a sheriff's deputy attempted to contact the camps.
But once again, these are people up and down the river that that were in -- not just the girls that were campers. There's a Boy Scout camp there too, and we've not heard much about that. So, I'm trying to find out, is there some -- some alert that they knew about for some reason?
So, all of this is still a mystery. And I will tell you why. And you will get this as a parent, everything is turned to saving people, not trying to pick apart the facts of the case. The facts of the case will be readily available, and the governor is deep into that.
Our governor is on this issue and I am too. And we will make sure that when the federal government did not respond or do the correct thing or needs to make some evaluation or change, I will be a voice calling for that as the chairman of the subcommittee and James Comer, who is our chairman, he and I, neither one are afraid to say there's a problem. And it just -- it just so rapidly happened. HUNT: So, Congressman, I mean to that to that point about whether
there is a broader problem here. I mean, we did investigate this at CNN. We found that Kerr County officials, they had previously talked about wanting to buy these siren alert systems that you're talking about, but they didn't have the budget to do that.
[16:20:04]
Now, you said, of course, the state might bear some responsibility for that.
Is that something the federal government should be paying for, in your view? Does that line up with what the Trump administration has been doing? Because we've been seeing cuts to FEMA?
SESSIONS: Well, as the -- as a member of congress, not as the chairman of the subcommittee, I don't think that that is something that the federal government has the responsibility to come in all over the country and to do these things. I think that that is local control.
There's a bit of this that's responsible for local people, county people and state people. But I think your point would be well made. We learned this years ago that it could be an area that could be susceptible to this, and maybe it would be a good idea now. As an Eagle Scout and a scoutmaster for years, we were always very careful about where we pitched our campsite.
When you're near -- anything near water that could rise, and certainly as my camping experience tells me, we -- you've got to pay attention. But it happens so rapidly. And we were dealing with young children. It just turned out to be the disaster did.
HUNT: It's just incredibly, incredibly heartbreaking.
Congressman Pete Sessions --
SESSIONS: It is -- it is sad.
HUNT: I really appreciate your time today, sir. I imagine well have reason to speak as the response to this disaster unfold. So I do hope you'll come back and join us again.
SESSIONS: And I will try and be very forthright with you and would welcome your analysis of that also as that you've just done. I think it's important that we learn what really happened, how we can correct that to avoid this in the future. Again, thank you.
HUNT: We never want anything like this to happen again.
Congressman Pete Sessions, appreciate your time, sir.
All right. Coming up next, of course, we're awaiting that update from Texas Governor Greg Abbott. It was supposed to start here at the top of the hour, but we're going to continue with our breaking news coverage right here on CNN after a quick break.
Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:26:41]
HUNT: All right. You're looking live at that microphone in Hunt, Texas, where we are waiting for an update from the governor, Greg Abbott, on the flooding in his state that has now claimed at least 109 lives.
Our panel is here now in THE ARENA, CNN contributor, "New York Times" journalist and podcast host Lulu Garcia Navarro, CNN political director, Washington bureau chief David Chalian, CNN political commentator Paul Begala, and CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.
David, let me start with you, because, I mean this story, I mean, we are obviously pressing officials for answers at every level. But there is, of course, the big picture reality that the congressman was laying out before we took a break, that this was something that simply happened so fast.
And I know you grew up spending your summers at camp.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah.
HUNT: For these families who are trying to answer these questions, what do you think they are looking for from officials right now?
CHALIAN: I mean, if I had to guess, they're looking for comfort in this horrific moment of tragedy. It's just -- for all of us here, it's just one of these unthinkable things.
And I know we in our business, we want answers and accountability is what we're trained to do. And sometimes, you know, that's a valiant pursuit, no doubt. But sometimes there are not answers to questions of an act of God and nature, and what happens that, you know, that could be the defining answer here, which may not be very satisfying, because at the end of the day, it's a human experience of just incalculable loss.
I did spend 16 summers growing up at an eight-week overnight camp, started seven years old, became a counselor and a supervisor there. That camp experience, it is -- it is so formative to who I am and anyone I know who has had an overnight camping experience. It is formative to who they are as people as well. Those ideas of writing letters, homes, all these things that we've seen and to think that these lives are lost, it's just really hard to wrap your brain around.
HUNT: Yeah, well, and I mean, lulu, you're about to send a daughter off to camp. I didn't camp the way David did, but I did some of that. And now, as a parent, I can -- I feel like I can barely cover the story because all you see are the faces of these children. LULU GARCIA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR; Those little faces, and you just
-- I'm going to cry. I'm sorry. I'm actually going to cry. It gets -- it's very -- it's very hard because you just imagine them in their bed sleeping where you send them to be safe and to have a good time, and instead, the worst happened. So there's nothing else to say that, you know, the incalculable loss of that.
However, I will say that we need to learn from these tragedies, right? I mean, that's the whole point of all of this. You need to learn from these tragedies to see how can they not happen again? Is there a way?
And while of course, this was an act of God, it is also part of our mandate here on earth to make sure that we protect those who are most vulnerable and who are supposed to be sleeping safely on the side of a river in a time of climate change. And so, what can be done to make sure that this doesn't happen again?
[16:30:01]
That, I think, is the calling.
HUNT: Well, and you have deep Texas ties.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do, I grew up running inner tubes down the Guadalupe River. And then I was in college, we graduated to canoes. I know that area well.
And it's always been known as Flash Flood Alley. Back when the Native Americans were there before any Europeans showed up, it's flash -- it's the topography, the geology, the hydrology.
But I think your interview with Congressman Sessions was so interesting to me because you pointed out that the county couldn't afford it. Theres only 54,000 people in Kerr County. The whole budget, 67 million, is another million to put up the kind of warnings that that that they need, they couldn't afford it.
I get that. I don't blame those poor folks for being poor or being small, rural. And he said it's not the federal role. Maybe he's right.
There's something in between. My beloved state of Texas, in the last meeting of the legislature, there was a bill to do just this, to spend $500 million to put sirens in addition to other things. But those sirens are key for the reason the congressman said, your cell phones don't work in the hill country, and the camp has to put --
HUNT: You don't carry them at camp.
BEGALA: Sirens work. They're analog. And so, there was a bill to do that, and it spent $500 million, including in some other places where they get other natural disasters. And they voted it down.
And the state representative from that area, Wes Virdell, voted against it. He has now given interviews saying, I would vote differently now. So I want accountability, but there are things we can do. You know, Lincoln said the purpose of government is to do what folks
need to do, but can't do on their own. The people in Kerr County can't build that system on their own, but the people in Texas can. And by the way, they have a rainy day fund in Texas $24 billion in the rainy day fund, more than 22 state budgets. I'm glad -- I'm a fiscal conservative. I like that.
But they got to have they got to half a billion to save these lives. And I really hope and believe that the Republicans have been running my beloved state for 30 years are going to change the way -- the state representative says he's ready to change his vote and just for protection.
HUNT: Scott, we're watching Abbott come up to the microphone here. What do you hope to hear from him right now?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I want to hear what's been going on in the wake of this, to learn from it, but also anytime you're an elected official, when a crisis and a tragedy like this has happened in your jurisdiction, comforting the families and comforting your constituents is one of your top jobs.
And I think what people want to know is, was everything done in advance that could have been done? It sounds like the weather service was staffed. The alerts went out. You know, it does sound like here, despite what we've heard, some people argue ghoulishly I might add that the federal government and the weather service and the local meteorologists did do their jobs here. And so, I guess part of the questions that you start answering at this point is, what can you do better in the future?
But that's part of the comfort of why we have governments is you look to your elected officials to say, here's what we've learned, here's what we can do differently in the future. But I do think it's highly irresponsible for -- and it's been more than a handful of people to look back on this and try to blame President Trump or blame the National Weather Service, when obviously that's not the case.
HUNT: Well, Scott, what would you say? I mean, we heard Kirsten Holmes earlier and we are again, were watching Governor Abbott right now. Seems to be greeting local officials in Hunt. We are again waiting for him in a number of other local officials to come to those microphones to give us an update, to hear from them about the latest here.
So, if I have to jump in and go straight to that, I will. But, Scott, at the White House earlier and Kristen Holmes played the sound bite from Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security, and she said, you know, this is not the federal government's role to manage these disasters. The federal government's role is to come in and support state officials.
Would you hope to -- I mean, I think, you know, we've all seen the emotion just around this table, right, to this, to this tragedy. Do you feel like the Trump administration is stepping up in showing empathy in kind of leading the way we want our political leaders to lead, and maybe you do? JENNINGS: Well, immediately I heard the president say that he told the
officials in Texas, anything you want, we'll give it to you. That's exactly what you want the president to do here.
I do think in the case of the situation, the local people in Texas know best about how to manage this situation. I do think the federal government has resources that can be provided. But I do think there is something to the idea that local officials, state government, local governments are going to know best about deciding what to do next. It is, after all, their area of expertise.
That doesn't mean there isn't necessarily a federal role or federal expertise or federal resources here. Certainly, all those things are provided in the wake of any tragedy like this, but I do think it's important to pay attention to local officials and state officials because ultimately, they have the expertise that you're going to need to not just throw money at it, but to get it right.
HUNT: Let's listen to our state officials right now -- Governor Abbott.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: --- who live around here, including a family member of the owner of the store.
[16:35:01]
I let her know that I first came to the store about 20 years ago, 21 years ago, been to this store every year for many years. I've seen these little campers since they were just a little bit -- bigger than toddlers, young kids. I've seen them grow and mature into beautiful young men and women.
Nothing is as heart wrenching as hearing the stories of what the girls around here, especially the girls at Camp Mystic, went through, to see where they lived in one moment where they disappeared. The next moment and were gone forever a few moments after that.
I wanted these people to know. I want you all to know the hearts of our fellow Texans are breaking every single day because of what people of this community and the surrounding area are going through. There's nothing more important on our hearts and minds than the people of this community, especially those who are still lost. I told them what we were doing, not just today, but what we are going to be doing for the days, weeks and months to come.
This is what they needed to hear. They need to know Texas is in this with the people in the Hill Country right here. We are not leaving until this job is finished.
The job right now, the primary job right now, continues to be locating everybody who is affected by this flood. There's still remain those who are missing. We have to find every single person who's missing. And that's job number one.
While we are doing that job, it's important that we also be conducting other business affecting the storm. We did several things in that regard today. One is to get a better assessment about what exactly needed to be provided for the community. We took a flyover to get that assessment.
I've been here for multiple times over the course of the past two decades, but multiple times over the course of just this one flooding episode. And I have a good feel on the ground of what is needed. But when you're in the air, you get a fuller perspective of how widespread, how catastrophic the damage is and what must be done to fully address it.
We were able to process that better day today when we flew around and on that fly around today, I had with me the speaker of the house, Dustin Burrows, who's going to speak after myself.
I want to provide you with some information, some of which is just now updated. First, the numbers that I have is that there are 94 fatalities, 94 fatalities associated with this flooding event in this area. Separate from that in other flooding events in other parts of the state of Texas. Theres another 15 fatalities for a total of 109.
To put this into perspective, just in the current Kendall County alone, there are far more fatalities than there were in Hurricane Harvey. That's how catastrophic this is.
I also have some updated numbers on those who are missing. First, from Camp Mystic. My information is those are missing is down to now five campers and one counselor, five campers and one counselor missing. In addition to that, there is another child not associated with the camp who is missing. So, for Kerr County, that would be a total of seven who are missing.
In other parts of the state, there are 12 who are missing. I have a new number, however, so one thing we've been reaching out to the public about is to get better information about those who were not registered at a camp, those who were not registered at a hotel, those who may have been down here, who no one really had any accounting of.
And through law enforcement agencies working together, they provided me this number. Just in the Kerr County area alone, there are 161 people who are known to be missing. And again, that comes from combined law enforcement efforts, 161 known people who are missing.
Know this -- we will not stop until every missing person is accounted for. Know this also, there very likely could be more added to that list. One way that we were able to expand the list of those who are missing is because family members, friends, neighbors, et cetera began calling in and reporting them as missing.
What I want to do is once again provide a reminder to anybody watching this that if you have a friend, a family member, somebody that you think may be missing because of the storm, we need you to call the number that I'm about to give you. It is 830-258-1111. That's 830-258- 1111.
If you want to go to a website address, you can go to kerrvillemissing@dps.texas.gov. I'm going to repeat it twice more. That's Kerrville spelled K-E-R-R-V-I-L-L-E, no space than the word missing, M-I-S-S-I-N-G. So kerrvillemissing@dps.texas.gov. So you call that phone number, go to that website and provide the name and the best identification you can. And the last known location of anybody that you think is missing.
Know this also -- if you make a prank call or provide false information, that's a crime. Do not provide false information because you're hindering our ability to undertake this investigation, hindering our ability to actually rescue and find those who truly are missing. So, you better be correct when you're calling in and let us know that there is somebody who is missing.
Importantly, we know that so many families are going through grief. That's beyond anyone's comprehension right now, beyond any of us being able to walk up to them and give them the magic words that will make them suddenly feel healed. We know that they need grief counselors.
We have five organizations that together are providing dozens of grief counselors for all of the affected family members around here. It's so important at times like this for family members to access that grief counseling, so they can have their mental and emotional health needs addressed. And what may be the most challenging time of their lives.
Something else that's to help. As we begin the process of helping places like the Hunt store, the local community, Hunt, Texas, be able to rebuild one. One thing that is speeding that recovery was the immediate granting of the major master declaration that was granted by President Trump. It immediately opened not only access to more funding, but also access to more resources to be able to more quickly and more effectively respond to this storm.
That includes debris removal, which has already begun, and includes assistance for individuals who are eligible to apply. And the director of Texas division of emergency management will explain more about that in a second.
But there are two categories of people or entities that there is money available to, to assist. One, are individuals affected by the storm. Another are public entities like the town of Hunt, like the town of Kerrville, like the county of Kerr, et cetera.
They may have needs with regard to roads or utilities, whatever the case may be. Now, the assistance is available for them to more effectively and more quickly address that.
With regard to roads, anybody driving around here knows that there are some roads that need repairs. The Texas Department of Public Safety is working 24 over seven to make sure they're going to be getting these roads repaired and passable as quickly as possible.
Going back to President Trump, he and I spoke again this morning, and he could not stop talking about how sad he was for all the little girls who have lost their life.
[16:45:01] He recounted his own understanding of what happened with what was really a tsunami wave of wall of water that swept to many of them away, and he cares a lot about those young ladies, and he wants to step up and make sure that any need that we have here in Texas is going to be met very quickly.
And he's already done that by helping to provide the quick assistance, by sending down Secretary Kristi Noem, who listen, I've been dealing with events like this for ten years. Never have I seen someone respond as quickly and as effectively as what Secretary Noem did.
Also, while coming over here, I received this text from Secretary Kennedy. It says the following, says, Governor Abbott, it's Secretary Robert Kennedy. It says, "We are set to declare a public health emergency for the Texas Hill Country flash floods. This will make it easier for health care and mental health providers from out of -- out of state to help, both by traveling to the area and by telemedicine. Please let us know where we can be most helpful," which I will let him know, but I just wanted you to know about that new update.
Now I would like to turn things over to the speaker of the Texas House, Dustin Burrows.
DUSTIN BURROWS, SPEAKER OF THE TEXAS HOUSE: Thank you, Governor.
First, to the members of the community and all those who've been impacted. The survivors, those who've lost loved ones. I know there's not any adequate words any of us can express to share our care and concern. But I want to promise you. Every person in this state, every tip of, we have held you in our thoughts and our prayers, and we will continue to do so as you go through this. And you take care of what I know all Texans can endure.
I had the opportunity to fly with Governor Abbott today over the damaged area. It is hard to comprehend the amount of water that came through in such a short period of time. It is unimaginable what the victims and survivors went through as they were faced with that, and we heard the stories about that.
And looking at the debris and looking at the problems and all of the damage that's been done, I know there's a long road to recovery, but through that we saw some silver linings we saw Texas flags being flown proudly because we know people of this state are resilient. We saw people from all over the state coming together and working and volunteering and trying to begin helping rebuild and continuing with the search and recovery efforts. I have had members of the Texas House from all over the state looking for ways to help.
You have a great local representative with Wes Virdell, but I promise you, every Texan, all 150 members of the Texas House have been looking for ways to help, whether it's helping to raise money or wanting to do things. They are committed to it.
I want to thank Governor Abbott for saying that we will address these issues in a special session in two weeks, and I want to assure you, the Texas House will be organized, we will be ready, and we stand willing and able to listen to the community and experts and do all that we can to help address it from this perspective.
So, thank you all very much for the opportunity. I'll turn over the microphone.
ABBOTT: This is the kind of event that the speaker of the House would have come to in an ordinary situation, when you consider the fact that we're going to start a special session two Mondays from now, a special session that will have at the top of its agenda, helping communities like in Kerr County, Kendall County, as well as in central Texas and the big country. All areas affected by the floods of the past week.
Those issues are going to be on the agenda for the state to address from top to bottom. We want to make sure that when we're in that session, we end it, making sure these communities are better, more resilient and have the resources that they need for the next chapter of their lives.
Now we have the director of the Texas department of public safety, Freeman Martin.
COL. FREEMAN F. MARTIN, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Governor, thank you.
The governor said it. We have 109 fatalities and 161 missing.
[16:50:01]
Every asset and resource that the Department of Public Safety has is being used on this response. We have 258 people just from DPS assigned here in Kerrville. They're from the highway patrol, the tactical marine unit, criminal investigators, Texas Rangers, SWAT, Audi and ICT and victim services.
And you ask, well, what are all these do? Everybody does something different. Everybody understands search and rescue. When the governor mentioned 161 missing, the city of Kerrville stood up a line that if you can't get a hold of a loved one, if they're missing in the Kerrville area, call this number. That number grew to several hundred.
These analysts work with Kerr County sheriff's department and the Kerrville police department to narrow that down. People that have been identified as deceased, people who have been found alive, deconflicted the numbers that have been reported twice. And we are still down to 161 missing.
All I can tell you is there's nothing to celebrate about how well we've done this far, but there's a lot of work to be done. And we're thankful that the speaker standing behind us and the governor, the Texas legislature, has funded us, and we're properly staffed and equipped to respond to this.
Just this last session a few weeks ago, we were given six replacement helicopters and one fixed wing. That is exactly what we use to respond to these.
I'll tell you another thing. We're not -- we have plenty of resources but at the same time, we're not turning down one resource until we recover every last person on this list of 161.
So, we have FBI, DEA, HSI, the United States Border Patrol, the United States Coast Guard, everybody working together under a unified command. And we won't stop until we finish.
A couple of things, right now in Burnet County, we have three zodiac boats and 26 DPS personnel from the tactical marine unit and the Texas Highway Patrol continuing searching.
I'm in constant communication with the Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez. They are helping us at the medical examiner's office. At the same time, they have as many as ten people that are missing from Travis County.
As we pulled in the parking lot, I got off the phone with the Williamson. They recovered the three people that were swept away, and just minutes ago they recovered their last victim in Williamson County.
There's a lot of work to be done in Kerr County and Kendall County. We will continue to grow this and add additional agencies as we go forward. But we want the governors right. We won't stop until every last body is recovered, alive or not.
So, thank you very much. Thank you, Governor.
ABBOTT: Thank you.
Now, General Suelzer with the Texas National Guard.
MAJOR GEN. THOMAS SUELZER, ADJUTANT GENERAL OF TEXAS: Thank you, Governor.
I just got off a helicopter -- about an hour-long helicopter trip with the governor. And I can tell you what I saw was miles and miles of massive devastation.
The Texas National Guard will stay here working with our federal, state and local partners to search for the missing and to help our communities recover.
ABBOTT: We can't hear.
SUELZER: We will continue using assets such as search crews on the ground, high profile military vehicles, Black Hawk helicopters with rescue hoists and heavy Chinook helicopters in order to conduct search and rescue, evacuation and insert critical safety teams into austere areas to help lifesaving.
Aiding us in the effort today is the arrival of four Black Hawk helicopters from the state of Arkansas. That grows our agency count to 13 helicopters in support of this effort. Additionally, overhead, for the last three days, we have had MQ9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft conducting search and rescue operations.
We are working with other states to get additional crews to support so that we can expand the coverage of that search and rescue operation.
And lastly, we have shelter management crews that are working within the community to help those in need.
I would like to close by saying something that the governor has said many times before. He said it many times today, but I'll emphasize it. Your national guard will not leave until every person is found, and we will not leave until our communities are recovered.
[16:55:02]
Thank you.
ABBOTT: Thank you.
General Suelzer rightfully mentioned and thanked the state of Arkansas for helping out with those Black Hawks, as well as other resources. I jotted down from memory what I think is every state that I know has either provided help or offered it, or is on its way. I say that I'm hoping I'm not leaving anybody out, but our fellow governors and fellow states are helping out from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and I regret if I missed your state. I'll try to come back to it here in a second.
But next is Chief Nim Kidd with the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
CHIEF NIM KIDD, TEXAS DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thank you, Governor.
I want to start by thanking all of you for standing out here in this heat and experiencing a little bit of what the volunteers and first responders are dealing with around the clock as we continue our search.
We have four priorities. They are the continuation of the search. They are debris cleanup and removal. They are supporting individual assistance programs and public assistance programs. I'm going to dive into some of the details of those.
We continue our search operations, not just here in Kerr County, but in the other five counties. We have people that are reported missing. As you can see and hear, by the trucks passing by. Debris cleanup is well underway.
I want to thank the volunteers and all of the private sector partners that are out there working on debris operations right now. This will aid in the continuation of our search.
We are pushing forward to help those whose homes and businesses have been impacted through the FEMA individual assistance program, the president's program has people here on the ground today that are working to get people registered through our website and start opening disaster recovery centers today and tomorrow. Damage assessments for those locals are still underway, and we've had over 1,000 submissions into the iSTAT program. Please, if you have not submitted into the iSTAT program yet and your home or business was impacted, you send that information to us.
Next --
ABBOTT: Well, that didn't work out.
KIDD: Continue to work on our public assistance for our communities, working to get our roads repaired, our debris cleaned up, our water, wastewater and utilities back up online.
Finally, I need your help in getting the message out to help keep the roads cleared. Youve seen a lot of damage in these roads as our TxDOT crews are out trying to repair those roads right now, while we still have a lot of traffic in our emergency operations.
I want to thank you again for your time and your patience and helping us get this message out.
ABBOTT: Thank you, Chief.
Yesterday, I met with families at Camp Mystic. I made a commitment to them. A day before I met with residents of Kerrville. Today, I met with residents of Hunt.
I made a promise to all of them, Texas will not stop until we finish the job. We will not stop until we identify, recover every single body, will not stop until every road is rebuilt. Every inch of debris is removed. We'll not stop because we are a state that cares about our people, cares about our communities, and we'll be with them every step of the way.
We'll take a few questions.
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) said they didn't receive any emergency alerts on their phones. Are you going to have that conversation with the city manager? (INAUDIBLE)
He really didn't respond to our questions related to how long it took him to evacuate. Can you speak on that?
ABBOTT: So, obviously, the local officials who were on the ground at the time would know the most about that. But let's talk about it in this way. That's going to be one of the issues that we begin to address in less than two weeks in the state legislature. We're going to address every aspect of this storm to make sure that we're going to have in place the systems that are needed to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future.
REPORTER: Governor --
REPORTER: When Uvalde happened, you led an investigation. Are you going to ask for investigation in this case?
ABBOTT: So, we said when Harvey happened?
REPORTER: No, Uvalde.
ABBOTT: Oh, Uval --
REPORTER: When Uvalde happened --
ABBOTT: Yeah.
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
Now this happened (INAUDIBLE) enormous. Are you going to ask for an investigation?
ABBOTT: Right. So, I'm going to talk about two different things. The first part of your question, and that is an investigation.
