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White House Making Plans for Trump to Visit Texas on Friday; Urgent Search for Survivors After at Least 90 Killed in Texas Floods; 27 Campers and Counselors Killed in Texas Floods From Camp Mystic. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 07, 2025 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[14:01:13]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Hello, I'm Boris Sanchez in Kerrville, Texas, coming to you live alongside Jessica Dean in Washington, D.C. And happening right now, we just learned from the White House that President Donald Trump is planning to make a potential visit on Friday to Central Texas, which has been devastated by the weekend's flash floods. The death toll now stands at 89, and that number is expected to increase as the urgent search and rescue operation is now in its fourth day.

Dozens of people remain missing, and among those still unaccounted for are 10 campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic, which is just down the road from where we are in Hunt, Texas. Last hour, I spoke with U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer and 3rd Class Petty Officer Scott Ruskan. He and his team helped to air rescue 165 campers who were trapped at that all-girls camp. And he described those harrowing moments for us. Listen to this.

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SCOTT RUSKAN, U.S. COAST GUARD RESCUE SWIMMER: Well, there's going to be a lot of heroics from this, not only from like first responders, but just the people that were the survivors, right? Like caught in the flood, these camp counselors and the kids too, like, they have being so brave and tough and like, I know there's a lot of them I was able to kind of like get hands on with. And if you guys -- yeah, seriously, like you guys were the best. Like, I'm sorry this happened to you guys, but you guys were so brave and tough, and it made me like a better rescuer because you guys were acting so bravely.

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SANCHEZ: Let's go now live to another location, which has been devastated by flooding. CNN's Isabel Rosales is in Center Point. Isabel, what are you seeing there?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, as the death toll keeps rising by the day and with still so many people missing, we're witnessing hundreds of volunteers coming out. You can see this long line of cars that doesn't even give you an idea of how many people have come out here. It still keeps going just north of me. You mentioned earlier on in your show, I think maybe in the last hour, how we heard from the Kerrville mayor. Perhaps it was the city manager saying, Hey, volunteers, stay out of the way. You're slowing us down.

Well, this right here appears to be an area where they are allowed to organize and they have a passion for doing this. They want to come here, whether it's with their bare hands or with heavy machinery over here to get rid of this debris and do every little bit that they can to make sure that every single square inch from here, this tributary that runs into the Guadalupe River and on for 25 miles, all the way to Camp Mystic and Hunt, that everything is searched for, and these missing loved ones are accounted for.

This is where they're meeting up right here in this volunteer fire department. You can see some of them taking a well-deserved lunch, eating, taking some water. This Texan sun is definitely beating down on them right now. I want you to listen to a volunteer who I spoke with earlier in the day. He's a Marine. What brought him out here to do his part?

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MICHAEL GUYER, VOLUNTEER: What inspired me is the fact that I figured I could be prioritizing myself in an important way, even though I'm not actively involved as a first responder and everything, I figured I can at least come and help relieve them of some stress and exhaustion.

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ROSALES: And Boris, they're bringing everything that they can, whether it's horses, dogs, ATV, chainsaws, doing things by hand. But, it's not to say it's not dangerous because there's barbed wire all over the place that these flood waters took down. I stepped in it myself. Thankfully, I have thick boots. It's all muddy. There are fire ants and I mentioned again, like the potential of heat stroke from this hot sun. So definitely, dangerous out here. But they said that even though they don't want to make the discovery of a victim, they think it's so important to give these families that are so desperate for answers the closure that they need. Boris?

[14:05:00]

SANCHEZ: Yeah, any kind of solace as they are so desperate to learn of the fate of their loved ones. Isabel Rosales from Center Point, thank you much.

Just to give you an idea of what it looks like where I am here in Kerrville, we are just off the Guadalupe River in a park that overlooks what is typically a very calm river. Overnight, seemingly in a matter of hours, that river became a wall of water some 20 plus feet high, and it captured all kinds of debris, enormous trees, these big thick cypress trees as well as vehicles, wildlife, even people. We've had reports of people being swept in these floods, being found miles from where the waters picked them up.

And right here, you're watching as crews work to clear a bridge that is just pummeled with debris, where all of that detritus, all that brush collected. That bridge is about 15 to 20 feet off the ground, off the water from where the Guadalupe is. So you can imagine just how immense the devastation is, and the width of it is impressive too. It's hard to capture with a camera lens because you could see just, at an angle here, uphill from us, where this water almost went into neighborhoods, you get a visual there from where Camp Mystic is, where Hunt is, and where Kerrville is. This enormous body of water leaving piles and piles of debris.

And I can tell you, just walking in this area, there is death underneath some of these piles. We walked around in parts where there was just the smell of rotting flesh permeating the atmosphere. This is going to be a very difficult effort for folks, not only to clear stuff out of the way, but also to find sadly what no one wants to find, what remains of people that were in the area when this wall of water came through. And a lot of the focus is on Camp Mystic right now.

The tragedy there impacting so many lives, including those with extremely close ties to the campground. We want to discuss with April Ancira. She spent many summers at Camp Mystic as a kid. Thank you so much for being with us. First, I just wonder what your reaction is to the confirmed deaths of 27 campers and counselors, and the fact that there are still 11 people connected to the camp who are missing.

APRIL ANCIRA, FORMER CAMPER AT CAMP MYSTIC: Yeah, myself and others that didn't even attend the camp, maybe we don't even have a relationship to somebody missing. Collectively, all feel like it's a gut punch. We feel sick to our stomachs. Some of us feel like, we don't know what to do, how we can help. Luckily, there's stuff that we can do. We can make some donations. We can volunteer if we go to the Salvation Army to not overwhelm the volunteer situation that they actually already have, which is quite wonderful. But we honestly, we're all just sick to our stomachs about it.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, I can imagine. April, I understand you started going to Camp Mystic when you were about eight years old. What was the camp like for you? Talk to us about your emotional connection to it.

ANCIRA: Yeah, the camp was absolutely magical. I went into a cabin called Nut Hut, which was one of the ones next to Bubble Inn and Twins that maybe people have seen brought up online. So, I'm not even sure if that -- if Nut Hut is still standing at this point. But, the camp was so inclusive of, if you were an extrovert, an introvert, if you wanted to stay inside and do arts and crafts, or maybe you wanted to go outside and try something new like archery or riflery or horseback. So, those memories were fantastic of love, faith, and gathering.

And I still stay in contact with people from Mystic because I went from eight years old to 14. And you know, I was watching a video of some of these campers leave in a bus, and they were all singing these songs. And what was incredible is I found that I have remembered every single song. And I was crying and singing the songs along with them as they were being evacuated. So, those memories are pretty special, especially the ones that I have with the co-owners, Dick and Tweety Eastland. SANCHEZ: Yeah. And we confirmed earlier through his son, sadly, that he passed away. I wonder, as you're hearing stories of bravery coming out of Camp Mystic, there was one counselor that helped evacuate 14 of her campers. I believe her name is Emma Foltz and she's a rising senior at Louisiana Tech. How does that make you feel, seeing that these counselors just a few years removed from being kids themselves, are helping the youngest and most vulnerable around them?

[14:10:00]

ANCIRA: It's definitely harrowing. It's amazing to see, it gives me chills. Even nearby, one of my friends had a son that went to a camp nearby called La Junta, and they had a chain that they linked, a human chain out to somebody stuck by a tree. It was floating away and they got him to safety. So I'm not surprised, especially if any of these counselors went to Mystic prior to be as campers, prior to being counselors, everything at Mystic instills that kind of leadership, that kind of camaraderie to help somebody in need when they need to.

And I know that one of Dick Eastland's last acts was actually one of heroism himself and that he was concerned about some of the cabins flooding, went down with his truck, was trying to evacuate as fast as possible. And I believe he did get some to safety and -- but unfortunately, succumbed to his injuries, which is heartbreaking.

SANCHEZ: I wonder what was he like?

ANCIRA: Yeah, so I mean, one of the best memories, and I think this is one that so many campers tend to share with me. If you go anywhere online, you're going to see a fishing story. The banks had plenty of catfish and bass, and it was actually one of the electives or classes you could take a camp that I look forward to every year. And he always said, no girl has ever left that class without catching a fish. And if you didn't, and if you hadn't, by the end, he would stand there and make sure you caught one on the line. And I clearly remember, being on the banks and the fish, the catfish I got was so big, I kind of slipped down into the water about ankle deep. He was excited, laughing. He came running. He did most of the reeling in. I have to be honest, I was -- ended up in the lake myself from not doing so well.

And he reeled that fish and it was a pretty heavy one. And if you got a pretty good one, you got your fish, you and Dick in the paper. And he knew every person by first and last name, their history, where they came from. Both him and Tweedy were definitely like that. And they gave you a sense of confidence that, I mean, you can't get that anywhere else. It just was -- it was phenomenal. It was phenomenal. So my memories of him wrapping his arms around so many campers and being so excited to see them excel is incredible. And that's all you're going to find online about him.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Heartfelt memory to keep as a reminder of Mr. Eastland, our hearts go out to his family and everyone that he touched. April Ancira, thank you so much for being with us.

ANCIRA: Oh, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to tell the story. SANCHEZ: Of course. As you hear the story of Mr. Eastland, that's just one of so many here coming from Central Texas. A lot of folks need help right now, and you can lend them a hand. If you go to cnn.com/impact, we have more information there on how you can help the victims of this flooding. You can also text Flood to 707070. We still have plenty more news to come on CNN. As April just mentioned, a nurse from Camp Mystic shared a video, showing a bus full of campers while being evacuated to the Reunification Center. Let's actually listen.

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(KIDS SINGING)

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[14:19:39]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": It is an incredible statistic that four months worth of rain fell in just hours in Central Texas, leading to this deadliest flooding in generations that we've been covering for several days now. And CNN's Brian Todd has been digging into weather. The weather alerts happened. What they said. Who got what when. Brian, what have you been finding?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, a lot of attention being paid this afternoon to the timeline of the rainfall and the flooding, and whether the warnings issued on Thursday night and Friday were actually adequate. A wall of water surged down the Guadalupe River in the overnight hours, limiting the number of people who could get those warnings. The National Weather Service began forecasting the threat of flooding in Kirk County as early as Thursday morning, July 3rd, with a hazardous flood outlook.

At 1:18 p.m. Central Time on Thursday, a flood watch was issued highlighting Kerrville among other locations as being at risk of flash flooding. But local officials have pointed out those forecasts were for a lot less rain than the amount that actually ended up falling. There were several technical forecasts throughout Thursday afternoon and evening with increasingly heightened language about the magnitude of the potential flooding. At 6:30 p.m. Central Time on Thursday, river forecasters were calling for locally intense rain rates that would "quickly overwhelm the ground's ability to absorb the water."

[14:20:00]

Now we move ahead to Friday morning, 1:14 a.m. Central Time on Friday morning, the first warning for life threatening flash floods for parts of Kirk County, including Camp Mystic and points west of Kerrville, those came and they were marked specifically to trigger the emergency alert system. But that would've sounded the alarm on cell phones in the warned area, assuming that those cell phones had service and their users had not turned off the alerts. And we know that cell service in that area is spotty on some occasions. At 4:03 a.m. Central Time on Friday, a flash flood emergency warning was issued for Kirk County. At 4:35 a.m. Central Time, the Kirk County Sheriff's Office sent the first report of flooding at low water crossings. Here was the crucial moment in time here, at 5:00 a.m. Central Time on Friday, the Guadalupe River burst from its banks, sweeping homes, cars, cabins, and people downstream. At 5:34 a.m. Central Time, a flash flood emergency warning was issued for Kerrville.

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, he spoke at a news conference a short time ago, and he talked about the timeline of these warnings.

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SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX): We know the National Weather Service put out an emergency warning just after 1:00 a.m. and a second emergency warning just after 4:00 a.m. Now, obviously, most people at 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. are asleep. And so, I think we will have a reasonable conversation about, A, are there any ways to have earlier detection? And some of that, the limits of a flash flood, they're very difficult because they can arise so quickly. But everyone would agree, in hindsight, if we could go back and do it again, we would evacuate particularly those in the most vulnerable areas.

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TODD: And as Jessica mentioned earlier, four months of rainfall fell on that area in just a matter of hours. It took about 90 minutes for a flood wave that measured about 20 feet to move down the Guadalupe River overnight Thursday into Friday. This was the river's second highest crest on record, Jessica. It was horrific, in just a matter of hours.

DEAN: Yeah. When you go through the numbers, it really kind of paints that picture.

TODD: Yeah.

DEAN: -- to go with all of these horrible images that we've seen as well. There's also some vacancies at the National Weather Service that you've been digging into. What did you learn about those?

TODD: A lot of questions about those vacancies and what they really meant in reality here. According to CNN's reporting, this is by our colleagues, Andrew Friedman, Emma Tucker and Mary Gilbert, there are two offices of the National Weather Service in Texas that are closely involved in forecasting and warning about flooding on the Guadalupe River. Those are the Austin San Antonio office of the National Weather Service and its office in San Angelo, Texas. Now, they are missing some key staff members, but they still issued several watches and warnings about the flood danger that we just went over in that -- in that timeline.

Now, Tom Fahy, he is the Legislative Director for the National Weather Services' Employees Union. He told CNN that while he believes the offices had, "adequate staffing and resources," the Austin San Antonio office is missing a person who they call a Warning Coordination Meteorologist, a role that serves as a crucial direct link between forecasters and emergency managers.

We can also tell you that this morning, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she is not aware of any breakdown in emergency warning systems that could have contributed to the high death toll. But Kerrville City Manager, Dalton Rice, he is saying now that officials are doing -- are committed to doing "a full review of events and the systems in place" after so many questions have been raised about all this, Jessica. This is going to have to be a forensic review here of the warnings that went out, were they adequate.

That one person, that one liaison that's missing from that one office, could that person have been the person to get these warnings to these people? Or were they in such remote area with no cell service that they couldn't have gotten them anyway? Questions that have to be answered.

DEAN: And it sounds like that will -- that will be looked into as time goes by.

TODD: Yes.

DEAN: Brian Todd, thank you so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's dig deeper on this and discuss with Rick Spinrad who led NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under President Biden. The National Weather Service, we should note, is part of NOAA. Rick, thank you so much for being with us. How do you assess the warnings that were given to residents ahead of this flooding?

RICK SPINRAD, FORMER NOAA ADMINISTRATOR, BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: Yeah, I think Brian did an excellent job of walking through the timeline. The weather service did their job, in terms of getting watches and warnings and what are called WEAs, the Wireless Emergency Alerts out. We all know those WEAs, you get them on your phone when there's lightning, when there's severe storms coming through. And that was about three to four hours before the very serious flooding. So that part was done.

The really challenging part is the connectivity between the forecast, the watches and the warnings, and the emergency management community, what a lot of people call the last mile. And while it's too soon to give a definitive analysis of where things might have broke down, but it does look like, on first blush, the communications breakdown happened at that last mile. And the role of the Warning Coordination Meteorologist that Brian alluded to is critical in that last mile of communications.

[14:25:00]

SANCHEZ: Tell us more about that, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist. What, and again, just to be clear, this is still early going in the process of figuring out exactly what happened. But, what role do they take on and would have having someone there fulfilling that role potentially have made a difference?

SPINRAD: So again, we're going to need to see what the communications network looked like. But think of it this way, Boris. When you send a message, there's no guarantee that it's received. So someone needs to follow-up, someone needs to confirm receipt of that message, effectively. That's what the Warning Coordination Meteorologist does. Typically, the WCM will be having a direct line of communications with local emergency managers, with FEMA, with local, jurisdiction authorities to find out, have all the appropriate people gotten the severity of the message.

Remember, this message said it was considerable and catastrophic impact. So, somebody needed to receive that message. Somebody needed to confirm receipt and somebody needed to be there to consult with, with regard to next actions taken. Are we going to see more rain? Are winds going to pick up? That's what that critical WCM function does.

SANCHEZ: I also wonder, Rick, the timing of this. Obviously, this flooding came very late at night. Essentially, very early in the morning, is really what happened. And I wonder, so often I get these alerts and folks don't think twice about them. I would say most of the time, unless there had been some other more expressive, more direct warning, I'm from Florida and I think of hurricanes coming. Usually, you have days in advance of warning. It's not clear that there were days in advance where folks were aware that this kind of flooding could happen. What do you make of the idea that this flood was coming and a lot of folks didn't know, and it was essentially unavoidable?

SPINRAD: So there are a few thoughts. One is redundancy in warning systems is critical. And perhaps a better example than the hurricanes in Florida might be tornadoes in the Midwest where when a tornado is bearing down, you'll get that wireless emergency alert. And in many towns and localities, there'll also be a siren system which emergency authorities have access to. So, you want to do everything in your capacity. Also, if you think about, again, the timeline that Brian raised, there was more than a day's initial indications that there could be serious flooding.

So arguably, emergency managers should be on alert. They should be prepared. And the redundant warning system really could have been a critical factor in saving so many lives.

SANCHEZ: Rick Spinrad, we thank you so much for sharing your expertise and your point of view.

SPINRAD: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: And as we head to break, we want to honor one of the victims of the flooding here in Texas. Jane Ragsdale. She was the co-owner and camp director for Heart O' the Hills. The camp says that she influenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful. We actually have video from last month of Jane playing the guitar and singing along with campers. She sings, let there always be a song.

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