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Kerr County Officials Dodge Questions on Flood Response Timeline; Netanyahu Meets With U.S. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill; Trump's Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff to Join Gaza Ceasefire Talks; More Than 60 Reported Dead Following Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza; 108 People Confirmed Dead in Central Texas Floods. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired July 08, 2025 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:32:21]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Back out live in Kerr County, Texas, reporters grilled officials here today about their actions before the deadly flooding that's claimed at least 108 lives. The sheriff and other government leaders said that answers will come soon, but right now, their teams are focused on rescue and recovery. In the meantime, CNN has been granted permission to report on a real- time messaging system run by the National Weather Service, and listen to this.
A review of the hours over which the flooding was getting more and more intense shows that there was no Emergency Manager from Kerr County interacting with the National Weather Service staff on this system in the hours before the flooding, even as emergency officials from other counties were. And as the waters rose, it's unclear from our reporting right now whether any Kerr County officials were reading the messages of other counties at a critical point during the flooding.
Let's get some perspective from meteorologists and climatologist, Tom Di Liberto. He's a former Climate Scientist at NOAA, which oversees the National Weather Service. Tom is now the Media Director for Climate Central. Thank you so much for being with us, Tom. I just want to get your reaction to --
TOM DI LIBERTO, FORMER NOAA CLIMATE SCIENTIST: Thank you for having me.
SANCHEZ: -- how Kerr County officials -- of course -- your reaction to how Kerr County officials were apparently not interacting with the National Weather Service on this message system at what appear to be critical points during this disaster and before.
LIBERTO: When it comes to extreme events like this and flash flooding, we know time is of the essence, which is one of the reasons why even if you had a perfect weather forecast, it is only as good as whether that forecast gets in the right hands at the right time so the right actions could be taken. And it's clear that what happened here is that we had a breakdown, and we saw the results of that when we had this nightmarish scenario of heavy rain falling overnight, leading to flash flooding during a holiday weekend.
SANCHEZ: I want to get your thoughts on some messages that we're hearing that appear to be contradictory. And I wonder whether you see them as contradictory or not. The position of Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the Austin-San Antonio Weather Forecast office was apparently vacant on July 4th, but an NWS spokesperson tells CNN that the forecast offices for Austin-San Antonio and San Angelo, they had extra personnel on duty during the catastrophic flooding event in Texas's hill country. How are you reading the staffing situation? Is additional staff enough to overcome that one key position being vacant?
[13:35:00]
LIBERTO: So that one Coordination Meteorologist's role is obviously important when an extreme event is occurring, but it's just as important in the months leading up to potentially there being an extreme event because that's the person that liaises with emergency managers, state and local officials. And a lot of that important relationship building happens when there isn't an extreme event. So when there is an extreme event that just happened, sure, the Weather Service had the amount of weather forecasters they needed to get that forecast out.
But again, as I mentioned previously, a forecast is only as good as getting into the right hands. And that is a key thing. And without someone like a Warning Coordination Meteorologist who has those relationships built in, there could be the potential that messages get lost. And then again, when time is of the essence, you cannot have messages getting lost.
SANCHEZ: Yeah. I also wonder what you make of locals on the ground telling us that they did not get those emergency alerts on their phones and also the sheriff of Kerr County telling reporters that he wasn't aware of the flash floods until between four and five that morning. That was around the time that the Guadalupe River overcame its banks and where we saw most of the devastation. What does that tell you?
LIBERTO: This is a nightmare scenario. This is the sort of thing that keeps meteorologists up at night. You have just torrential rain falling in one location. It's happening overnight while people are all sleeping. And in an area where there are tourists visiting up and down these rivers where, which are very flood prone. And it's incredibly difficult to get the information out on a day when there are people -- in the middle of the day, let alone overnight. And it just goes to show that just because we have warnings that go out via phone and it's not enough, it's not enough just to have those sorts of measures.
There needs to be additional ways of getting this information out, especially in places which might have poor cell phone reception, and just people who may not be able to get the information when they need to.
SANCHEZ: Tom Di Liberto, so great to get your perspective. Thanks for joining us. LIBERTO: Yeah. Thank you for having me.
SANCHEZ: Of course. Amid tragedies like this one with so much innocent life lost, we try to look for hope and inspiration, especially among heroes who step up when things are at their bleakest. And two volunteers here in Kerrville, Gloria and Javier Cazares know a lot about loss and about having their lives rearranged in just moments. Gloria and Javier's daughter Jackie was killed at the Rob Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas during a mass shooting there. And when they heard about what was going on here in Kerrville, they sprung into action, filling a trailer full of donated clothes, food, cleaning supplies, diapers, pet food, everything you might imagine that folks would need, delivering them to people badly in need of help.
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GLORIA CAZARES, HELPING VICTIMS IN HONOR OF DAUGHTER KILLED IN UVALDE, TEXAS: We know exactly how those parents feel and maybe even the last little hope, the hope that you have that feeling and just to know that your daughter's not coming home. We knew we had to help. We knew we had to do something, but they supported us quite a bit. The company that I worked for, their main office is in Kerrville. And my company alone did quite a bit for me during our tragedy. So, we knew we had to give back to our community too.
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[13:43:00]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers. He's expected to meet with President Trump later today about a potential Gaza ceasefire as Israel unleashes new airstrikes in Gaza. Just moments ago at that cabinet meeting, the President's Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff talked about the prospects for a deal.
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STEVE WITKOFF, UNITED STATES SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: We're in, proximity talks now, and we had four issues, and now we're down to one after two days of proximity talks. So, we are hopeful that by the end of this week, we will have an agreement that we'll bring us into a 60-day ceasefire. 10 live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released. We're meeting at the president's direction with all the hostage families to let them know, and we think that this will lead to a lasting peace.
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DEAN: Hospital officials in Southern Gaza report more than 60 were killed in predawn strikes that IDF officials say, targeted several parts of the region enforced mandatory evacuations. The Israeli military also says five IDF soldiers were killed, and more than a dozen wounded in an incident in Gaza. Let's turn now to CNN Jerusalem Correspondent, Jeremy Diamond. He's here with the latest on the ceasefire talks. Jeremy from your sources and what you are hearing, how close are we to a deal at this point?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, there's no question that a lot of progress has been made over the last few days of those proximity talks, as you just heard Steve Witkoff saying there. But there are still some sticking points that do indeed remain. And so, all of my sources have been cautioning me that even though there is a lot of momentum here, a lot of progress being made, they all caution that this deal is not done until it is truly finalized between these two parties.
And one of the sticking points that I'm told that has been dragging on these negotiations is this issue of the Israeli withdrawal from parts of Gaza over the course of this 60-day ceasefire, both the positions to which they would withdraw to and also the timeline for withdrawal.
[13:45:00]
And once again, you're going to hear a term that we've heard many times before, and that is the Philadelphi Corridor, that is that strip of land inside of Gaza, along the Egyptian border, which the Israeli military has controlled for nearly a year now. And the Israelis seem reluctant to withdraw from that portion of the corridor. And that is one of the issues as these Israeli and Hamas officials now take out the maps and look at the positioning of Israeli troops during this ceasefire, that is one of the issues that remains. If indeed this deed does come to fruition, you would see the release of about 10 living hostages, more than half of the deceased hostages still remaining in Gaza. And perhaps most importantly, assurances from President Trump that Israel will negotiate during those 60 days and beyond it, if necessary, for a permanent ceasefire. An end to the war in Gaza is ultimately what the United States is driving towards. And while we haven't heard Prime Minister Netanyahu commit to that, that certainly seems to be what the U.S. is pushing for.
DEAN: And Jeremy, there are some in Israel calling for ceasefire talks to end after the deaths of those five IDF soldiers, I was just talking about earlier. What more are you hearing about that?
DIAMOND: Yeah, the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has tried to stand in the way of one ceasefire deal after the next, one hostage release deal after the next, he is now seizing upon the deaths of these five Israeli soldiers to argue that Israel should stop negotiating with Hamas altogether and return, in the way that he wants to, to an intense war in the Gaza Strip. It is important to note though that his view is the minority view and it certainly is not representative of the views of the hostage families who have been calling for a deal that would not only bring all the hostages home, but also end the war in Gaza.
And their voices indeed coincide with the majority of Israelis who also would like to see such a deal ultimately unfold. And so really now, the choice for Prime Minister Netanyahu that lays before him is does he go with what the majority of the Israeli public wants and what President Trump is pushing him to do, or does he listen to his right- wing allies like Itamar Ben-Gvir, like Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, these right-wing governing partners who are critical to his governing coalition, but nonetheless represent a more extreme minority view in Israel.
Ultimately, we will see this week of negotiations as well as this evening, Prime Minister Netanyahu sitting down once again with President Trump. Steve Witkoff, President Trump's Special Envoy traveling to the region once again later this week. This is a critical week for these ceasefire talks and it could be make or break. Jessica?
DEAN: All right, more to come. Jeremy Diamond, live for us from Tel Aviv. Thank you so much for that reporting. As the death toll in Texas now climbs to 108 people, we have an update from a father we met this weekend. You may have seen our interview with Ty Badon, who was desperately searching for his daughter. And today, he has some answers.
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[13:52:50]
DEAN: And we continue to remember the victims of the tragic flooding event in Texas. The father of Joyce Catherine Badon tells CNN his daughter's body was discovered after several days of searching. Badon had traveled more than 300 miles from Beaumont, Texas to hunt in order to help look for his daughter. In an interview on Saturday, he told our Ed Lavandera, Joyce Catherine was staying with friends at a cabin when the floods hit.
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TY BADON, DAUGHTER JOYCE CATHERINE BADON DIED IN TEXAS FLOODS: They were on the phone with Aiden's dad who -- they owned the house where they were. It was a very nice house, no longer there. And Aiden said, Hey, I've got to go. I got to help Ella and Reece. So he gave the phone to Joyce Catherine. Joyce Catherine said they just got washed away, and then a few seconds later, the phone went dead. And that's all we know. So, we presume that she got washed away as well. And if you go back to where the house is, it's not a good sign.
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DEAN: Ty told CNN, my only ask is to please keep praying for me, Kelly and our son Nick, as we live our lives without Joyce Catherine being here with us on earth. Joyce Catherine Badon was 21 years old.
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BADON: And our daughter goes to a school called Savannah College of Art and Design.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a super famous school. She's very talented.
BADON: We'd never heard of it. And she came home and said, I want to go there. OK. We've never heard of it. LAVANDERA: So she's an artist?
BADON: Actually, she's an architect major.
LAVANDERA: Oh, OK. That makes sense too. Yeah.
BADON: She's going to be -- she's a senior. She's got like a few hours left and then she's going to apply for grad school.
LAVANDERA: Yeah.
BADON: Too late. She wants to go.
LAVANDERA: Can you tell us about your daughter?
BADON: Yes. She's a beautiful girl and I think I sent you a picture. Just a wonderful girl and I couldn't ask for a better daughter. All through schools, just easy, no shenanigans or anything like that. I mean, she was a normal girl who would have fun.
[13:55:00]
But yes, we loved her dearly.
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