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Flash Flooding Hits Towns in Texas Leading to Dozens Missing; Texas Authorities Launch Rescue Missions to Search for Missing after Flash Floods; President Trump Signs Tax and Spending Bill after Legislation Passes in House of Representatives; Elon Musk Considers Creating Third Political Party in U.S. after Passage of Tax and Spending Bill; Israel and Hamas in Negotiations Overseen by White House for 60-Day Ceasefire Agreement; New Data Shows Unemployment Rate Among Black Americans at Highest Level in More than Three Years; Music Mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs Facing Sentencing after Conviction of Two Prostitution Charges; Tropical Storm Chantal Forming Off U.S. Southeast Coast. Aired 10-11a ET.

Aired July 05, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Live from the CNN Newsroom right now, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin with the breaking news out of Texas. Flash flood emergencies were issued in central Texas this morning after more heavy rainfall overwhelming areas that have already faced massive flooding. The new warnings come as rescue crews continue to work to find those missing in yesterday's flash floods that have killed at least 24 people so far. Rescue crews worked nonstop overnight to locate those left stranded or swept away by this catastrophic flooding. And it began early Friday morning.

More than 20 girls who were at a private Christian summer camp near the Guadalupe River are still unaccounted for. Officials say 237 people overall have been rescued, with the majority of the rescues being conducted by helicopter.

Texas Governor Abbott briefed the public on Friday on the ongoing rescue efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT, (R) TEXAS: They will continue in the darkness of night. They will be taking place when the sun rises in the morning. They will be nonstop, seeking to find everybody who is unaccounted for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Even though this area of Texas is used to seeing flooding, residents said that they were caught off guard by the amount of rain that they experienced and how fast the waters rose. CNN's senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera is live for us in Ingram, Texas. What a horrible situation. We can see the debris build up behind you, and the water is still very high in some areas. Tell us more about the search and rescue efforts.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, this morning, as we've been able to come a little bit further into the areas that have been hardest hit by these floodwaters, just heartbreaking and devastating scenes. We've been able to move from Ingram, which you mentioned off the top, a little bit further upstream. We are in the town of Hunt. And this was a popular kind of hangout area deck where people could look out over the river here. And you can see just how much water was in this area. The river is probably a good 100 yards from where we're standing, and it's actually much lower. But all of this water came up way over our heads here, just to kind of give you a sense of how much flood waters, and then the power and the ferociousness that that water was moving through this area as it moved and shredded trees apart, moved and taking over what was once this popular river deck. It used to be a restaurant, and now it's a store. But this was a popular hangout place for people here in Hunt, and visitors to this area spoke with the owner of the place, who told us her son was actually in here, had to crawl out through a window on the other side around 3:00 in the morning to escape from the floodwaters.

And Fredricka, we're also seeing just heartbreaking scenes here. Just a moment ago, there was a man from Beaumont who is -- was we heard just over the ridge here calling out for Joyce (ph) Katherine (ph), Joyce (ph) Katherine (ph). It's his daughter. He raced here yesterday and has been searching for her. His daughter was here with several friends staying at a cabin just up the river from here, and he has not heard from her, his 21-year-old daughter, since before the storms came through the area. He's literally walking along the edge of the river hoping to find her.

We talked with another gentleman who came out here yesterday morning and heard cries from a kid, and there was a, he said, a 12 to 14-year- old boy who was clinging to a tree here down at the bottom of this ridge. He had managed to survive. The kid lived in a town about six miles upstream, just absolutely stunning stories of heartbreak, survival in some cases. The worst of these moments as well. So, so many families dealing with just so much because of these horrific floodwaters and the storm that blew through here. And it's just a lot to grasp at this moment, this morning here in Hunt, Texas. Fredricka?.

WHITFIELD: It is, indeed. And then what about resources for, you know, Texas authorities, federal assistance in any way? What kind of assets are being used? [10:05:03]

LAVANDERA: Well, we know that the state authorities have talked a lot about how they're bringing in the cavalry. We have seen a massive staging ground downriver in in Ingram, Texas. We have seen there's helicopters, a number of helicopters, Coast Guard, state helicopters as well doing a lot of the rescues. We've seen rescue teams, search and rescue teams going on the ground through the areas around the river, going through the debris, as well as the structures that have been damaged well. So those search efforts will continue.

There are still at least 23 children missing from that Camp Mystic, popular summer camp, where kids come from all over the state to spend weeks here during the summer. It's not exactly clear, though, outside of that camp, how many other people are missing. We haven't gotten a clear indication from authorities on that number as well, which really kind of speaks to the magnitude and the chaotic.

Remember, it's a July 4th weekend. This is a place that is very popular for visitors on the on the weekend, even during the summer months. So a July 4th weekend, you can imagine just how many visitors were here. And what we've heard repeatedly from people is just how little warning they felt they had in being able to respond to this, that it was, you know, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning when they started getting indication that their homes were -- the water was coming up as quickly as it was coming up. So in that darkness, incredibly chaotic and confusing as many people were trying to figure out, just as simply to figure out a way, the safest way to escape. And in many cases, obviously, they weren't able to escape. And that is the horror, what so many people endured here early Friday morning.

WHITFIELD: What a horrible situation. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much. Keep us posted. We'll check back with you.

Hopefully the weather can cooperate with the ongoing search and rescue efforts. Meteorologist Chris Warren is with us now. I mean, it looked like overcast right now there, but what might happen potentially today that could hamper or maybe even help in their efforts?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There are still some showers, but for the search and rescue efforts, conditions will be improving today. And then tomorrow, more rain, more showers. This is what led to the heartbreaking scenes and stories we're hearing about in Texas of more than a foot of rain. And it's not just these isolated spots that saw a lot of rain. wide areas, well over a dozen counties in the orange and red zone here, four to six inches some areas around a foot of rain, all that draining into one drainage basin and then into the Guadalupe River and causing what was essentially like a wave of water down the river. This is the radar playing out Friday morning now, and just consistent, persistent, heavy, intense rainfall leading to this disaster.

Now, this morning, there are some flash flood warnings in effect. The bulk of the moisture is starting to move to the east. And new this morning also, flash flood emergency northwest of Austin with some of the heavier rain and thunderstorms. This, though, is also starting to kind of calm down at least a bit.

But we'll look at the forecast now and show you that tomorrow morning showers are going to start to pop up, increase. And while not as intense, we saw the past couple of days, Fredricka, will likely still make things just a little bit, you know, more difficult for search and rescue.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, thanks so much, Chris, appreciate it. We'll check back with you.

All right, it is now the celebration of President Donald Trump's victory this week. He's had a few victories in the past week or so. He signed the Big Beautiful Bill that he has been aptly calling. And it was complete with a bomber jet flyover, as you see right there, and fireworks show as well. Despite lingering concerns over Medicaid cuts and deficit expansion, he touted its success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: What we've done is put everything into one bill. It's never happened before. It's the biggest bill of its type in history. We've never had anything like that before. Nothing like that they thought would be possible to get passed. And actually, I liked it because we had so much in there that no matter who you are, there was something in that bill that would make your congressman or your senator or your congresswoman, much more importantly, raise their hand and support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Betsy Klein is joining us right now. Betsy, happy Fourth weekend. So the president is very excited about this, calling it a big victory. But tell us more about the spending plan.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, I think what the president said just there is really important because it underscores the challenges that this bill was facing in the past few days and weeks as it worked its way through Congress, as well as the reason it was able to get over the finish line. President Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill is sprawling, and he is suggesting that it's myriad provisions really worked in his favor.

[10:10:00]

So instead of taking separate votes on a bill to reimagine Medicaid and SNAP nutrition benefits, on raising the debt ceiling, cementing those 2017 era tax cuts, boosting border security and immigration enforcement, among many other provisions, Republican lawmakers were forced to take one single vote. And it had some provisions that they liked, even as they were publicly and privately expressing concerns about provisions that they did not like.

And we are going to start to see Democrats using Republicans in their own words, describing some of the provisions they did not like about this bill As we head into the 2026 midterm elections. and Democrats have really already started to begin coalescing around a message. they are saying that this bill will make sure that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance coverage while the rich will receive tax breaks. That is the Democrats message. The president, meanwhile, preemptively hitting back against that as he prepared to sign the bill yesterday. Look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: They have developed a standard line, and we can't let them get away with it. Oh, it's dangerous. Oh, everybody Is going to die. It's actually just the opposite. Everybody is going to live. This is just the opposite. And I just want you to know if you see anything negative put out by Democrats, it's all a con job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: This bill is so far deeply unpopular with the American public, and Republican strategists have expressed concerns both privately and publicly about the cuts to Medicaid, as well as those SNAP nutrition benefits. It's worth noting that the Medicaid provisions in this bill do not actually go into effect until after the midterm elections, perhaps a recognition of how unpopular that might be.

At the same time, this is going to supercharge the president's domestic agenda. So we will start to see this play out in ads, at town halls, and, of course, on the campaign trail in the days, months, and years ahead.

WHITFIELD: All right, Betsy Klein, thank you so much.

Let's talk more about all this. Joining me right now is CNN senior political analyst Rron Brownstein. Happy Fourth weekend. Good to see you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Happy Fourth weekend. Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so the president is touting it as though there are only upsides, upsides to this bill now signed by him. Americans are not universally feeling excited about it. Are they convinced that any kind of criticism about this bill is a con job, as the president puts it?

BROWNSTEIN: Clearly not in polling. And by the way, this bill is especially broad. But the basic idea of bundling together the core elements of your domestic economic agenda into one big, beautiful bill, a reconciliation bill that does not require, that can overcome a Senate filibuster, I mean, that's been a strategy for every incoming president since Ronald Reagan. Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill was basically organized around the same theory as this, which is you put all the core elements of the agenda together. Members of your party will be reluctant to vote that down in the first year of a president from their own side. So the strategy worked, but it's not like they kind of invented it. I mean, it's basically what we've been doing for the last 45 years. Polling shows a lot of suspicion about the bill. I mean, there are

individual elements that if you pull out that thread poll well -- no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, even the Medicaid work requirement initially. But the spine of the bill, Fred, are unprecedented cuts in federal support for health care that will leave 17 million people without insurance, the biggest loss of coverage in any enacted statute ever, and using those savings to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest. And that simply is not a trade that most Americans support.

WHITFIELD: The Democrats are really going to be seizing on all the criticism of this bill and trying to educate the American public about it. Is it likely, is it possible that Republicans are going to pay for it in the midterms?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I think it's more likely than not. I mean, you saw what happened in 2018 when Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which was very unpopular, even as unpopular as this. And that wasn't even tied to the other side. You're basically closing an electric circuit here by doing both of these things in one bill. Republicans have not tried to cut taxes and cut spending in the same bill since Newt Gingrich did it in 1995. He lost that argument to public opinion to Bill Clinton, who turned around his presidency in that fight.

All the Republican tax cuts of the 21st century have been all sugar, no spinach. Bush in 01 and 02, Trump in 17, they just cut taxes. By doing them both in one bill, cutting taxes and spending, they make the winners and losers very explicit. And, you know, multiple analyzes of the Wharton School budget model, the Yale budget model have found that families earning $60,000 a year or less will lose significantly on net in this bill, and in fact, families up to about $100,000 or less will lose at least a little.

[10:15:10]

The big gainers are people at the top, and that is, you know, that is a tough argument for Republicans. I mean, there's a lot of -- as I said, there are individual elements that they will point to, and you can see in their messaging, Mike Johnson's final speech on the House floor, but the fundamental trade off in this bill is going to be a hard sell.

WHITFIELD: A very vocal critic is someone who has a megaphone, and he's using it. Elon Musk, once, you know, in the bromance with President Trump, is now polling X users if they want a third political party, he is so critical of this bill. I mean, could that potentially happen? How influential is he? And might he, you know, make a dent in Republican support come midterms?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, Musk polling X users is a little like Stalin polling the Politburo. You know, I mean, you kind of know what you're going to get going in.

I thought what Musk tweeted yesterday, or X-ed yesterday, was actually pretty sophisticated because he was talking about not trying to build a party that would compete everywhere, but a party that would try to win a few seats in the House and Senate and basically hold the balance of power by preventing either side from winning a majority. That I think is a sophisticated approach that reflects the era we live in. You know, Fred, neither party has had a House majority of more than 10 seats in each of the last three congresses. That has never happened in American history since the formation of the modern party system in 1828. Only three times in this century has one party gotten to 55 or more Senate seats. After 17 of the 20 previous congresses, one side or the other got to 55.

So basically, we are living in an era where the two parties are very closely divided, and if you can win a handful of seats and prevent either side from getting the majority, you would have influence that is disproportionate to the number of seats you hold.

The question is, are there even four or five House seats, much less a Senate seat that a Musk-aligned candidate can win? I mean, certainly anyone left of center I don't think is going to vote for a party aligned with Musk. And the question of whether they are really districts where you can run on the idea that Trump and the modern Republican Party are not conservative enough may be few, but I think they are orienting in a way that could have some impact if they can in fact cross that threshold and win a few seats.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ron Brownstein, always great to see you. Have a great rest of the holiday weekend.

BROWNSTEIN: Same to you. Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, President Trump says he's optimistic that a Gaza ceasefire could be reached next week. We'll tell you what's in the proposal.

Plus, there's a tropical system that we're tracking off the southeastern coast. What you may need to brace for this holiday weekend, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:22:38]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. President Donald Trump says he's optimistic a Gaza ceasefire agreement could be reached as soon as next week. He spoke Friday night after Hamas gave what it called a positive response to the U.S. ceasefire proposal. The militant group also said it's ready to start implementation talks right away. CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining us now live from Abu Dhabi. Paula, there seems to be some momentum behind this ceasefire deal or offer. What is the latest?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, there's certainly momentum. And it does appear as though things are moving in the right direction. But of course, we do have to give the caveat that we have been very close to these ceasefire deals before, and they have failed. In fact, ceasefires have also been broken. But at this point, it does appear as though both sides have agreed to the framework of this proposal. Israel has agreed. Hamas just recently has also said that they have agreed, although one interlocutor did say that in that agreement, Hamas did say they wanted a couple of amendments. But he doesn't believe that those would be dealbreakers. So certainly, it is looking more positive than it has done for months.

So what goes, what happens in the days and even hours to come is that we know there will now be proximity talks. These are believed to be talks where both sides will be potentially in the same building, so a mediator can quickly go from one to the other. They won't be directly talking, but try to hammer out the final details at a much faster pace than we have seen.

The Israeli prime minister has a cabinet meeting later tonight, this Saturday night, in just a few hours from now, where he will be proposing this to all of his cabinet. We know there are far right elements of his coalition who don't want an end to the war. But then the Israeli prime minister is expected to go to Washington on Sunday. He is expected to meet with the U.S. president on Monday, a president who has said he's very optimistic there could be a deal next week. So the obvious thought is that they will want to announce something while they are together. So the momentum certainly seems to be in place.

Now, a quick look at the actual deal itself. We understand that it will be a 60-day temporary ceasefire.

[10:25:01]

There will be 10 living hostages that will be released, eight at the beginning of the process, two towards the end, and also the remains of 18 hostages who are deceased. Now, we also understand there will be an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners released in return for that.

The Israeli military has to move out of much of northern Gaza. We don't have the exact details of how far they will have to move out, though, potentially one of those last-minute amendments that the that Hamas is, is looking at. And also, we know that both sides will start the negotiations for a more permanent ceasefire within that 60-days. And also, there will be a flood of humanitarian aid going into Gaza, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Paula Hancocks, thank you so much in Abu Dhabi.

We continue to follow the breaking news out of Texas. Search and rescue efforts are underway after deadly flash flooding hit the state. Where things stand right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:26]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. New data this week shows the unemployment rate among black Americans is at the highest level in more than three years. The jobless rate climbed to 6.8 percent in June. That's up from six percent in May. The jobless rate has not been that high for black Americans since January of 2022. Compare that to the national unemployment rate, which dropped to 4.1 percent, and white, Hispanic and Asian Americans all saw gains in employment.

Andre Perry studies these disparities at the Brookings Institution, and he's also the author of a timely new book, "Black Power Scorecard", rather, "Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It." Andre, great to see you.

ANDRE PERRY, AUTHOR, "BLACK POWER SCORECARD, MEASURING THE RACIAL GAP AND WHAT WE CAN DO TO CLOSE IT": Good, good seeing you as well.

WHITFIELD: All right, so what's behind this increase in the unemployment among black Americans, in your view? And how concerned are you about that?

PERRY: Well, historically, there is always a structural disparity between black and white unemployment. Typically, black unemployment is about twice as high as white unemployment. But over the pandemic, we saw a reduction in that disparity because of increased demand in the job market. We saw more black men and women being hired, and there was a sense that many of the structural factors that are typically at play, we hear the term "last fired," or "first fired, last hired" when talking about black women. And that seemed to dissipate, particularly during the pandemic and after the pandemic, I should say.

But we are starting to see that unemployment rise among black men and black women, particularly around a rise in black women in critical areas like in health care and education. So this is disturbing because black people and black women in particular are like a canary in a coalmine. They tend to predict what will happen in the future.

WHITFIELD: And except for COVID, as you just spelled out, economists have long noted that black Americans are usually impacted first whenever the economy begins to weaken. So how do you see any parallels today?

PERRY: Yes. So, and this is where we need to have a focus on the most vulnerable members of society, and particularly this is going to come into focus with the new tax bill that was just passed. We're going to see more vulnerable Americans having a much more difficult time getting into the economy while struggling with higher prices and just higher cost of living.

And so this is where we must have a deliberate effort to look at unemployment among the most vulnerable. When we look at unemployment in the aggregate, meaning that that 4.1 percent unemployment rate, it really does mask what is happening at the local level. In Michigan, the unemployment rate for black people is 10 percent. In Washington, D.C., it is close to that, 9.8 percent. These are disturbing numbers. And if we don't look at the most vulnerable populations, we will have these groups suffer, really, in the midst of talking about the economy is stable, because what you'll hear in these jobs report numbers, you'll hear, hey, the numbers look OK. The numbers look stable. But when you look under the hood and you look at these vulnerable populations, you see that many people are in a recession, so to speak, that their unemployment and their job prospects are bleak.

WHITFIELD: So is it safe to say you're very worried now, especially after President Trump just signed his agenda, mega bill into law, because there are still big concerns about cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, other social safety net programs, and you just talked about how the unemployment rate is so high in cities like Detroit and D.C. You study the racial wealth gap. So how much wider do you see this gap growing, especially in those big cities that you mentioned?

[10:35:02]

PERRY: Well, this -- look at how this pans out. People lose their jobs or they're not getting jobs. There's less income and property tax in states. States and local governments have less capacity to deal with the most vulnerable groups.

I remember when the federal government shut down years ago, you saw breadlines down blocks and blocks in many cities. Can you imagine what will happen with less capacity of state and local governments to deal with these unemployment spikes?

So this is not good. Again, black people represent somewhat of a canary in a coalmine, it can predict what the vulnerabilities of the economy overall. And so when we see these kinds of spikes in unemployment, it might predict for spikes in critical areas for the general population. But already black people are suffering in this economy.

WHITFIELD: Andre Perry, glad you could be with us. Very enlightening and, frankly, a very depressing outlook, but a very real one, too. Appreciate you. Thank you, Andre.

All right, the mixed verdict in the Sean Combs trial came as a shock to many. But what could it mean for Combs personal brand? That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:09]

WHITFIELD: All right, hello again. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, so Sean "Diddy" Combs will be back in court on Tuesday for a virtual hearing to address the sentencing schedule. His defense team is pushing to expedite sentencing as much as possible after the music mogul was convicted of two prostitution charges and denied bail. He was acquitted of the most serious charges against him, racketeering, conspiracy, and sex trafficking, and that could have meant life behind bars.

Combs still faces up to 20 years in prison, though he could serve a shorter sentence. And while Combs will not spend the rest of his days behind bars, questions remain about how he will be received when he does return home, and whether he'll be able to reclaim his place in the public sphere.

Joining us now to discuss is Jem Aswad, executive music editor for "Variety." Great to see you, Jem. So -- JEM ASWAD, EXECUTIVE MUSIC EDITOR, "VARIETY": Good morning.

WHITFIELD: And happy Fourth weekend.

ASWAD: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so pending his sentencing, of course, say he gets time served or a short time in prison and still wants to resume some modicum of his empire, do you see Sean Combs being able to overcome so much of what was revealed publicly?

ASWAD: Well, yes and no. He -- something people often forget is that his music career has was basically over quite a while ago. He put out, I think, three albums in the last 15 years or so, but he had largely moved on from it. He had moved into spirits, you know, beverages, and he had moved into apparel and lots of other businesses. Some of those businesses he wasn't really the face of. A lot of them he was, but not all of them. And for --

WHITFIELD: But it's part of his empire.

ASWAD: Yes, absolutely. But it's, you know, they're still earning money from him. And also, in his music career, a lot of the records -- people don't realize that he was the person behind Notorious Big records and a lot of the records on the Bad Boy label. When you hear the song, you don't necessarily hear him. You hear him on some of the Notorious Big records. But like, he's it's not like it was with R. Kelly. You know, these are able to generate money for him without necessarily being obviously associated with him. He probably will find a way to continue making millions and millions of dollars.

WHITFIELD: Right, whether he's a producer or an endorser, do you feel that Sean Combs's reputation will ever really recover from this case? Is he further bruised by it? Can he count on some sort of endorsement deals later? Or if he does involve himself in the entertainment industry, perhaps he may not be as front and center, but somewhere, just as you described, he's on background with some of the Notorious B.I.G. music. Might you see him in some way kind of in the background, but still in the industry?

ASWAD: Yes, maybe not so much in music. Like, I don't think he's going to be dropping a whole lot of records unless there's, you know, like some sort of multi-artist record where it's like called "Diddy Free" or something like that. I could see that happening. But I think his lawyers would probably advise against that. I think his lawyers would advise for him to keep a low profile and just sort of let it settle a bit. And he'll be able to come back. He'll probably make some tentative steps back in. And it's not a situation like Harvey Weinstein, who is obviously still in jail, or R. Kelly, who is in jail, where their brand is destroyed.

Make no mistake, he's taking quite a hit from this, and there are some people who will never get over it, particularly women's groups, understandably.

[10:45:03] But in terms of his business empire, I think a lot of these companies and a lot of these investors are just going to say what happened with him doesn't affect me, doesn't affect my business. I'm doing this deal.

WHITFIELD: This case, obviously, featured some very explosive, graphic testimony. Combs still faces dozens of civil suits for further wrongdoing, including sexual assault. He has denied all the allegations. How do you believe those things might potentially impact him if the criminal case does not?

ASWAD: It seems that a lot of those cases are going to either fall off, people will give up and run out of money, and which is a key difference between him and R. Kelly. R. Kelly ran out of money. And I think a lot of them are going to get discouraged, try to settle, things like that, because if he -- I won't say he won this case, but he came away about as well as he could possibly have expected -- have been expected to. I think a lot of people are just going to rush to get it done with, because if the government couldn't win this case, then their chances are much slimmer.

WHITFIELD: All right Jem Aswad, great to see you. Thank you so much. Happy Fourth weekend, what's left of it.

ASWAD: Thank you. You, too.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much.

All right, ack now to our breaking news out of Texas. The search for survivors of Friday's catastrophic flooding continues this morning. At least 24 people have died. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Hunt, Texas. Ed, you have had a chance to look at some of the damage. You've talked to people. I mean, this is devastating.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Its absolutely staggering. And it just keeps getting worse as we talk to more and more people. We talked to a gentleman, Fredricka, a little while ago who lives just up the road here. He said that there was a body of a young girl that was found just on the other side of this building. There was actually a family inside living on the second floor of this storefront here. They had to -- the water came up to -- over the rooftop here. They were in that window coming out onto the roof as the floodwaters.

And to give you a sense of just how much water there is here, this is the highway that follows the Guadalupe River from Kerrville to Ingram to Hunt. And back down that way is Camp Mystic, where those young campers are still missing, 23 of them so far. The river is on the other side of the road here, Fredricka, probably a good 100 yards and down about 30 or 40 feet. So you can imagine the amount of water that it would take for the water to reach these levels at 36, 36 feet of water in this area. And it's just simply staggering.

And you can see just the extent of the damage and the force that the floodwaters was bringing, ripping homes off foundations, ripping trees apart. That was a storefront down there. Everything got blown into that. We talked to the owner just a little while ago. Her son was inside that building, had to crawl out through a window on the other side, and was holding on to a pole on the back side of that building as the floodwaters rushed this way.

We're starting to see more and more people come out here, Fredricka, either assessing the damage. We've seen rescue teams also continuing searches throughout the area. We don't know the exact number of people missing because this is an area for a holiday weekend where there would be countless visitors who are renting properties or just coming to spend the weekend out here. But obviously, the death toll now at 24, many people expecting that to continue to go up. And we're still trying to get a handle on just exactly how many people are still missing, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Terribly sad. All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

[10:53:35]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you sing, you say life is good today.

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WHITFIELD: What you're listening to right now is video of the one of the Texas flood victims. The Heart of the Hills Camp Director Jane Ragsdale singing to campers just a few weeks ago. And authorities are now confirming that she is among at least 24 people who died in that catastrophic flooding that devastated central Texas yesterday.

We've also just learned that nine-year-old Janie Hunt, who was also attending a different summer camp, has died, according to her mother. She was at camp mystic along with the along the Guadalupe River, which surged more than 20 feet in less than two hours. Rescuers are searching for about 23 other children from the camp still unaccounted for. The news conference is set to get underway just minutes from now, and CNN, of course, will be covering that and carrying it live as soon as it begins.

We're also following a new tropical storm that has just formed off the southeast coast. Tropical storm Chantal is the third named storm of this season. Meteorologist Chris Warren is back with us now. And so, Chris, where is Chantal? What are we watching? How potentially threatening is it?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's just off the southeast shore right now.

[10:55:00] More of really an inconvenience, if you're careful, an inconvenience if you're smart about things. But this is it right here. A lot of thunderstorm activity, and the rain is starting to pick up. It's going to be the yellow, the orange, and the red. The heavier rainfall will be tracking and watching over the next several hours and couple of days as it moves inland, coming onshore overnight tonight with tropical storm force winds. Currently the winds at 40 miles an hour expected to come in the blue area right here, South Carolina into parts of North Carolina. That's a tropical storm warning, so expecting those conditions. Flash flooding will be a possibility. And at the coast, also going to see rip currents and dangerous surf but will be out of this area by Monday morning, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy, that's terrible, though, nonetheless. All right, thank you so much, Chris. Great to see you, appreciate it.

And thank you so much for joining us this hour. We're standing by, of course, to hear from officials in Texas in the next hour. We'll bring that to you live. For now, "THE AMANPOUR HOUR" is next.

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