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At least 32 Dead, 27 Missing In Texas Floods; More Rain Ahead For Parts Of Texas Hit By Deadly Flash Flooding; "Devastation Is Unbelievable": Residents Assess Damage; Father Searches For His Missing Daughter And Her Friends. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired July 05, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:00:51]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Thanks for joining me here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Jessica Dean is off today.

We are following the breaking news out of Texas where we have just received some important updates from officials there.

We now know at least 32 people are dead. That death count rising now. 14 children among the dead. This after the catastrophic flooding there in the central part of Texas.

Officials say 27 people remain missing. They said a number of bodies have been recovered but have yet to be identified.

Among the officials just updating us there, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who signed a disaster declaration, requesting immediate assistance from the federal government. He also added six new counties to his disaster declaration.

A number of questions though do remain about the search efforts here. More than two -- specifically for the more than two dozen young girls who remain missing after those powerful flood waters swept through a summer camp.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is now there on the scene at Camp Mystic. Ed, you've made your way to that camp, which was just devastated. What else have you found in arriving there?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Erica.

Well, this is the best vantage point we have given everything that's going on in this area. But those -- what you see across the river there is the Camp Mystic campground. And here on the left, you'll see a number of cabins. And you can see a lot of debris as we stand here.

And I'm not sure that you can make this out on the video images, but the water must have gotten very high because even in some places, the rooftops. Look, they look a little uneven to me from this vantage point. But you can see windows open where presumably, you know, children were

trying to crawl out of those windows to get away from the floodwaters, as it was all rising here.

And then if we move our way down -- this was the lower part, from talking to a number of people over the last 24 hours who've been evacuated from this area, it was the younger children at the campground. And my understanding right now is that it was the younger children who were in these lower elevation cabins that's closest to the water.

And the water looks very calm now, but look at just how high the water levels have gotten -- got at some point here, because you can also see back in this larger building on the campground side, in the distance there, Erica, that's obviously a big gathering hall.

I can't tell if it's a dining hall or a place where, you know, large groups gather, but you know, the wall on this side completely blown out.

There's -- it's hard to see on the other side, but there's a good amount of destruction. I just saw some video images from someone who was capturing some video here at the scene. And there was a number of cars stacked on top of each other on the other side of those -- of those buildings.

So this is where it all unfolded early Friday morning. You can imagine here it's very remote away from the city of Hunt, about 6 or 7 miles down the road, a greater distance.

So very, very dark here. Not a lot of light. One camp counselor told me that as the rainstorm was coming in, the lightning and the thunder, that kids were waking up, were telling her that they were afraid of what was happening. And you can understand, as the water is rushing downstream, clearly being pushed out of its banks, up along that hill, going up into those cabins on that distance, and all those cabins lined up against the hillside over there.

So it's hard to imagine as the water is rushing this way, you know, how do you -- how do you escape all of that, unless you can get to the back of the building and then kind of start making your way to higher ground on the backside of that hill.

And for a seven, eight, nine-year-old at 3:00 in the morning as thunder and lightning, you can imagine just how horrific all of that scene must have been unfolding.

And we're seeing a number of people continuing the search efforts. If you look there, there's like a little dam here that kind of falls -- falls about ten feet or so down to the next level of the river.

[17:04:47]

LAVANDERA: We're seeing -- and teams of people still going through the hillside there on the bank of the river looking and that those are the search and rescue operations. As we've made our way here. Erica, about 6 or 7 miles down the road from Hunt, this area is lined with first responders, all sorts of different agencies combing through the area, trying to do whatever they can to, you know, as they've mentioned in the press conference, the longer this goes on, obviously, the hope for finding people still alive dwindles.

But there are still a lot of missing people. And those loved ones want to find out where they are.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. And Ed, to be able to get to some of these areas that they need to search, including just for you and your crew getting to the camp. Can you just give us a sense of what that drive was like?

I mean, how much you mentioned all the first responders there, but we've talked so much about the damage. We know how destructive the water can be, but trees down, bridges out. And that, I know is complicated for some of these rescue efforts and the search efforts. Did you see much of that damage?

LAVANDERA: The road itself has been cleared out pretty well. It's been closed off as teams have been going through this area. But it ended up -- part of this road was closed for a while that I think it reopened just a little while ago.

The road itself, there's only been a couple of places where the -- and some bridges going over the river where there has been some asphalt that's been brushed away. But by and large, the roadway has been cleared out pretty well.

But it is in the areas between the roadway and the bank of the river -- some places this isn't very wide, but as you move down this way, there are areas where there are homes between the road and the river.

The extent of that damage is just stunning as we continue, you know, going down and you just see, I mean, just a second ago, I should have taken a picture of it. But there's a giant boulder that is probably 12 feet high just in the middle of the river. That has probably, you know, cascaded off one of these hilltops.

The amount of debris, large debris that was just simply rushing and being moved so swiftly down this river at the height of this -- of these flood waters raging and barreling down the river.

There is no way, very few ways that a human could have survived all of that, you know.

HILL: Yes.

LAVANDERA: So that that is just staggering to imagine as we sit here and imagine what it must have been like a little more than 24 hours ago in here.

HILL: Yes, it is. Absolutely. And of course, the picture you point, I mean, just giving us -- it is important context to be able to see the part of this camp, to be able to see, you know, where those cabins are, just to give you a sense to your point of what those young campers, I mean, these little kids and their counselors were facing in that moment.

Ed, I know you just got there. We're going to let you continue to do a little newsgathering. Of course, well keep checking in with you. Thank you.

LAVANDERA: Got it. Thanks.

HILL: I also want to check in with Marybel Gonzalez, who is live in Ingram, Texas at this hour, right next to the Guadalupe River.

What are you seeing in that area, Marybel? Just give us a sense of what the destruction is there, what people are seeing, hearing and who they may be looking for in this moment.

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica. Well, here there is also this sense of just urgency and people not feeling like they're able to, you know, help out or reach their loved ones that they may not have been able to connect with.

But there are so many people who are stepping up to help the community impacted. I can tell you that right now overhead, I can hear a chopper that is likely one of the choppers that is out doing rescue -- search and rescue efforts.

But here at the ingram Elementary School that is right behind me, this served as a reunification center yesterday. We saw dozens of families lining up, desperately trying to find their loved ones who they had not been able to reach.

Right now, at this moment, this has now shifted to a donation center. That is where we've seen so many people coming and dropping off essential items, things like water, bathroom cleaner, floor cleaners, as we see on this sign that is right behind us, trash bags, first aid kits. Really anything that one would need during this type of disaster.

But Erica, I can tell you that there is still so much confusion and lack of communication during this time.

And we saw this. We were on the ground during Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina and it just seems like the exact same thing is happening. People are not able to reach their loved ones. The cell service is spotty there.

Even if their loved ones are safe, some people don't know that. I just spoke to a woman who was driving here. She thought this reunification center was still accepting people. She got an alert that her loved one had been found, but she said, I don't know where she is.

So people are desperately searching for answers. And some other people here, the people that were not directly affected, are doing what they can to help their community that is so desperately in need, especially Erica, as we're anticipating more rain later today. [17:09:52]

HILL: Of course, it's the last thing that the area needs.

You mentioned -- just a follow up with you, and you mentioned the woman you spoke with who got an alert and came there thinking that was where she needed to go for this reunification area.

Was she able to? I'm not sure if you had a chance to follow up with her, but was she able to then figure out where she needed to go to find her loved one?

GONZALEZ: Yes, I literally just happened as we were waiting for our live hit and to speak with you, Erica. But she -- I did tell her to go inside. There is a table of volunteers. And also the assistant principal of the school when we arrived, he was also here helping coordinate those efforts.

But inside they were able to tell her where to go to. But even when we did a search of what reunification centers there are in the area, it led us to this one.

So there is a lot of confusion and hopefully those answers can get sorted out as the communication improves throughout the day.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Marybel, really appreciate it. Thank you.

As we continue our coverage here, the White House is surging federal resources to Texas to help with the aftermath of this deadly flooding. Local and state officials also, of course, continuing their search for survivors and victims.

The very latest for you on the other side of a quick break.

[17:11:04]

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HILL: We are following the breaking news out of Texas and updating some of the information about what we know now.

The number of people who have lost their lives now stands at 32, that includes 14 children. This, of course, in the wake of those torrential rains which set off just catastrophic flash flooding.

Search efforts still underway for the missing, which includes more than 20 girls who authorities say are missing from their summer camp. That's Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. It sits along the Guadalupe River, which rose more than two feet in less than -- 20 feet, pardon me -- in less than two hours.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is currently in Texas. She was just part of an update, along with Governor Abbott and some local and state officials. She said she has spoken with the president a number of times, who, according to Noem, will quote, "honor" the federal disaster declaration, which was just signed by Texas Governor Abbott. CNN's senior White House reporter, Betsy Klein, is with us now. So in

terms of that federal response, what does that look like in this moment, Betsy?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN WENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well Erica, we heard from Governor Greg Abbott of Texas who said that there is a need for speed with these search and rescue and recovery efforts. And that is a combination of state, local and federal officials.

On the federal side of this, it's really the U.S. Coast Guard that is helping with rescues. Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, said she was going to be requesting additional fixed wing aircraft that has thermal technology. What that means is that once it gets dark, they can continue to see what is happening on the ground. She said they're also requesting additional helicopters. The Coast Guard so far has rescued or assisted with rescues for hundreds of people.

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is also engaged along with the Army Corps of Engineers. She also mentioned that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has sent border patrol agents to this area. They have a lot of expertise that can be helpful in these kinds of search and rescue situations.

Now Governor Abbott, as you mentioned, has requested federal aid. He said President Trump is, quote, "deeply concerned" and that he understands the magnitude of this devastation. Noem indicated that President Trump will sign that federal disaster declaration request that Abbott has put forth.

She also said that she has spoken with the president several times today. She will personally be going to Camp Mystic, where dozens of girls are still missing.

The president said in a post to social media that the Trump administration is working closely with the state and local officials. He and the first lady are praying for the families that have been impacted.

But there are two important notes here. Number one, the president has been deeply critical of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He wants to phase this agency out after this year's hurricane season, really shift responsibility to the states.

So we started to see a little bit of the messaging there as Kristi Noem kind of leaned on the state of Texas for response.

And going forward, the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill that the president signed just yesterday, it does include cuts or even closes some weather research labs that are vital to improving weather forecasts. We need better data for better research and forecast. The tools that they use to collect that data are now part of cuts.

Now Noem was pressed on alerts from the National Weather Service. There was concern that there weren't enough alerts. She defended the administration, she said they are currently upgrading what she described as an ancient system, ancient technology. There also have been cuts for hundreds of employees at NOAA, the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, as well as the National Weather Service.

It's really too soon to say whether those cuts contributed to any of the lack of alerts here. What we know is that this is a really unprecedented and incredibly dangerous storm situation that led to flash flooding.

[17:19:44]

KLEIN: It was very difficult to predict what would have happened here, but we know 32 people are dead, including 14 children. Dozens of campers still missing.

What we don't know yet is the extent of federal relief that is going to be needed. Whether Congress is going to have to step in here and provide additional aid.

Also, whether President Trump will visit once it's safe. He is here in New Jersey at his Bedminster Golf Club. The White House has issued what's known as a lid, which means we are not expecting to see the president again today. But of course, the White House and the secretary of Homeland Security monitoring all of this quite closely.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. And some -- and important to clarify, as you did, what was in that bill and, what we don't know, what we do know what we don't know moving forward.

But also I have to say, I noticed some of the messaging as well, also from state officials, really trying to emphasize what the state is doing, which was an interesting note in this, in this moment, as all those agencies, of course, work together in such an important way.

Betsy, really appreciate the reporting. Thank you.

Also with us now Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore, who of course, led a special joint task force with FEMA in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

General, always good to talk to you and to get your insight in these moments right now for these emergency crews on the ground. We have been told this is obviously -- this is air, water, land, canine, human, everyone working together in this moment. Time is of the essence.

Walk us through what would be happening in this moment, as they're also trying to get around all of the devastation so that they can do these search and rescue efforts.

LT. GEN. RUSSEL L. HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Yes, the big thing is the command and control to make sure all the terrain is being covered. And we're talking about miles and miles across counties, not just in a certain county. That would be a challenge.

Along with the ability to communicate across those county lines and to get people to go into the areas where that water rushed through. Erica, because all those brush piles have to be searched.

And from what I've seen on television, Texas ought to be commended for their response. But they're going to have a lot of questions to answer on why we had a flood watch the night before and why actions weren't taken to move people out, or to provide siren warnings. And then who's responsible in those camps for the evacuation when we're looking at a flood watch before dark, the night before.

HILL: Certainly important questions that will need to be answered, of course, moving into the future so that we don't see something like this again.

As we see these boats out here (INAUDIBLE) there was a there was an emphasis on the efforts of the Coast Guard on hand, helping and Secretary Noem noting that there would be more coming in, looking for more air help as well.

Just walk me through some of the challenges. I know early on in this disaster, there were some challenges with low cloud cover, which made it difficult, of course, to get in the air.

There are the communications issues that you mentioned, the debris, but also just when you're coordinating a massive effort like this, what is the challenge, if any, when you are working with all of these different, different groups and bringing them together?

HONORE: Well, if they're using the national military -- National Incident Command System, it should simplify it. And that is sponsored by FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security.

It appears that they have good network inside that county where they've been doing the news conferences from. But how does that spread across the other counties? And are they using NIMS (ph) and already have they created a grid for the search?

And my hats off to those magnificent pilots and those on the ground who've gone in and rescued so many, over 800 people already, and they've done it in some very extreme situations. But the weather was the issue.

But, you know, Erica, Texas is going to have to stand up to this. The same thing happened in 1987 on July 16th along the same river and Kerr. And there was a flood, 10 people died in this exact same scenario.

So Texas is going to have to fix this. People in Texas love to go out and camp. People have been going there for decades. But they're going to have to fix this because this is a repeat. The same thing happened in 1987 along the Guadalupe River.

HILL: When you -- when we look at where things stand, the messaging, the communication is key, not just for the first responders here, the teams going in, but also, of course, for the community. There was some confusion in the last hour at this most recent press conference that we had. The local county judge said that this was basically shifting to a

recovery effort. And then reporters pressed them on those comments because this -- the move from rescue to recovery signifies, of course, that they don't believe that those who are missing will be found alive.

We didn't get a clear answer on that, except there was some pushback from the governor basically saying, look, in this moment, we are still assuming that all those missing are alive.

[17:24:50]

HILL: He basically said he wanted this to continue as a rescue operation. I mean, just walk us through why that messaging is so important, especially when we're talking about the difference between rescue and recovery in this moment.

HONORE: Yes. Well, recovery you're doing it in a totally different manner. You are doing primarily a lot of daytime searches. Whereas in rescue the governor wanted to continue to do 24/7, take all risk possible to go in and find people alive.

And that's a significant phase. And it's a message to the families when we say we go into recovery, that there's very little hope of finding anybody. So that was a sensitive moment.

I watched that happen and it I must say, it happens in just about every major disaster. And they need to work through that. But I heard the governor, he's a senior elected official, but my recommendation is, Governor, you need to get 2,000 or 3,000 people walking those banks, not just 500.

Task Force One is good. They can only do so many hours a day. And there's about 80 people in there. You got about 15,000 troops at Fort Hood. You got 21,000 troops in the Texas National Guard. You need to get some more boots on the ground and walk that ground, because -- and get more helicopters up.

That would be my recommendation to the governor. They can do more, but they need to do it now. They got maybe another 24 hours, but they need to get more boots on the ground.

HILL: You talked about going through all these debris piles, which are just, I mean, overwhelming in many aspects when we think about them.

There was also talk about in terms of the helicopters. Secretary Noem, I believe, was referencing helicopters being brought in with thermal technology, right. So to search for those heat sources for bodies amongst that debris. That can also make a significant difference in these hours and especially those overnight hours.

HONORE: Absolutely. And we got aviation assets right there at Fort Hood. They pull Coast Guard up from the border mission is what I suspect.

This is a tough weekend as Fourth of July weekend, without warning, without having mobilization orders. But I think they need to mobilize some more army helicopters to get in there to assist them.

Now, Texas has some of the most capable search and rescue in the Air National Guard. Those (INAUDIBLE) helicopters, that's what they're designed for, search and rescue. And those helicopters have done a magnificent job.

But you're going to need more of them to cycle them in, and you're going to need more boots on the ground would be my recommendation, Erica. And we need to look again at the AT&T First Net Communication System, which was bought during the last administration, Trump administration. And it's never worked our way through a storm. It failed us in Aida and it fails in every storm.

We need to go back and look at that system on why the first responders had trouble talking. That's why we bought First Net.

HILL: It is really when look at all of those moments, when we look at what we, to your point, this is another example, I would say, of learning from a disaster, right? When a communication tool isn't working.

There have been changes over the years. Certainly since Katrina, there has been learning from that. Can you just walk us through some of what has changed in terms of these search and rescue efforts that does, in fact allow some of these teams to maybe get to people a little bit quicker?

HONORE: Well, one of the things we developed doing on the fly, Katrina, was a set of search grids so we could quickly refer the pilots to them and assign people to each grid, as opposed to going along geographical boundaries that's normally associated with long roads and/or river streams. You've got to check that entire area of operation, and it goes beyond county lines. So hopefully the states are -- the state is using that search grid capability.

And it also has a capability to transfer civilian address to an address that, a pilot can transfer in his helicopter to lat/long on his helicopter. So there were a lot of lessons learned from there. And all that's embedded inside of Northern Command. And hopefully there assisted the state.

But the Texas National Guard is well trained and well equipped. They've got some of the best equipment to include Reaper drones. They have all sorts of assets. They're mobilizing and getting it in the woods to go look for those girls.

HILL: Yes, absolutely.

And we did hear mention of a grid system, people coming back in checking on that grid at this most recent press conference.

Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, always appreciate your time and your insight. Thank you.

HONORE: My hats off to the first responders and to the volunteers. The volunteers are going to make a big difference on the ground there in Texas.

HILL: They certainly play an important role as well. Thank you again.

Meantime, we are following in Texas, of course, not only the search and rescue efforts, but there's also an urgent flooding emergency.

[17:29:42]

HILL: There are concerns about, as we just heard from one of our reporters on the ground, concerns about some more rain in the forecast as we continue to update you on the search and recovery efforts -- search and rescue efforts at this hour.

Stay with us. A quick break here. We'll update you with the latest on the other side.

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[17:34:27]

HILL: Continuing to following the "BREAKING NEWS" now out of Central Texas, where at least 32 people have died in flash flooding, 14 of them, children. More than 20 girls remain unaccounted for at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas. That area, it's Hunt, Texas, and that area where the Guadalupe River rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours yesterday.

Meteorologist Chris Warren is with us now. So, Chris, you know, I was checking in with our colleague, Marybel Gonzalez, just a short time ago. She talked about concerns for rain later tonight. What are the threats in that area right now?

CHRIS WARREN, METEOROLOGIST THE WEATHER CHANNEL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA: More rain is on the way. A relative break this evening, but more rain later on, tonight and again tomorrow.

[17:35:05]

I want to show you, Erica, how we got here and how this happened. The catastrophic flooding that we saw that is absolutely heartbreaking that we've been seeing all day.

This is the radar estimated rainfall. So, sometimes you'll see numbers. There was seven inches here, a foot of rain there. But the radar estimated rainfall shows us the whole area. And we're looking at the whole area is important, because we talk about drainage basin. So, any water that falls in a given area ends up in the same river, in this case, the Guadalupe River.

And all of this rain here, several counties here, contributing anywhere from in yellow, two to four; orange, four to six; six to 10 inches in the red. And then, you have these outlier amounts, more than a foot of rain, estimated by radar. And how it played out creating what was called by the National Weather Service, a flood wave. Right? So, the water going up so fast. As you mentioned here, Friday morning at 2:00. So, overnight, Thursday into Friday morning, 2:00 in the morning, less than a foot. That was what the stream was, less than a foot, very low.

And then, a couple hours later, up to essentially two stories that happening in a couple of hours. And you can see here on the gage. This is all week long, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, below a foot of water flowing through the Guadalupe River -- the Guadalupe River at Kerrville, and then, shoot straight up.

There's little dots in here that make look like a continuous line. And then, from there to there is just one dot to the other. So, an absolute mind -blowing event here, with the flooding. And the terrain has a lot to do with it. The water being funneled down through the channels and into the streams. But the amount of rain, of course, is huge. How fast that rain falls, and the intensity.

And this all set up with by Friday morning, rain has been falling up here, which is flowing down through the drainage basin, getting into the streams that feed into the Guadalupe River, and then, as the day went along.

Now, this is 10:00 in the morning. It's been raining all night. Now, going into the morning hours, you're getting that extra push, helping to bring even more water and creating that catastrophic scene. So, mind blowing, again, event here that unfolded with rain happening again and picking up today, this morning with new flood warnings, including flash flood emergencies as well.

Here is the high-resolution future radar. This shows us the rain picking up again even as early as tomorrow morning, mid-morning, heavy rain and showers for the search areas here continue right into around 6:00 or so, and then, there will be another break.

But unfortunately, Erica, does look like the showers, and at times, the thunderstorms could be heavy again tomorrow.

HALL: Yes. All right, Chris, really appreciate it. Thank you.

As we continue to follow what is happening on the ground, we're also starting to get a better look at some of the destruction, some of what was left behind by this catastrophic flooding.

Taylor Whartnaby from our CNN affiliate, K.ABB, has a closer look at that destruction in Hunt, Texas, where the flooding actually washed away the post office. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR WHARTNABY, KABB REPORTER: I want to walk you through. They didn't want to be on camera, but they walked me through this area and what it did look like.

So, they said that this was once all boarded up. This was all brick and now completely opened up. That just -- that just to show how fierce that storm was and how powered through. I want you to walk with me down here closer, so, we can get a closer look inside the actual building. You could just see just the debris that is completely clinging on to the building. But if you take a closer look here inside, you could just see, it is just completely packed in there, just all the debris that just swept right into the Hunt store here in Hunt. This is a staple, they were telling me. I did speak to the cashier who worked here for many years. And so, he saw a lot of residents come into the area.

I also want to mention that closer down here, again, there is lots of debris, branches, down power lines. What I thought was just devastating. What they told me was right over here is where the post office once was. If you believe it. I was completely shocked. He said, this is the brick from the post office. And as you can see, it's completely gone at this -- it's no longer here.

But what we did find was a Cassandra, what's her name tag, which was somewhere further where we first started. It's just everything is scattered here. It's just devastating, just the amount of destruction this flood water caused here in Hunt.

So, we're still speaking with residents here. And I did ask the cashier here about, like, rebuilding. You know, how to -- where do you go from here? And he says, you know, you just completely take this. You just rebuild from the start bottom up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Yes. And it is remarkable, that damage, so widespread. We're going to continue to follow those developments.

We're also hearing now more from terrified Texas residents, people who were forced to flee in the middle of the night to get away from that deadly flooding.

[17:40:06]

We'll have more of their stories, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Tonight, 32 people are dead in Texas following that flash flooding hitting areas near San Antonio. At least 27 people remain missing. The destruction, it is remarkably widespread.

[17:44:59]

Patty Santos is a reporter with CNN affiliate KSAT, and has a closer look now at some of that destruction along the Guadalupe River.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATTY SANTOS, KSAT REPORTER: Here is where we are right now. This is the Guadalupe River. And we're standing here to show you that the road here is still closed. Right on the other side, there used to be lodges. They are now gone. But also, take a look at these trees. All of this area was covered in trees. Take a look at how high the trees are. We could see some of that debris all the way up to those trees. And I've gotten a chance to talk to some of the people that live here that tell me this entire landscape looks very different than what it did just a few days ago.

We have seen a lot of people walking this area here by foot, and also, some search and rescue crews with other -- just kind of taking a look here to see what they're seeing. We're seeing a lot of crews making their way up north with boats, with canines with other equipment, as the search continues and as the cleanup continues, just north of here in -- at that camp, at Mystic Camp.

And so, this is the scene that we're seeing right now. It is just devastation, catastrophic. Those are the words that are being used by people who live here, who used to see this river very differently, and what they are seeing it now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The part of the reason a number of folks are seeing it so differently is just how quickly things happened. In Hunt, Texas, there was more than 6-1/2 inches of rainfall in just three hours on Friday.

One local resident whose family has lived in the region for more than 100 years said he has never seen anything like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

This very well may be the worst flood Hunt has ever seen, because it would have started back up the Southfork. The devastation is unbelievable. How these kids survived in any of these camps along the river is nothing short of a miracle.

But I did. I grew up with this storm. I've known about -- like I said, I've danced here. I've been here, sat by the fireplace in a rocking chair and drank a beer. The devastation, there are just no words, Taylor, that I can -- that I can say that describe what I'm seeing. My ranch, it was completely under water. The water got that high. Just unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: It is tough to wrap your head around the devastation and just the catastrophic nature of so much of it. Texas authorities, of course, are working around the clock to find survivors.

One father taking the task of looking for his daughter into his own hands. You'll hear from him, next.

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[17:52:32]

HILL: As search teams in Texas continue to search for those who are still missing, some family members are doing that on their own. Earlier, my colleague Ed Lavandera, spoke with one man who was looking for his daughter and her friends.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Your daughter was here with two friends.

TY BADON, SEARCHING FOR MISSING DAUGHTER AND FRIENDS: Yes. Three.

LAVANDERA: Three friends.

BADON: Yes.

LAVANDERA: Was four of them.

BADON: Correct. And she and the young man, they went to elementary school and high school together, and the young one of her friends, Ella (PH), Cahill (PH), that's her boyfriend, Aiden (PH) is. They went to school through high school, so, they've known each other a long time.

The other girl, her name is Reese (PH). I can't remember her last name right now. She is Ella's roommate at UTSA, so, we've never met her parents. But God bless her, and we pray that all four of them are still alive.

LAVANDERA: All four are missing.

BADON: Yes, yes, they are all missing. And, you know, it's been 4:00 yesterday morning that we were told that, you know, they were on the phone with Aiden's dad, who they owned the house, where there was a very nice house, and no longer there. And Aiden said, hey, you know, I've got to go. I got to help Ella and Reese. 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.

And that's why I was telling you my son and I are walking. And I thought was a mannequin little boy, 8 or 10 years old, and he was dead. So, we just --

(CROSSTALK)

LAVANDERA: You saw that this morning.

BADON: Yes. So, we -- you know, we're just walking and doing the same thing we were doing. Look, you know, when we stumble across him, hopefully we can find our children, our daughter, and her friends alive.

So, anyway, I asked you, if he would pray, and whoever watches this thing. Pray.

We got together and picked up our son and came over here, and we waited around at a center, and God bless them, they are doing a great job. It's in Ingram, Texas at the elementary school, and they are kind of like, the place where all the survivors are brought, and we were hoping that we would hear our daughter and friend's names called, but they never did call.

[17:55:02]

So, we said this morning, we're going to come out and try to find them ourselves.

LAVANDERA: I mean, you're walking through this mess.

BADON: Yes.

LAVANDERA: Hoping for a miracle.

BADON: Amen. Keep the faith. That's all we can do. So, that's all I got, Ed. Thank you.

LAVANDERA: Can you tell us about your daughter?

BADON: Yes, she is a beautiful girl, and I think I sent you a picture.

Just a wonderful girl. Yes. I couldn't ask for a better daughter.

All through school is just easy, you know, no shenanigans or anything like that. I mean, she was a normal girl, it would have fun, but yes, we loved her dearly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: An absolutely heart wrenching conversation there with that father as he's still looking for his daughter. One of a number of stories understandably coming out of Central Texas today as families search for their loved ones.

Texas rescue crews still working to do that. They are battling some tough conditions. There is debris. The light that is said to be -- will be fading in the coming hours. Governor Abbott, though, has vowed that they will work relentlessly to find every last victim, every last survivor of this flooding disaster.

We're going to fit in a quick break here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Much more ahead at the top of the hour. Stay with us.

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