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At Least 80 People Dead In Catastrophic Texas Flooding; Federal Government Sends FEMA, Coast Guard To Texas Flooding; Local Residents In Kerrville Work Together To Support Victims; Israel-Hamas Peace Talks Expected This Week In Doha. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 06, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We've talked to a lot of family members on our way here who came to help search for their loved ones. I spoke to the uncle of a girl who is still missing, and he said he drove all the way here to try to find her. They are keeping hope alive, even as that hope is dwindling.

And I spoke to a parent of three campers at Camp Mystic. Her girls survived, but what she told me was harrowing. And it also told me a story of just the heroism from the counselors and the owners of the camp. This parent told me that it was, you know, in the middle of the night, around 4:00 a.m., the water was ferocious, it was rising, and they were told to stay put, that the owner, Dick Eastland, and his son were coming to get them in the car.

And while they were waiting, they saw the fury of the water continue to rise, and they knew that that car wasn't going to get to them in time. And so they rounded up the girls, and the counselor got her key out and poked a key in the mesh of the back window in the back of the cabin to poke that out. The counselors went out. There were two in that cabin, and then the one next door that came over to help, and they were bringing the girls outside of that tiny window in the back.

And the water was chest high, I'm told by this parent. The little girls told her, they said their counselors helped them across the rapids, so the counselors were handing the little campers, 9 years old, to one another to get to the hill behind the cabin. I mean, these are the stories we're hearing. And this parent said, had it not been for the counselors who were so young, just out of high school, she wonders if her -- if her girls would still be alive.

Here's more of what she told me in her description. Two counselors were in the rapids and one on the dry hill, moving the kids from hand to hand. A lot of them lost their shoes and then climbed up the rocky hill to safety, all in the middle of the night. Then they got to Sky High and cuddled because they were cold and wet and sang songs and prayed.

It just gives you chills, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: It really does. It's incredible to think of, to your point, Pamela, how young those counselors are, right? Teenagers, just out of high school. The quick thinking to then get these young girls to safety, help them scramble up and many of them barefoot.

And I know, Pamela, this is also personal for you. You have a deep and important connection to Camp Mystic yourself as a former camper.

BROWN: I do. It's surreal coming back here 30 years later. I was a 10- year-old little camper here, full of so much hope and joy. It's a magical place and I remember the excitement and anticipation of coming to Camp Mystic. And, you know, the parent was telling me the same from her little girls who came this year. They just dropped them off on Sunday. And for me, coming back, it just, I'm overwhelmed with emotion and I'm overwhelmed with memories and I can't get over looking at those cabins right next to the Guadalupe River.

That river was the source of so much joy and fun for us, Erica. We would spend hours and hours in that river. There was this thing called the blob, which was like this inflated balloon type thing that we would jump on, and then the person at the end would jump off into the water. And it was so much fun, and we'd go looking for dinosaur fossils. And that was where we spent so much of our time at camp.

That is what we loved. And to think that that same river is the source of this devastation, it's just hard to wrap my head around. And it's such a magical place that now all these girls, these sweet young campers who had to evacuate, and their families, so much innocence has now been lost. And you just can't help but think about them and pray for them and just hope that more are found alive.

HILL: Yes, it's so true. A woman I've been in touch with for a number of years messaged me yesterday who also went to camp in the Texas Hill Country, as did her daughters. And she said to me, you just can't understand how special this area is until you -- until you've been there, until you've been a camper there. And it is something that never leaves you. And clearly, I know, Pamela, you're feeling that as well.

BROWN: Yes. I mean, so much of the camp experience here is being in nature. You know, you come here and you're assigned one of two tribes. I was on the Tonk tribe. And you spend so much time building, you know, good sportsmanship and a sense of belonging and companionship outside, outdoors, in nature. And to come back here after seeing sort of the wrath of Mother Nature and what it's done, you just can't wrap your head around it -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, it is, it is really tough. It is so good to have you, though, on the ground there.

BROWN: All right.

HILL: And to bring that added perspective.

BROWN: Yes, yes. Thank you, Erica. Now I think we're going to go to my colleague Ed Lavandera.

I know, Ed, you've been here on the ground talking to those personally affected by this tragedy.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. We've been here since Friday afternoon and just watching how everything has changed, Pamela, in terms of how much the anxiousness of the early hours in Friday and how that anguish has continued to extend throughout the weekend as so many people, you know, initially holding out hope.

[18:05:09]

But clearly as the death toll numbers continue to climb and the numbers of those missing continues, the updates on that continue as well. You know, all of that, that anguish really kind of turning to despair as more and more people are getting the bad news of what has happened to their children or their loved ones, you know, the -- and so you can really sense among the people and the volunteers who are coming out here looking for any kind of way of helping and try to bring closure to these families that are dealing with all of this anguish.

You know, we've just kind of ridden that wave of emotion over the last three days, and that is, just continues to intensify. And now with these flash flood warnings that have been going out throughout the day, as the afternoon as well, which in many places has brought the volunteer efforts, the search efforts along the riverbed of the Guadalupe River has kind of slowed that down here as we continue to wait through all of that. You know, it's just adds to the anxiety of all of this.

I should say, we're in Kerrville along the Guadalupe River. Been monitoring to see these flash flood warnings and whether or not that -- I was in Hunt a few hours ago when they were clearing people out and urging everyone to evacuate immediately because it was described to us as a wall of water coming down one of the forks of the Guadalupe River. So a great deal of concern. So we saw, you know, hundreds of people evacuating all at once.

I haven't really seen the water levels rise in any kind of dramatic or dangerous fashion here. So that is, that is good news. But it's clearly a continued cause for concern over the next couple of hours this afternoon -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Ed. Thank you so much.

And now I'm going to go to Jason Cummings, who is a guest who lives in Kerrville. That's about 12 miles away from where I am now.

And, Jason, I understand that you helped rescue someone. Tell us about what you've been going through.

JASON CUMMINGS, LIVES IN KERRVILLE, HELPED SAVE FLOOD VICTIM: I was just out looking at the storm. My son, who was out of town, actually woke me up and told me about it. So I got out and went to a bridge because I lived very close to the river, and I went to a side road next to the bridge, and I went into the state park, and I wanted to see where the debris line was, how high the water got inside the park. And as I walked toward the cyclone fence, I heard someone yelling, hey, hey, and they were waving their arms, but they were pinned in a probably 12-foot tall pile of debris.

And he said he thought his leg was broken. I believe he was 18, but I was just so thankful that God, for some reason, had me there just to notice him. So I noticed a fire truck on the bridge that was very close. I mean, he could see the bridge and no one could see him or hear him with the roar of the water. And I went and got the Swiftwater Rescue Team, and they were faster than the U.S. Olympic sprint team getting over there to him.

And I went to get some tools at my home just to help them out, chainsaws and whatnot. And by the time I got back, they had already started loading him off. They had him on a backboard and they had an ambulance there. So I was very happy that those incredible professionals were there. And I cannot say enough about all the professionals. The law enforcement. I've never seen ever this amount of equipment and assets for one event. It's unbelievable.

And shortly after that, unfortunately, I was chainsaw clearing a bridge very close to town. The next bridge over just for equipment to clean all the debris later. And I found a deceased victim. So I was really shocked and stunned. And I was not expecting that at all.

BROWN: Yes. Was it an adult or just a child?

CUMMINGS: It was an adult male.

BROWN: Yes. It's just --

CUMMINGS: And I just --

BROWN: I imagine just shocking for you.

CUMMINGS: Yes. And I just thought the best thing to do is for me to get the authorities there and hopefully, you know, cut the rest of that tree up so they could get him out. And they eventually did get him out, I believe, because the bridge was cleaned. But I just feel so bad for the victim and his family.

[18:10:02]

But at least they have a body to -- for whatever, if you want to call it closure. But it's just catastrophic. The damage and the devastation that has gone on here. All the equipment and the people we've never had this.

BROWN: Tell us more.

CUMMINGS: Ma'am.

BROWN: Yes. Yes. Forecasters say it's a once in 100-year storm. And it came on fast and furious. You talk about the fury of the water when you saw that 18-year-old. Just, if you would continue to paint that picture for us, how quickly the water was moving, how quickly the water was rising and the challenges that those first responders, the swift water rescuers were up against to rescue him in particular?

CUMMINGS: Well, he was on the right side of the river going downriver, and that was the slower, if you can call it that, moving part of the river. And I think that's the only thing that saved his life. I have a feeling he may have been swept from a home that was not very far from there, but I don't know for sure, because if he would have been in the left side of the river, the main channel, there would have been no chance of survival at all. Nothing would survive that. I've never seen rapids that treacherous. It was, it was beyond belief.

You just, you live your whole life and you'll never see a force of nature like that. And I'm just sorry that that man --

BROWN: And you just happened to be close to the swift water rescue team where you could, you could alert them that there was the man on the pile of debris?

CUMMINGS: Yes. He was -- he was about 18. And I yelled to him and I said, I'm not leaving. And so I called 911. And I was trying to describe where we were. And they -- I couldn't make, make them understand. So I just looked up and I saw the bridge and there was a fire truck there. So I got there as fast as I could, which is a couple hundred yards. And I honked at him and I just yelled and said, come on, there's a guy on a pile.

And they just -- I've never seen people run so fast. So my hats off to him. They did a fantastic job. I was at my house trying to get tools to help, but they already got him out and I believe all they had was a broken leg. That's -- I hope he's fine. But one day I'd love to meet him and tell him what a great job he did, helping save his own life by yelling so loud.

BROWN: Yes. Well, and what a great job you did in saving his life. A remarkable story, a story of heroism all around from you and those swift water rescuers. We're hearing a lot of that here. And the community just coming together to continue that search and rescue, the search and rescue efforts.

Thank you so much, and best of luck to you.

CUMMINGS: Thank you, ma'am.

BROWN: And our continuing coverage will continue right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:00]

BROWN: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Pamela Brown out here in Kerr County, Texas.

And the search and rescue efforts are still underway. There are 10 campers missing still from Camp Mystic and one counselor, others missing as well. So I want to bring in State Representative Wes Virdell. He represents this area. I know it's a very tough time for you right now. There's a lot of

family members out here I've spoken to who have come out looking for their loved ones who are still missing. Can you first provide an update? Any new information to our viewers?

WES VIRDELL, TEXAS STATE HOUSE: Thank you. Most of the information that's gone out recently is still up to date. Unfortunately, we have recovered 59 people so far. And you know, there were -- several of them were children, which is really tough.

What I can tell you is that Texas has a lot to be proud of. The volunteers that have come in are pretty amazing, and our state government, Texas Department Emergency Management came in and got organized very quickly with multiple agencies and local officials, and they have done an amazing job at running crews up and down that river for two days now, and we're on the third day and they have not quit working.

BROWN: Obviously, everyone is keeping hope alive, but what is the likelihood at this point you'll find those who are missing alive.

VIRDELL: I think it is definitely a lot slimmer now, but I do believe that there is hope that we can still find somebody. It's going to be tough to survive those conditions for two days to -- and going into our third day. But I do hold out hope that we are going to find people that have survived.

BROWN: And no doubt there have been so many acts of heroism. We've been highlighting here. But also there's a lot of questions, as you well know. You know, do you think there should have been an earlier warning? Do you think anything could have been done?

VIRDELL: I don't think there's anything that could have been done. One of the local officials had been on the river at three that morning, and he said the river conditions looked good.

[18:20:01]

He was down by the river. He left about 4:00 and he was doing his normal workout routine and left by 4:00, so it was barely misting. And by the time he got home, the flash flood had come in and his phone was ringing off the hook with calls about the flash flood. I don't, I don't know of any possible thing that could have been done to have been prepared for what happens, and living in the hill country, flash floods do happen without any warning. It's -- does happen here in Texas.

BROWN: Yes. We just got an emergency alert not long ago with another flash flood warning for the area so we had to evacuate. Of course, that takes on a whole new meaning now, given what just happened here over the Fourth of July.

Do you know anything more about whether there were efforts, though, at that point, when it became clear there was flash flood, there was flash floods, and there could be danger that there were any efforts to evacuate the camp? From the stories I'm hearing, it was mainly the camp owners and directors who were trying to go to the cabins to rescue these little girls.

VIRDELL: I know as soon as the local officials were alerted to what was going on, all efforts were made to get people to all these camps. That's when you look at the way the river is through the county. You get into Hunt, Texas, which is where it hit really hard. And I mean, to be honest, it hit hard everywhere. But in those areas it's much narrower. The water, we were down there today and the water is probably was 15 feet above just the road line. And so when you have an area that has very poor cell service back there often, I've been back there many times, you have almost no cell service or no cell service at all.

And that was one of the hard parts with communicating with the camp over there, where so many girls have disappeared, was there's no cell service in that area. It's very, very tough to communicate with anybody. And so for a whole day they were still having a hard time even getting in touch with people at that camp.

BROWN: Yes, I was just over there. I didn't have any cell service. And so, and I didn't get actually on my phone, my producer did, but my phone did not have the emergency warning. And so it does raise questions whether when that emergency warning was sent out from the National Weather Service, if the counselors even had a phone that received the warning, all kinds of questions.

Does it, does it raise the question for you of, you know, of course, hindsight is 20/20 of whether there should be some sort of siren system set up or something more? There are several camps in this area, not just Camp Mystic, as you noted.

VIRDELL: Yes, the -- I think the real problem is, is even if we had those systems in place there, which is a possibility in the future to do, 4:00 in the morning, you know, it's going to be hard to know that, one, that that's coming and then two, are people going to be alert enough to realize what's going on? And then you take what the cell service.

I was just out there with the county commissioner this morning at by that camp. And he said, that's one of the main things we need to work on is getting more cell service ability through that valley where the river runs.

BROWN: Yes. I mean, on one hand, I was actually a camper at Camp Mystic, and back then we didn't have the technology we have now. But one of the beauties of it is you're really not on your phone. It's a no screen camp. You're out in nature for the most part, enjoying your camp experience. And now I think there's certainly more concerns about whether there needs to be more ability to reach people on their phones, given what we just saw transpire.

What are the outstanding questions you have at this hour now, where, as you point out, we're going into the third day and there are still several missing. What are you asking right now? What's running through your mind?

VIRDELL: You know, there's not a lot of questions to ask at the moment. What's -- watching the teams work together as effectively as they have, that I have the utmost confidence in our state agencies and our local agencies to do everything that they can. It's been pretty amazing. You know, sometimes I'm critical about government and government programs. With this moment, I can tell you like there's zero, zero things I can criticize how our state has been operated in this, this tragedy that's going on right now.

And so the thing is, we've been doing search and rescue. That's going to continue on. We now are in the process today starting to shift to some other things, things that also --

BROWN: Oh, I just, I didn't know if it was my connection, but apparently we lost him. Our thanks there to the Representative Virdell.

I now want to go to Chris Warren, our meteorologist.

Chris, as I was just noting there at the representative, I received an emergency alert. My producer did, I should say, that there is another flash flood warning here. It's really harrowing after what this community has already been through.

CHRIS WARREN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I can only imagine what they're going through right now. And to get any kind of a warning, it's got to have a lot of people on edge. But I can show you why that is, why the warnings happen. And they do still exist.

[18:25:00]

Little bit of good news right now. The storms are not as strong. And we're seeing signs that they are weakening. So here is Kerr County. Here's Kerrville right here. The Guadalupe River is right in through here and right up here a little bit earlier this thunderstorm right there, they kind of moved over here. That is what prompted the first flash flood warning a couple hours ago. And now as we look there's less yellow and orange on the map.

So we're seeing lighter rain. Green is the lighter rain. We're seeing lighter rain but still in place. That water still has to drain all the way out. And the red outlined areas or the red shaded area, excuse me, that's where the flash flood warnings are. The green, these are flash -- these are flood watches. So anywhere near flooding is possible. The red means that it's happening. So you take action. Watches, we're watching for warnings. We get a warning, we do something. We take action.

Here's the forecast weather. How it's going to play out. We get through tonight. Got to get through tomorrow. Storms are going to be picking up again even as early as noon mid-morning, we could see some storms popping up here and there. It's not necessarily going to be everywhere, but where it is the most intense, more flash flooding is possible, a little bit more transient, not necessarily going to set up and sit for hours. It doesn't look that way.

By 11:00 things are going to be drying out. And then we're going to stay dry for a while. After tomorrow, we're going to see highs into the 90s. It's going to be hot mid-90s, 70s for lows, lower to mid-70s. But for something this bad to happen a lot has to come together. So we're going to go through a couple of the ingredients right now. First, drought. Not just drought but exceptional drought in these areas.

That's the most intense form of drought. And you may say, well, that was -- that'd be good because the water would soak into the ground. But when it's this hot this dry, it's almost like there's a crust. The ground is hard. So initially heavy rain it's going to run off before the ground gets wet and is able to soak in more water. But this amount of rain, even without the drought, would be exceptional flooding. So we had that and then being close to the Gulf in Texas, it's going to be moist and humid most of the time anyways. Add in what was left of a couple of tropical systems. More juice.

So you get these ingredients that are coming together, and then the storm. It sets up right here. So the Guadalupe River right here, here's the south fork, here's the north fork. Anything that falls in this area, any water, is draining that way. And it was a lot of water falling out of the sky. Now we talk about the variables. If this would have happened, say, up here or over here, we might not be talking about this today.

So it's the location, the intensity, the time of night. Because we're talking about the fact that, you know, might not get the warnings in the first place because of technology issues, might be sleeping. There's so much going on, but there's really not a lot you can do with this amount of water trying to get through these narrow streams. And this is what happened. So we're looking at the Guadalupe River at Kerrville.

So this is a point on the river and all last week the water level under a foot. If you're wearing rubber boots, you could walk across the stream and not get your feet wet. And then overnight Thursday, so Friday morning the rain fell and it jumped up from well below minor flood stage to major flood stage, Pamela, in just a couple of hours.

BROWN: All right, Chris, thanks so much.

Meantime, President Trump just spoke moments ago, talking about the cuts that his administration has made to federal forecasting agencies and whether that had any impact on what we've seen here on the ground in Kerr County, Texas. We'll cover that right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:33:06]

HILL: As we continue our coverage of the breaking news this evening in Texas, rescue crews are racing to find those missing after the devastating floods hit central Texas in the early hours of Friday morning. Police say or officials, rather, say at least 80 people have now been confirmed dead. President Trump, for his part, vowing continued support for the state after signing a disaster declaration earlier today.

CNN's senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak joins me now.

Kevin, we also heard from the president. We see him here arriving back at Joint Base Andrews, making his way back ultimately to the White House. But he did have some words. Took a little time to go to the cameras, take some questions from reporters before leaving New Jersey. And he was asked specifically about the federal response in FEMA funding. What did he have to say?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right. He does say that he'll probably visit this affected area in Texas. On Friday he calls what happened horrible. And he's vowing continued federal support for the affected communities there. Earlier today, he signed that major disaster declaration which does unlock new federal funding for some of the operation that's underway.

It activates FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And we do understand that U.S. Coast Guard resources are now on the ground there as this search and rescue operation is underway. That includes two helicopters, three fixed-wing aircraft that are fitted with thermal cameras able to detect sort of movement that the naked eye cannot see. FEMA has also set up seven shelters in Texas that as of 1:00 p.m. today, we're housing 137 people.

The president in that letter that he sent to Governor Greg Abbott today also wrote this handwritten addendum saying that Secretary Kristi Noem is available at all times. Kristi Noem, obviously, the Homeland Security secretary. But there are some questions that are being raised about the staffing levels at the National Weather Service and some of these local offices in Texas.

[18:35:08]

One critical position was the warning coordination meteorologist in the Austin-San Antonio office. That position was left vacant. There were some other vacancies as well that came about because of these early retirement initiatives that President Trump had put in place early in his term as a bid to reduce the size of the federal government.

Now, we have heard from some officials, including at the National Weather Service Union, that are downplaying the role that these vacancies had. They said they do have adequate staffing and resources. President Trump also addressed this earlier today. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you think that the federal government needs to hire back any of the meteorologists who were fired in the last few months?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wouldn't know that, I really wouldn't -- I would think not. This was the thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it. Nobody saw it. Very talented people are there, and they didn't see it. It's -- I guess they said once in a hundred years they've never seen anything like this. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, the president was also asked whether he still plans to phase out FEMA. Remember, his goal is to eliminate that agency, put more of the responsibility on individual states for responding to disasters. That is supposed to be put into place after the Atlantic hurricane season this year. The president didn't answer that question. He says that FEMA is busy working right now and called that a question for another time -- Erica.

HILL: We will see if it is addressed at another time. Kevin, really appreciate it. Thank you.

When we come back here, more about what we're learning in terms of the people who were lost in that flash flooding in Texas. A closer look at their stories is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:36]

BROWN: And we are following the breaking news here out of central Texas, where at least 80 people are confirmed dead from severe flash flooding. Some of those are campers, young campers from Camp Mystic, just down the road from where I am right here. There are several camps along the river, but Camp Mystic was the hardest hit.

I want to bring in Rafael Romo. He joins us now.

Rafael, I know you've been learning more about some of these young victims. What can you tell us?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is very hard to talk about, Pam. The families of several campers have confirmed their deaths to CNN, while others are enduring an excruciating wait for news on their loved ones. At one point, officials confirmed as many as 27 children were missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls camp located by the Guadalupe River in central Texas, Kerr County.

The family of Renee Smajstrla confirmed to CNN that the 8-year-old camper at Camp Mystic went missing during the torrential flooding and has passed away. Sean Salta, the girl's uncle, told us that its truly devastating for the family, adding that his niece's body was recovered on Friday, the same day flooding swept the area.

The mother of missing 9-year-old camper Janie Hunt told CNN in a message Saturday morning that her daughter had passed away on Friday, the day of the tragedy. Anne Hunt had told us that the family was just praying for the return of their daughter. Tragically that did not happen. CNN has also confirmed that 13-year-old Blair Harbor and her 11-year-old sister, Brooke, are among the victims.

This was confirmed by their father. Both girls had been missing. RJ Harbor told us that Blair was a gifted student and had a generous, kind heart, and Brooke was like a light in any room. People gravitated to her, he said. And she made them laugh and enjoy the moment. Neither girl was attending Camp Mystic at the time of their disappearance.

Reese Zunker, the head coach for the boys' soccer team at Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas, and his wife Paula, are also among the dead, as confirmed to CNN by his niece. His team posted on social media that Coach Reese Zunker was not just a soccer coach, he was a mentor, teacher and a role model for our Kerrville kids.

Authorities confirmed flooding killed people in at least six different counties, Pam, in central Texas, including Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Williamson, Tom Green and Kerr, which of course had the largest number of victims by far -- Pam.

BROWN: Thank you so much, Rafael.

And among the devastation, so much of this community is coming together, and we're hearing so many stories of heroism. We just got off the phone with the night manager at Camp Mystic named Glenn, and he confirmed a story that was told to us from one of the parents that he rushed to one of the cabins at Camp Mystic and helped the girls, kept them on mattresses that were floating until their heads hit the top of the cabin and the water receded.

He is being hailed as a hero by the parents, who are trying to contact him. He told us he didn't want to talk anymore to us until he talks to the parents of those campers who died.

Also, KSAT reporter, a CNN affiliate, Patty Santos, has the latest from a church in Kerrville.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATTY SANTOS, KSAT REPORTER: We are in church hoping to bring you a little hope. We are at Riverside Church of Christ. Look at all this water that's collected. Toys, you know, shampoo, deodorant, things that you know you need.

[18:45:05]

Those things right there, toys donated by little kids here. And even behind here some of the items that you would need if you are, if you don't have a home.

Right now with me is Richard McAlister. You're one of the members of the church. You guys decided to put these together. In these bags are -- is food. You don't need electricity to put these food to use and already some people have been coming in to put them to use.

RICHARD MCALISTER, RIVERSIDE CHURCH OF CHRIST MEMBER: That's right. It's shelf stable food. You don't need refrigeration. You don't need a stove to fix it. Just come down, pick it up and the meals are ready to eat.

SANTOS: And they have already started coming in. Some of the victims have already said, we're not going to have water. We're not going to have electricity for weeks. MCALISTER: Even people that have not lost their home may not have

utilities in their home. They may not be able to get back into their home. So we're trying to reach everyone that has been displaced by the storm.

SANTOS: And this is one of the many organizations, one of the many churches that is doing something here for their community. You have had groups reach out to you, saying, how can we help.

MCALISTER: Yes, we've had a number of churches across the nation reach out to us last night and today offering to get on a bus and come down and help us, or to provide financial support, or just to pray for the people of Kerrville. It's very heartwarming, the outpouring of support nationwide.

SANTOS: And one of the things that they want to let you know right now is they don't need any more food. They don't need any more donations. They got this. They just need to get it out to the folks and continue to support this community.

MCALISTER: That's right. Our biggest need right now is to know who needs help. So if you are in need of any of this, please get in contact with us. You can visit RSCOC.org on the internet and make contact with us, or you can just drop by the church during those scheduled hours on the Web site.

SANTOS: This is one of the locations we're going to stop at. We're going to go look at some of the other places that are giving back to their community during this time of pain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And more of our breaking news after this quick break.

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[18:51:56]

HILL: We will have more of our coverage of the devastating floods in Texas in just a moment. I do want to bring you up to speed, though, on some new developments tonight on a potential ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to Washington ahead of a meeting with President Trump tomorrow. For his part, President Trump saying just a short time ago he thinks a deal is, quote, "close," saying in fact, it could be agreed to as soon as this week.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has more now on what we know of that proposal.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the closest to a hostage ceasefire deal that Hamas and Israel have been in months. And the negotiations have now moved to Doha.

Now, we know there is an Israeli delegation already there. A Hamas senior sources told CNN they believe that the next round of talks could start as early as Monday.

Now, they could potentially be proximity talks. This means that even though they won't be speaking directly, Hamas and Israel may potentially be in the same building, which means that the mediator can run from one to the other, hammering out those final details in a much quicker way than we have seen in months.

Now we did hear from the Israeli prime minister's office saying that they had seen some amendments that had been called for by Hamas, and they called them, quote, "unacceptable." So these are really the last minute final talks that we will see in the days ahead.

Now, the Israeli prime minister is on his way to Washington. He'll be meeting with the U.S. president, Donald Trump, on Monday. Mr. Trump has been very optimistic about these talks, saying he believes a deal can be done by next week. He was referring to the week that is coming.

A quick look at what the proposal looks like. As far as we know, from a source familiar with the situation, there will be 10 living hostages and 18 deceased hostages released in return for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli military will pull their troops back to pre-agreed locations in northern Gaza.

There will be negotiations starting for that permanent end to the war. This will just be a temporary 60-day ceasefire at this point, and there will be an influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza and most crucially, it will be through the United Nations run institutions which have up until recently been somewhat sidelined as the U.S.- Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was in process. The GHF role going forward is uncertain.

Now this ceasefire cannot come quickly enough for those on the ground in Gaza. Dozens more were killed on Sunday. Hospital officials saying over the weekend that many children lost their lives. The Israeli military saying that they are continuing to target terrorist organizations in Gaza.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Just ahead here in the CNN NEWSROOM, you'll hear from the Texas man still searching for his parents nearly three days now after flash floods slammed the area.

[18:55:02]

We'll continue to update you on those search efforts on the other side of this quick break. Stay with us.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

HILL: Thanks again for joining us for our special breaking news coverage of the catastrophic flooding in Texas. I'm Erica Hill in New York, alongside Pamela Brown in Kerr County, Texas.

We can tell you at this hour at least 80 people have now been confirmed dead, 41 remain missing across central Texas.