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At Least 82 People Dead In Catastrophic Texas Flooding; Search & Rescue Ongoing For Dozens Missing In Texas Flooding; Kerrville Resident Helps Locate, Rescue Flood Victim; Netanyahu Heads To U.S. Amid Renewed Hostage-Ceasefire Talks. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired July 06, 2025 - 23:00   ET

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

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[23:00:38]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers that are watching here in the United States and all around the world.

I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. We want to begin now with breaking news where parts of Texas, they are bracing for even more heavy rainfall after the catastrophic flooding that left at least 82 people dead and that includes 28 children.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott says that flash flooding still poses a threat on the ground in some areas as the water levels begin to rise yet again in some parts of the river.

Now, that prompted officials to urge people in the hunt community to move to higher ground earlier this afternoon. These treacherous conditions, they are making it even harder for search and rescue crews to find any survivors yet many of them remain hopeful.

That last check official said at least 41 people were still missing. You see them going meticulously through the debris in hopes of finding some answers for so many loved ones right now waiting to hear more.

Currently, we do know that among the missing, that includes at least 10 campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic. It's an all-girls summer camp near the Guadalupe River that burst its banks early on Friday and that's when most people were in bed asleep. Governor Greg Abbott visited that camp on Saturday and says it was, quote, "horrendously ravaged."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG ABBOTT, (R) TEXAS GOVERNOR: It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through and we will remain 100% dedicated searching for every single one of the children who were at Camp Mystic as well as anybody else in the entire river bed to make sure that they're going to be recovered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SANDOVAL: I want to show you this time lapse. If you look at it, you can see exactly just how quickly the floodwaters rose early Friday morning. It was taken in Kingsland, Texas. That's about 95 miles from Camp Mystic.

President Donald Trump now promised continued federal support for Texas. He also suggested budget cuts at the National Weather Service did not play a role in the tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

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)

SANDOVAL: CNN's Ed Lavandera begins our coverage with more on the rescues happening in Comfort, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: While the death toll from the flooding continues to go up dramatically, there are still a number of people missing and because of that, we're seeing large numbers of volunteers fanning out across the Guadalupe River from Camp Mystic all the way downstream to where we are here in the town of Comfort, Texas, some 36 miles away from Camp Mystic and up and down the river.

We've seen groups of people coming out trying to help the search and rescue teams bring those answers and the closure to so many families that are still awaiting news about their loved ones. But this is what they're up against.

Look, this is all of the debris just in one little spot. They got washed up here along this bridge that crosses over the river, but you look at the denseness and the thickness of all of this debris and it just makes you realize how difficult this search operation is, you know, cutting through all of this and trying to find a possible victim in this kind of scene is just incredibly difficult, incredibly taxing, but we've seen all that and a lot of that was brought to a halt here today because there had been some concerns that there was more flash flooding coming.

There was alerts when causing evacuations of the area and so that caused a lot of concern and because of that we saw the teams of volunteers here being told to kind of evacuate these areas.

So, those search and rescue operations and the volunteer efforts kind of came to a halt because of that and we presume that it will continue because there are still several days out from this tragedy, still many families looking for answers, some still holding on to hope that maybe someone could be rescued alive, but with every passing hour they know full well that that is a very, very unlikely scenario to unfold here as difficult as that is to say right now.

[23:05:16]

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Comfort, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And we do want to take you now about 28 kilometers west of where Ed is just there and now go to CNN's Marybel Gonzalez joining us live from Kerrville, Texas.

Marybel, you've had to even relocate due to some ongoing evacuations that are still happening. I'm wondering if you could speak to our viewers about the fluid nature of the situation on the ground still.

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Polo, we've had to move several times including up until an hour ago we were closer to the riverbanks of the Guadalupe River. It is right behind us. I know it's pitch dark so it's difficult for you to see, but we are nearby.

However, we had to quickly evacuate the area because we got another warning of possible flooding of volunteers here, locals here. We're telling everybody to leave the area and you know, everything is calm right now, but Polo, it's understandable why that happened. This area is sensitive to this kind of alert. They want to be ready in case that happens again.

And I'll tell you why it is also so dangerous in this specific area where we're standing is where an RV park used to be. There were dozens of RVs here and the property owner told us it only took about 20 minutes for the water, those raging waters to completely submerge the entire park.

So, that is just how quickly these levels of the Guadalupe River can rise in just a short amount of time. And people here are not taking any chances with that. But we do know that those search and rescue efforts, Polo, were focused along the river bank. That is right by the river. That is where all of that debris currently stands.

Right now we saw pieces of cement, pieces of concrete, entire trees just toppled over and even cars wedged between those branches. In those specific areas is where these search and rescue teams are sifting through that debris, hopefully trying to find anybody who may be trapped there.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, for the people that are still in that community now, nearly 48 hours, the trauma they've experienced, Marybel, I can only imagine how difficult it is to try to get just a few hours of sleep if they're still in the area.

Marybel Gonzalez there following the latest on the ground. Thank you and your team. Now, local eyewitnesses there continuing to document the devastation on the ground. The dramatic moment that we want to show you was actually captured by a resident in Center Point, Texas. Look at that house off in the distance as you see. It is being swept away by the raging waters of the Guadalupe River.

Floodwaters overtook the town in less than an hour on Friday with downed trees, debris, all threatening roadways. Local authorities are now urging the community to exercise caution if they're traveling throughout the region. But just some remarkable footage there as you see that house finally coming to rest against that tree near the highway.

I want to go now live to Center Point, Texas, who's the person who captured that footage is Gavin Walston. Thank you so much, Gavin, for taking some time to bring us up to speed and certainly for documenting everything that's been happening.

GAVIN WALSTON, TEXAS RESIDENT: Yes, I was happy to.

SANDOVAL: Gavin, I'm wondering if you could just bring me up to speed on what the situation is like on the ground as you and I speak.

WALSTON: As of today, we've had an overwhelming amount of volunteers, a vast amount of local and out of county professional authorities for search and rescue, recovery, and very strong coordinated gridded searches for and along the river. It's been awestruck and confusing at the same time because we've had such great response from the community, from the surrounding Hill Country and other states. And it's greatly appreciated by all means.

SANDOVAL: I'm glad you mentioned the Hill Country. I know it very well, just north of San Antonio. For our viewers who may not be familiar with it, Gavin, I'm wondering if you could just sort of paint a picture of what it's like there. How close is the community? It is as unique as it is beautiful, but because of that river, it seems like it lives in a constant threat of floods when it rains.

WALSTON: Like all the towns that have an upcoming of these areas, everything was built in the rivers. It's what brought people to the great state of Texas in the early years. And we've grown accustomed to the life on the rivers, the communities, the events.

[23:10:13]

We don't take them lightly when we get hit. And it's times like these that, you know, yes, there was people caught off guard and some very tragic events, but there was warnings going out. But again, most of this was in the very early morning hours with forecasted events that dumped exorbitant amounts of water in localized areas. They dumped the right amount of water in the wrong place to reverberate this catastrophe.

SANDOVAL: And here we are now approaching nearly 48 hours since this catastrophe that you mentioned, Gavin. Is there a sense in the community still that there are concerns that the water will once again rise or is it perhaps that the worst is over as the attention continues on any search and rescue efforts?

WALSTON: With the attention on the search and rescue, as noted earlier, we had a brief call to evacuate from search and rescue and cleanup procedures. We had such a large amount of volunteers, local and professional, on the river that we had people able to overflow into helping to clean up. I, myself, with our church members were cleaning out a house when that call came.

And so there is a heightened additional awareness on not to take anything lightly. We always take stuff drawn back when we're comfortable. Things happen and it just brings us together on how to best move forward, plan for the future. But right now it's all how we help each other, not point fingers, but point where the shovel's got to go and help clean this -- clean this up.

SANDOVAL: No, absolutely. And really to underscore your point, that should be the priority right now. It's really the resilience. There are some questions that I've heard coming from the community. More could have been done. Is that something that perhaps you may ask yourself down the road as the cleanup and rebuilding begins?

WALSTON: The comments of more that could have been done, I think, are being pushed from a very small majority. Most of the people here in the surrounding area, we understand these flash floods. We understand that they happen so fast.

We've got wide stretches of rivers. We have narrow stretches of rivers where water could congregate more quickly and cause localized or in this case, a vast swatch of destruction. We have great communities that move fast to help each other out. It's just all intensive purposes, an extremely rapid situation that unfolded.

Whenever I took this video the morning of this surge, it was, I woke up 6:30, I had not seen any of the reporting of the tragic events that had happened just 20 miles upriver and was solely going to hopefully catch what was thought to myself as a normal seasonal flash flood where we could see the awe and power of creation and these water flows.

Unintentionally, I caught a more destructive outcome in a very short period and that's my whole intention with the video I took after the fact. I wasn't narrating and trying to boast of the situation. I just wanted to find the time to show others, in this case, after the fact, because it turned so quickly to a disastrous flood, destructive. The bridge that I was on shortly after was deemed compromised and others downriver. And so this --

[23:15:03]

SANDOVAL: Right, no doubt, so much of the infrastructure now is going to have to be looked at. But Gavin, your pictures do tell a very important story of just how incredibly strong those currents were. The serene waters of the Guadalupe, they were completely unrecognizable. It's made very clear, it's seen very clear in your video.

Gavin Walston, we really appreciate you and we are certainly thinking about you and your entire community tonight. Thank you for your time and for documenting this.

WALSTON: I appreciate your efforts to get the information out of what has happened and the help that we do need in the timely manner that we are getting it and that we will need going forward.

SANDOVAL: Sounds good. Gavin, thank you again.

Well, there's another threat, another weather threat that continues to develop at this hour. Tropical Depression Chantal made landfall in South Carolina on Sunday. It is now becoming the first named storm to strike the Atlantic coast of the U.S. this season, this hurricane season.

More than 5 million people in North Carolina, they were under flood threats by the early morning hours yesterday. And Virginia also issuing at least 2 million flash flood, I should say multiple flash warnings there in the region. As the storm tracks deeper inland, rain is expected to push further north later this week.

Now, this storm, it was recently downgraded from a tropical storm, but it is still inflicting heavy damage on coastal communities. This image on your screen showing a collapsed highway amid major flooding in North Carolina.

Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, the very latest on the deadly floods in Texas and we'll also hear about the weather conditions that created this opportunity for a disaster, ahead.

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[23:20:26]

SANDOVAL: Back to our breaking news out of Texas now, where at least 82 people, including 28 children, have been killed by flash flooding in Central Texas. State and local officials saying that 41 people that are still missing. Most of the victims were in Kerr County, where the Guadalupe River rose more than 20 feet in a matter of hours.

Many of the youngest victims died at Camp Mystic, which is a Christian all-girls summer camp. You would find it located on the riverbank. Search and rescue operations continue for the camp counselor and 10 campers who are still missing at this hour as it approaches about 10:20 here in the region.

Dick Eastland, he's the owner of Camp Mystic, he died while trying to rescue campers, according to his grandson. One of many of the stories that we're hearing from the ground.

Meanwhile, there's one climate scientist that says that the U.S. is unprepared for worsening natural disasters as the planet continues to warm. Meteorologist Chris Warren explaining the key causes behind this catastrophic flooding.

CHRIS WARREN, METEOROLOGIST: It really is hard to imagine how something like this could happen. And in this case, a lot of different things came together to create this disaster. One of those was the drought days, if not weeks in the making. You might say, well, why would a drought make flooding worse? Wouldn't that be more water, you know, into the soil, more room? Well, it doesn't necessarily work that way.

With the very hot and very dry conditions, the soil kind of gets baked and it gets hard. So, initially you get this downpour of water and it doesn't go right into the soil. It just runs off. You think of how big the land is. If it would go right into the soil, that would at least help. But in this case, there were a lot of things going against the situation here.

So, another one would be once the rain started, it was tapping into moisture, not just from the Gulf, which helps make things very humid in Texas anyways, but a couple of these former tropical systems add a little bit extra juice. So, there's another thing. The other aspect of it, it was slow moving.

The overall system that was helping to trigger these showers and thunderstorms just wasn't moving very fast. And then the location, right? We knew there was going to be storms and possibly flash flooding, but the fact that this one, this bad, horrible storm set up right here, right over the north and south forks of the Guadalupe River that feed into here, anything that falls from the sky, any rain, any water is going to drain that way.

And it was hours and hours of some of the heaviest rain you could even imagine. And it all ended up being well over 10 inches in some areas, around a foot in some spots, estimated by radar. And it's over several counties.

So, that water drains out in many cases into the same locations. And because of that, in just a matter of hours, going from, this is the river gauge here of the Guadalupe River at Kerrville, going from less than a foot, below a foot water level, to about a two-story house in a matter of couple of hours. That's all of that rain being funneled down the stream there.

And then this is the forecast. Not completely done just yet. Still have showers and thunderstorms to get through during the day tomorrow. But eventually, by tomorrow evening, things start to dry out. And fortunately, really going to get a break. It's going to be hot, but back to a dry stretch next week.

SANDOVAL: Let's get more reporting now coming from Texas from Alex Nguyen, breaking news reporter for the Dallas Morning News. She joins me live from Dallas.

Alex, it's good to have you. Thank you for your time.

ALEX NGUYEN, BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: So, in hearing from officials there on the ground, Alex, what is your sense of the priorities right now for crews at this hour?

NGUYEN: Right, for sure. So, I think the priority right now is for local officials, for state officials, is continue to look for people who are still unaccounted for, you know, like this flash flooding hit right in the early, you know, 4th of July weekend. A lot of people were in the region for camping, for swimming.

And so there were definitely a lot of people still unaccounted for, still people missing. And so search and rescue right now is definitely priority number one for them.

SANDOVAL: And you heard -- you may have heard from one of our last guests describing a sense of heightened awareness among residents that are still there. Certainly they would be concerned that there could be another round of flooding. You heard from a meteorologist just a few moments ago that there is still a potential flood threat tomorrow. What are residents there being told about the further risk of flash flooding there in the region?

[23:25:14]

NGUYEN: I think, like, people have received flash flooding warnings, you know, certain roads are closed. People have been told to, like, take precautions for sure. I believe that flood watch was extended until 10 p.m. tonight. And, of course, there will likely be more of that. So, folks on the ground are being told to take precautions during this flood warning.

SANDOVAL: For viewers around the world that may not be familiar with the Texas Hill Country, Alex, I wonder if you could just describe the geography there, right? I mean, there's a basin of rivers and streams. There are limestone cliffs. There's the drought as well that, as we heard from weather experts, likely prevented that water from soaking into the ground. What should we know about that specific part of Texas? And, again, the geography that may have potentially combined all of these factors.

NGUYEN: Yeah, so definitely the Guadalupe River is running through there. And I think the most important thing as well and why there's so much confusion perhaps is that this was 4th of July weekend. And so a lot of folks from out of town, from Dallas-Fort Worth, for example, from all the part of Texas, were coming to the region for camping, you know, summer camps.

So, really big here, Camp Mystic that was hit was part of that summer camp that draw lots of outside folks in the summertime. It tends to be, like, a bit cooler than, you know, the cities. You know, it's Texas summer right now.

And so, that's why it has been challenging perhaps to know who should be accounted for and know exactly how many people are missing during this flooding.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, and those camps are what adds yet another layer of tragedy to the story with parents, as we've been hearing from reporters such as yourself, parents having to go to local funeral homes to see if perhaps their children are there. At the same time, there are certainly stories of resilience and heroism. I wonder, Alex, have you heard any of those coming from the region? NGUYEN: I think there have been, you know, the fact that a camp full of young girls were hit directly. That was truly a tragedy. So many, you know, in Dallas-Fort Worth, so many girls went down there. And so we have seen, you know, masses and vigils taking place not just in Kerrville but also in all the parts of the state, including in Dallas, for example, today.

Obviously, the governor called for a day of prayer today. And there have been, like, you know, ribbons, vigils, and all of that happening in other parts of the country. I think it's just like Texas lawmakers, including a North Texas lawmaker, for example, spearheading a bipartisan effort to do flood relief. And, you know, he told me that he has a daughter who's also 10, which is about the age range of these girls at the camp. And it just, like, broke his heart. And I think, you know, this is just a moment where people are really hurting. So, yeah.

SANDOVAL: Yeah. Well, we're certainly thinking about that entire community. We're grateful for your reporting. This community facing such a difficult road ahead.

Alex Nguyen with The Dallas Morning News. Thank you.

NGUYEN: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: Of course. We have much more ahead with this breaking news story developing out of Texas.

Stay with CNN.

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[23:32:35]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage. More now on our top story out of Texas, where at least 82 people have now been confirmed dead in the flash flooding in the central part of the state. At least 41 others, they are still missing at this hour.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott warning that even more heavy rain is expected in the coming days. And the flooding could still get worse in Kerr County, which is where a majority of the destruction has taken place.

Search and rescue crews, they are still looking for at least 10 campers and a counselor missing from Camp Mystic, which is an all- girls summer camp near the Guadalupe River.

It took less than two hours for that river to rise on Friday, more than 20 feet, or about 6 meters. The mayor of nearby Kerrville saying that the city is now doing everything it can to help those affected by these catastrophic floods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE HERRING JR., KERRVILLE, TEXAS MAYOR: I'm old enough to remember Fred Rogers, and he one time said, during a crisis, look for the helpers. In Kerrville, those helpers are the city staff, county personnel, state agencies, and federal agencies. We're doing everything we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And amid the damage and the devastation and death, there are also stories of heroism. Jason Cummings, he is a Kerrville resident who actually found and helped rescue a man that was trapped by floodwaters. He shared his story with CNN's Pamela Brown earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON CUMMINGS, 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 live 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 firetruck 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.

[23:35:04]

And I went and got the swift water 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 -- 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, it really is.

And shortly after that, unfortunately, I was chainsawing 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: That harrowing account coming from Jason Cummings as he spoke to my colleague Pamela Brown on Sunday. My other colleague, CNN's Rafael Romo, he's got more on what we know about some of the victims of these devastating floods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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' Kirk County.

The family of Renee Smajjstrla confirmed to CNN that the 8-year-old camper at Camp Mystic went missing during the torrential flooding and has passed away. Shawn Salta, the girl's uncle, told us that it's 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 Camp Mystic camper Janie Hunt, who was 9 years old, told CNN in a message Saturday morning that her daughter had passed away on Friday, the day of the tragedy, and Hunt had told us that the family was just praying for the return of their daughter.

CNN has also confirmed that 13-year-old Blair Harber and her 11-year- old sister Brooke are among the victims. This was confirmed by their father. Both girls had been missing. R.J. Harber 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.

Reece 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 Reece 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 in central Texas, including Travis, Burnett, Kendall, Williamson, Tom Green, and Kerr, which had the largest number of victims by far.

Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Still on the way, more on the deadly flooding in Texas, and more of your headlines from around the world, including the Israeli prime minister. He is headed back to the United States soon, where he will be meeting with President Trump amid renewed discussions on a possible hostage release and ceasefire agreement. Those details, plus live analysis after the break.

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[23:42:27]

SANDOVAL: Dozens of people are dead across Gaza on Sunday after the Israeli military attacked Gaza City and also the southern enclave. The latest round of strikes now coming as the Israeli prime minister departs for the U.S. It's a move that could inch Israel and Hamas closer to a possible ceasefire agreement. CNN's Paula Hancocks with more.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the closest to a hostage ceasefire deal that Hamas has ever made. 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. 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.

[23:45:14]

Paula Hancocks, CNN Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And after a 90 day pause on his reciprocal tariffs, Donald Trump says that his administration will begin sending out letters on Monday to all U.S. trading partners without a deal in place. Trump calls them the take it or leave it letters. They're going to detail the tariff rates countries will have to pay for goods exported to the U.S. starting at the beginning of August.

You remember back in April Trump announced a base tariff rate of 10% with some countries facing rates as high as 50%. The U.S. Treasury Secretary told CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday that he thinks that some countries will be anxious to make a new deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: We're going to be very busy over the next 72 hours. We are going to -- President Trump's going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that if you don't move things along, then on August 1st, you will boomerang back to your April 2nd tariff level. So, I think we're going to see a lot of deals very quickly.

And you know, Dana, we're going to send out probably 100 letters to small countries where we don't have very much trade. And most of those are already at the baseline 10%.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And because it's going to be a highly watched week in Washington, let's get some analysis now from Larry Sabato. He's the Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia and also Editor of "A Return to Normalcy?: The 2020 Election that (Almost) Broke America."

Larry, it's great to see you.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you, Polo.

SANDOVAL: So, let's talk tariffs so we can stay on that previous topic here. We all remember earlier this spring we heard from retailers that were warning about the potential impact on customers because of Trump's imposed tariffs. That paused, it seemed to diminish some of those concerns. So, looking ahead now, Larry, ahead of Wednesday, what are some of those worries that retailers and consumers may likely have to deal with again?

SABATO: Well, I think they're the same worries. The assumption is that tariffs will be considerably higher in the Trump administration, certainly than they were in the Biden administration or even the first Trump administration.

Now, who's going to be paying the tariffs? I think the consensus outside the Trump administration is that consumers will be paying those prices. You can't expect companies to eat all of that additional charge. So, sooner or later, it's going to have a bad effect on the American economy.

How bad will depend on how high the tariffs are and when these deals are made. You know, we've heard projections of all of these tariff deals coming with multiple countries since April 2nd. Well, here we are in early July. There are only three deals that we know of, and even those three with China and the U.K. and Vietnam are not finalized.

SANDOVAL: And just staying on tariffs, Larry, we have the concerns that were highlighted during the negotiations or the debate about Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill, certainly raising concerns, especially among some of the president's base and really splitting MAGA world. How does that sort of raise the stakes now? You have the concerns about Social Security and now the concerns about potential rising prices for consumers. How much harder may it get for some members of the Republican Party in Washington?

SABATO: Internally, you've had a consistent split in the Republican Party on both domestic and foreign policy. You wouldn't know it by judging from the public comments or the voting records in Congress because Donald Trump has control of the Republican Party in a way that his predecessors, at least his recent predecessors, would be envious of. They have never controlled their parties to the degree that Trump does.

How long can that last? Well, if we have a recession, it's going to be over. If there are major scandals that break, then it will be over. There are other conditions you can imagine that would cause something to fall apart, cause this to fall apart. But so far, Trump has been relatively lucky, and we'll see whether that luck continues. A lot of the projections from economists to this point have not turned out to be accurate.

SANDOVAL: In the last few seconds we have you, Larry. I wonder if we could touch on the Middle East. Israel's prime minister, as we mentioned, heading to Washington on Monday. As our reporter just pointed out, probably the closest that we've ever been to a possible ceasefire in the war in Gaza. What will you be closely watching as the prime minister meets with President Trump?

SABATO: I'll be watching to see if there are real substantive conclusions and accomplishments in progress. It's, of course, inevitable they're going to have a friendly meeting. Netanyahu doesn't have to worry about the Oval Office meeting that, say, President Zelenskyy had.

It will be very friendly, and they'll talk about how they've achieved so much, particularly recently in Iran. But it's really behind the scenes. What is actually happening? And can they make a deal, a ceasefire deal that holds? This has gone on and on and on. Of course, that pretty much sums up Middle East politics for decades.

[23:50:23]

SANDOVAL: Larry Sabato, thank you so much for your analysis and helping us look ahead in the coming days. Appreciate your time.

SABATO: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: All right, still much more ahead here on the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANDOVAL: Back to our breaking news coverage out of Texas now, where people there, they are coming to terms with the deadly flooding that devastated their communities this weekend. Parents of some of the children who survived at Camp Mystic, they are now praising the heroism of some of the camp's counselors. Student's Pamela Brown is in Hunt, Texas. It's the same camp that she spent some time at as a child. Pamela shared some of the stories from those families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: This parent told me that it was, you know, in the middle of the night around 4 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.

[23:55:04]

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, nine 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 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Our thanks to CNN's Pamela Brown with that reporting. If you would like to help those affected by the flooding in Texas, go to cnn.com/impact. It's at that site that you can find the resources for donations, and you'll also be connected to one of the many charities that are on the ground right now.

I want to thank you for joining us in the last hour. I'm Polo Sandoval. Breaking news coverage of the floods in Texas continues after a very short break.

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