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Officials: At Least 50 Dead, 29 Missing In Texas Flooding: 27 Of The Missing Are From Camp Mystic A Summer Camp For Girls; Scientists Concerned With Future Natural Disasters; The U.S. Has Made Cuts To The National Weather Service; Israeli Protesters Turn Up Pressure For Ceasefire Deal. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 06, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

LYNDA KINKADE, HOST, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade. At least 50 people are confirmed dead from a massive flooding event in Texas. At least 15 of those are children. Officials say another 29 people are missing. We're told all but two of those are from the Camp Mystic, a girls summer camp in Kerr County, Texas. It's one of the areas hit hardest by the flooding. The parents of two young girls confirmed to CNN that their daughters have both died, 13-year- old Blair Harbor and her 11-year-old sister, Brooke.

Other campers confirmed dead include nine-year-old Janie Hunt, who you see here, nine-year-old Lila Bonner, Sarah Marsh, and eight-year-old Renee Smajstrla, seen here in this photo, her family confirmed her death to CNN. Her uncle telling us that it's truly devastating. Camp Mystic is near the Guadalupe River in the town of hunt, Texas, near Kerrville and northwest of San Antonio.

Torrential rains caused that river to rise more than 20 feet in less than two hours. Well, the destruction in the area has been widespread. Texas Governor Greg Abbott visited Camp Mystic on Saturday. He says it's horrendously ravaged. He also says emergency crews are working nonstop to save people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): We will be relentless in going after and ensuring that we locate every single person who has been a victim of this flooding event. We're not going to stop today or tomorrow. We will stop when the job is completed. Between now and whenever that day arrives, when we -- when the job is completed, this is a 24/7 operation day and night, because we know that we are looking for Texans and Americans, and we put them as our top priority, we will find every one of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: CNN's Marybel Gonzalez has more now on the damage and the rescue efforts.

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MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The damage across Kerr County is just so widespread. We're here in Kerrville, Texas, on the side of the Blue Oak RV Park. Now this is an RV park that was gearing up for the Fourth of July celebrations. It was a perfect day. The property owner, Lorena Guillen tells us it was sunny, it wasn't too hot. She had purchased $1,000 worth of fireworks to set them off to their visitors that were here, some of whom were long term RV visitors. Other ones were just here for the holiday weekend.

However, she tells us that quickly changed going into the night. It was around 2:30 a.m. when she noticed it was raining heavily, and before she knew it, the river, the Guadalupe River that you see behind us had just completely swelled up. There were people that were frantic on this property, and one family of five, she describes, were screaming for help.

They were clinging to a tree as their RV got swept away by the current. Eventually, and even though people were trying to help that family, that family was also swept away from the current and it is unclear if that family is among those who have been found. This is a tragic story that we've heard over and over again in different parts of the county.

We know even on this property, earlier, there was a group of volunteers searching a mangled car along the river that crashed into a tree because they believed somebody could potentially be in there. Sheriff deputies were called to the scene, but fortunately, nobody was inside the car.

Now, Lorena Guillen says the focus is on helping this community that has been completely devastated, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. She says that here her RV park, everything is completely gone. 200-year-old trees are uprooted, concrete slabs and pieces of metal are really all that remain. But she says she's hopeful that this community will move forward.

Right now, they need all the help that they can get, and we know that more federal resources could be on the way, with Governor Greg Abbott issuing a state of disaster declaration to help get some resources here on the ground. And while they wait for that to happen, she says volunteers have rallied to help this community, bringing in donations as needed and also helping with the search and rescue efforts. We're in Kerrville, Texas. I'm Marybel Gonzalez.

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KINKADE: And CNN spoke to the owner of that RV park that Marybel just mentioned. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LORENA GUILLEN, RV PARK OWNER: We actually were able to evacuate

pretty much everybody, except for one family. They did get swept away, but we were able to get 28 RVers out of here on time. We couldn't save their RVs, their vehicles, but we were able to save everybody, thankfully, except for that one family.

GONZALEZ: Is that family children as well?

GUILLEN: Yeah, there was three little kids and two adults that were absolutely adorable, having a lot of fun here on Fourth July weekend, and there were within 10 feet of the water, which was absolutely perfect and beautiful. That day, July 30 was the best day.

GONZALEZ: Everything changed really quickly, I know that. And you said that your volunteers are also been helping find the bodies of the victims who have drowned during this flooding.

GUILLEN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, the thing is, while you're cleaning the debris, where -- there is a lot of debris, they're finding -- unfortunately, they're finding people within debris, and that's why we need so much help, because, you know, these are two-storey high debris mangled together, then you don't know what's in the middle of it.

And it's just important that you know that we get help because the river goes for miles and miles and miles. I mean, we're just a tiny, tiny little stretch of the river. There is -- it goes all the way from Hunt, Texas, and even further up, all the way to New Braunfels to, you know, Seguin, and it keeps going. This is the mighty Guadalupe, and that's the reason why everybody comes here because it's such a beautiful river.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, the U.S. Coast Guard is assisting with search and rescue efforts in Texas. Earlier, my colleague Brian Abel spoke to Lieutenant Marshall Grant about what they're doing to help state and local agencies.

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VOICE OF LT. MARSHALL GRANT, U.S. COAST GUARD LIASON TO CITY OF KERRVILLE: The Coast Guard remains committed to saving lives in the Guadalupe River area. Currently we have two -- two helicopters on scene, 65s and then we also have a plane that flew in from Miami this evening here to assist our eight state local agencies with the search and rescue efforts through the night.

To highlight some of our search and rescue efforts the Coast Guard has saved, has conducted 12 flights today and saved 15 campers from that Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. That included rendering medical assistance and providing aid to our state and local partners. We're going to continue to do that throughout the night.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And you mentioned the helicopters. What other tools do you have at your disposal for these rescues? And can you -- can you give us a bit of detail on some of the rescues that the Guard has done so far at places like Camp Mystic?

GRANT: Yes, sir. So the helicopters are a great asset. They provide short range aerial coverage with some of the terrestrial urban research and rescue that's going on. We also have a 144-foot aircraft that can conduct night flights with advanced camera systems that can help potentially find and target some individuals who need assistance.

ABEL: I'm cautious, Lieutenant to be cognizant of not wanting to share anybody's medical information here, but you did mention rendering aid to some of the people that you've rescued. Without specifics, can you just tell us what kind of injuries you're seeing?

GRANT: So I don't have any specifics with regards to some of the victims of this incident that we're seeing, but what we are committed to is working with our state and local partners. They're doing a tremendous effort of scouring some of the damaged areas, specifically along the riverfront, where we had significant historical flooding in the region, and then all of the outlying areas that could be possibly affected by runaway debris, and then the infrastructure that is impacting the roadways.

I don't have any specifics beyond that.

ABEL: OK, I would think that many people when they think Coast Guard, they think ocean rescues or the Great Lakes, maybe. But this is different. This is an urban environment. Sometimes rural terrain, like you mentioned. How are these rescues different because of that different environment?

GRANT: That's a great question. And what's great is our air crews are really good at what they do, specifically on search and rescue, I guess the added intricacy of working in a terrestrial environment is now we have to deal with the hazards of potential obstructions and different objects that could be blocking our ability to get into an area to render assistance.

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But what the Coast Guard is also great at, and what I've been working at with our partnerships, is working with the state and locals to help have a coordinated effort towards rendering assistance to as many individuals as we can.

ABEL: Lieutenant, do you get any sense that maybe sometimes people, communities, just us as humans, underestimate the power of water until something like this happens?

GRANT: Absolutely. I know from my personal experience, my background is in emergency management. It seems that in recent history, we've been seeing a tremendous uptick in natural disasters, severe weather events. And this is a perfect highlight of kind of the severity of how a storm this powerful, this sudden, can impact a region that's -- that's vulnerable.

Some of the highlight points for this specific flood was it's considered a 500 year flood, meaning you could potentially see this type of event once every 500 years. At its peak, this flooding event rose the Guadalupe River by 27 feet and washed away pretty much everything in its path. So that's why we're seeing a tremendous effort from our state and local partners trying to get resources to the region, to get as many people as help as they need.

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KINKADE: Well, rescue efforts still underway, local officials are keeping a close eye on the weather forecast over Texas. Meteorologist Chris Warren has been tracking the storm system and brings us the latest on what to expect in the coming days.

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CHRIS WARREN, METEOROLOGIST: This whole disaster unfolding in a matter of hours during the overnight Friday -- into Friday morning, so Thursday night into Friday morning, with areas receiving more than a foot of rain, but widespread over several counties in this orange and red color here, which is four to six, even six to 10 inches of rain. This is how it played out on radar, from overnight Friday to 5:30 in the morning.

Here's Kerrville and Kerr County right here, getting so much rain just continued throughout the mid-morning and into the early afternoon, so several hours of non-stop and occasionally intense rain leading to serious, fast flooding here along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville. Most of the week, the water level was under a foot, 0.7, and then in a matter of hours, goes up a little bit to three feet and then jumps to two storeys high, about 23.4 feet.

So it's about two storeys high just so quickly. That's something you just do not see very often at all. It's hard to imagine that happening, that wave of water. Meanwhile, flash flood warnings were being issued between midnight and noon, 24, more than 24, more than two dozen issue by National Weather Service, highest level flash flood emergencies, and that was something through here near Kerrville as well.

Here's high resolution future radar through time. More rain is expected, some overnight, but really going to pick up tomorrow morning into the afternoon and evening hours, not seeing some of the heaviest storms right over Kerr County. However, with the high resolution future radar, you have to give a little bit of wiggle room here.

It could drift a little bit farther to the south. So just a big heads up there for that search efforts ongoing there as well. So the forecast rainfall, the amount that we're expecting, generally about two to four inches, in the highest amounts, nothing compared to what we saw the past couple of days.

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KINKADE: All right. Thanks to Chris there. Well, our breaking news coverage continues in just a moment. After a quick break, we'll bring you the latest as we monitor the search and rescue efforts underway right now for a second night in Texas. Plus how a birthday getaway at the river turned into a tragedy, or nearly turned into a tragedy, for one group of friends and family. We're going to have their story of survival when we come back. You're watching CNN.

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KINKADE: We're following breaking news in Central Texas, where communities devastated by catastrophic flooding are bracing for the possibility of even more rain. At least 50 people have died, including 15 children. Officials say there are still more than two dozen people missing along the Guadalupe River.

Many of those are from Camp Mystic, a girl's summer camp in Kerr County. The Kerrville city manager says search and rescue operations remain the top priority. He says crews will continue working throughout the night to try and find any survivors.

CNN Senior National Correspondent, Ed Lavandera has more on Camp Mystic and what happened there.

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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just beyond the Guadalupe River over there is Camp Mystic, and these are the cabins where so many young people were swept away by the flood waters. 27 by last count, still missing, and at this point, every hour that has gone by, it becomes harder and harder to hope that these children can still be found alive.

But I have talked to a number of people who had children or were counselors at the camp, and they described these cabins that you see here in the distance. This is where the younger children would stay. This is kind of where you start out, and then you graduate your way up through the ranks here as you get older. But several people tell us that as the flood waters came up in the middle of the night, the children couldn't get out this way toward us, because that's where the flood waters were coming from. The water had them pinned inside that it was the young counselors.

And by young, I mean, these are just 18-19-year olds who were inside the cabin with those children, unable to get out -- get away. Several people tell us that a lot of those counselors were breaking windows in the back of those buildings, and then draw -- pulling kids through the windows and in their pajamas, making their way up through the hillside there to get to higher ground and to safety. That is some of the heroic work that these young people managed to -- to do to help save as many lives as possible.

There were some 750 kids at this camp. You can see the how extensive the damage is. First of all, just look at the ferociousness that these flood waters came through, uprooting massive trees and just decimating the river -- the river bed here as everything was rushing downstream. When you look at the campground here, you can see the recreation hall is still standing for the most part, but part of the wall there ripped apart.

You know, all of this was under -- under water. And that is the one thing that has been really hard to kind of describe in all of this, is just the amount of water that these floods brought. Where we're standing was underwater at some point, and consider how high above the river we are at this point. Gives you a sense that all of this was barreling downstream.

People were just simply unable to get out of the way as these floodwaters went up as fast as they did, and that is why the situation has been so extremely deadly. Ed Lavandera, CNN, near Camp Mystic, Texas.

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KINKADE: Well, for more on Camp Mystic, here is Taylor Whartnaby with our affiliate, KABB.

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TAYLOR WHARTNABY, REPORTER, KABB: So we did travel up here. This is as far as we could get to Camp Mystic, which is right behind me, as you can see, the Guadalupe River. We went a little further, and we were met with the first responders. But again, we couldn't get any further than that. They are up there, not less than a mile, I would say. They were up there. We seen some helicopters above us that were flying. There's also a drone.

Again, if you take a look, you can see Camp Mystic right in ahead. That one building really stands out. The whole front is completely missing. You know, we've seen some people walking around in that area. Again, there's some debris that we're seeing.

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But also I want to mention that I've seen a lot of people just walking through here with their orange vest doing some searches. We've also seen some more first responders down further. Looks like they had some canine dogs as well. So a lot going on over here. Again, we are seeing first responders, I want to mention again, like that helicopter that was surfacing in this area again, and this is as far as that we could get to Camp Mystic, where over 20 girls are unaccounted for at this time.

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KINKADE: Well earlier, my colleague Erica Hill spoke with Ricky Gonzalez. He was visiting the area with family and friends when the disaster hit on Friday. Ricky explains how they narrowly escaped the rising flood waters with the help of some good Samaritans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICKY GONZALEZ, KERRVILLE FLOOD SURVIVOR: A big group of us from Houston, we decided -- what we wanted to have, a celebratory weekend, celebrating a friend's birthday and celebrating Fourth of July. We get to the Airbnb, Thursday night. You know, excited to go fishing and swimming. Early Friday morning, around six o'clock in the morning, one of our dogs, Nash, was pawing at the door, and woke up one of my friends.

And when he woke up, he happened to look out the window and notice that one of our vehicles were drifting away in the river.

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wow.

GONZALEZ: And that's when we all then woke up and looked outside. And I was in shock. I just didn't know what to do. I kept hearing a big banging, and come to find out, one of my friends trucks was lodged underneath the second floor of the House, hitting the pillars. And so we were just trying to figure what we needed to do, stay calm, make sure everyone was safe.

But we started blowing up floaties that we had for the pool, air mattresses, just to find something that could keep us afloat. I was scared that the house was going to either fall from the stilts or the water was going to raise. The water just kept raising on the steps going higher and higher. And I started calling my sister, I guess, just to let her know maybe say my final goodbye, because it really was that scary.

The water was going very quickly, and you can see the river --

HILL: Yeah.

GONZALEZ: -- just engulfing everything. The house next to us was floating away.

HILL: You saw the house next to you float away?

GONZALEZ: It was gone. Like when we went to bed, it was there. When I woke up, it was gone.

HILL: How did you get out? How were you all -- how did you manage to save yourselves?

GONZALEZ: So during that time, I was on FaceTime with my sister, and I just so happened to look out the window and was showing her one of the concrete fences that fell from the river, and we just happened to see someone driving by further down on the street who was checking on one of their properties.

And I waved, and she kind of came around and she was accessing the house, and from the outside, later, we found out it was in worse condition than we thought. So her and her family, they were able to safely get us out, all 13 of us, including the five dogs, this family, the Garcia family, Leo and Paula. They took us in. They put us in the back of the trucks. They took us to their home.

They fed us homemade breakfast. They made sure we were dry. Very accommodating and sweet. I mean, just heaven sent.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KINKADE: Well, a number of Texas professional sports teams are

speaking out about those devastating floods. The NBA's Dallas Mavericks released this statement on social media, saying in part that they send their love, strength and unwavering support to the first responders. Football team, the Houston Texans posted on X that they are committing half a million dollars to provide support and resources to those impacted by the deadly floods.

And the San Antonio Spurs shared this message, saying, quote, our hearts are especially heavy for the children and their families whose lives have been forever changed.

Still to come more help on the way. President Trump says the White House is working with officials in Texas. Ahead, a closer look at what he's saying and his plans to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Plus a look at the future of U.S. Disaster response. Our next guest will explain why client, climate scientists, are increasingly concerned.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade with breaking news out of Central Texas. At least 50 people have been killed due to catastrophic flash flooding. Search and rescue missions are ongoing at this hour. 29 people are still missing, including 27 children from a private girls summer camp in Kerrville, Texas.

The camp is located along the Guadalupe River, which rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours on Friday. The Kerrville city manager says they have been evacuating hundreds of people from other camp sites by that river. Texas Congressman Chip Roy is praising those who have helped people escape the danger.

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REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): Where we are right now in terms of what we've done to be able to protect people, move them, get them out of the camps, and the heroic efforts of people that worked in those camps, directors of the camps, people who own the camps, who not just risked their lives, gave their lives to try to go save the lives of those kids.

That's who they are as Texans. And I'm so proud of that, and I'm so proud of the work that everyone's done to do that. And now we just got to finish the job and be with the people, and importantly, pray for the families who have lost their loved ones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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KINKADE: Well, CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein has more on the federal response to the disaster.

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BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, local officials are expecting that this is going to be a marathon of search and rescue and search and recovery efforts, and it is going to take the close coordination of state, local and federal governments together to get that done. So here's what we know so far about the federal response.

The U.S. Coast Guard is helping with those rescue. Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, says that she has requested additional fixed wing aircraft with thermal imaging. That is something that is going to help in the overnight hours as it gets dark and they continue to search and rescue. Separately, FEMA is engaged, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, along with the Army Corps of Engineers as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Noem says that border patrol agents are stepping up. They have been tapped in with certain expertise and skills that they can use to help in this situation. But so far, state and local officials say that they are getting what they need from the federal government.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott says that he has submitted a federal disaster declaration request to the White House. It is awaiting President Trump's signature at this time, but President Trump has spoken with Secretary Noem several times today.

Noem was expected to visit Camp Mystic, where dozens of girls remain missing, but we still don't know the extent of the federal resources that are going to be needed here, whether Congress is going to have to step up with additional aid, but there are two other things to keep track of as we continue to track the federal response here.

Number one is that President Trump has been sharply critical of FEMA and says he plans to phase out that agency by the end of the next hurricane season. That is something we'll be watching closely for how the federal government coordinates with the state of Texas here and separately, the President's fiscal year 2026 budget has steep cuts to some of these weather research labs that are vital to improving forecasts.

These are the tools that can help detect these types of storms better. They are currently experiencing cuts. DOGE also has cut hundreds of staffers at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as the National Weather Service, but Secretary Noem was really pressed on some of the alerts at the National Weather Service. Here's how she defended the Trump administration.

KRISTI NOEM, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: That is something and one of the reasons that when President Trump took office that he said he wanted to fix and is currently upgrading the technology and the National Weather Service has indicated that with that and NOAA, that we needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years.

But I do carry your concerns back to the federal government, to President Trump and -- and we will do all we can to fix those kinds of things that that may have felt like a failure to you.

KLEIN: Of course, this storm was truly unpredictable. The water rose so fast it was really unprecedented. We also have a little bit of good news, and that is that Congressman August Pfluger, who represents Texas Hill Country in Congress, says that he and his wife have been reunited with two of their daughters who were campers at Camp Mystic. He said, please join us as we pray for miracles.

Betsy Klein, CNN, traveling with the president in New Jersey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, earlier CNN's Erica Hill spoke with retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore. He led a special joint task force with FEMA in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and explained what went wrong, what may have gone wrong in the disaster preparation and response.

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LT. GENERAL RUSSEL L. HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET): From what I've seen on television, Texas ought to be committed for the 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 looking at a flood watch before dark, the night before.

My hat's 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. It's a very extreme situation, but the weather was an issue. But you know, Erica, Texas is going to have to stand up to this. The same thing happened in 1987 on July 16, along the same river in 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 water -- Guadalupe River.

[01:35:00]

My recommendation to Governor, you need to get 2000 or 3000 people walking those banks, not just 500. A 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.

This is a tough weekend. It's 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 and 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 FirstNet 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 Ida, and it failed us 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 FirstNet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, as we heard from General Honore who has been addressing, of course, the critical role of search and rescue in disasters like the one we've seen in Texas. A crucial part of that response is normally steered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA. However, President Trump has said that he wants to dismantle FEMA after this year's hurricane season and let states take the lead with disaster response, but some officials in the U.S. say they already can't get a response on the current funding at FEMA.

Well, the tragedy in Texas has many scientists concerned about disasters in the future and what the emergency response may look like.

Joining me now is Kristina Dahl, Senior Climate Scientist for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Thanks so much for your time.

KRISTINA DAHL, VICE PRESIDENT FOR SCIENCE, CLIMATE CENTRAL: Thanks for having me.

KINKADE: So the flash flood that we've seen in Central Texas caused river levels to rise between 20 and 27 feet over six to eight meters in about 90 minutes. Yet residents say there was little to no warning. In a region like that that's known for flash flooding, how do you explain the breakdown in early alert systems during such a rapid and catastrophic event?

DAHL: Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, I want to express my heartfelt sympathy with everyone who's suffering through this tragedy right now. It's -- it's -- it's unprecedented and unbelievable. We do know that as our climate warms, the atmosphere can hold more moisture, which makes it more likely to experience extreme rains like this that are occurring in these short periods of time.

So we have a National Weather Service office that covers every part of the country that issued, in this case, a general warning to the region that there was the risk of flash flood. Now, over the course of about 12 hours, they issued subsequent warnings pinpointing the dangers more specifically geographically, and really highlighting the danger of the situation. But those warnings largely happened at night, because the disaster was unfolding at night, and it's clear that those -- with many, many people did not see those warnings, did not have any chance to respond to them, to get to safety before the waters rose, because they were rising so, so quickly.

And so obviously there's a need to investigate what happened and where that communications breakdown happened. But to be clear, the National Weather Service did its job in warning, first to a large area, to say there is flood risk in this area, and then over time, as the risk became clearer and clearer, they kind of refined those warnings and issued updates.

But obviously the loss of life here really indicates how unprepared we are as a nation for disasters of this scale, let alone the scale of disasters that's to come with this continued warming of our planet.

KINKADE: Yeah, I want to ask you more about that, because this event in particular has been described as a one in 100 year flood. Yet extreme weather events are happening with increased frequency. How is climate change, particularly the warmer air, holding more moisture, as you mentioned, shaping the intensity and the frequency of flash floods in Texas and across the U.S.

[01:40:00]

DAHL: Yeah, well, in this part of Texas since 1970 we've seen about a 20 percent increase in the amount of rain falling in the heaviest events. And so that's mirroring a trend that we're seeing across the U.S. and in many parts of the world, in which our warming climate is leading to more rain falling in these extreme events, and so that increases the risk of flash flooding like this in many, many parts of the world.

And in this case too, we also know that a lot of the moisture for the storm was coming from the Gulf of Mexico, where sea surface temperatures are running above normal by a couple of degrees, and so that is causing this very warm, wet system of air that enables a devastating amount of rain to fall in Central Texas.

KINKADE: And of course, this year, as you know, both the National Weather Service and FEMA face major staffing and funding cuts, some reports suggesting up to 20 percent How might these reductions have affected the response to this disaster, or at least the ability to prepare for it?

DAHL: Yeah, I think it's too early to say. We do know that the National Weather Service issued multiple warnings about flood risk, and so clearly they were getting messages out. They do have a vacancy right now in a critical position called The Warning Coordination Meteorologist. And so it could be that that vacancy had connections to local authorities who could have helped to raise early warnings for residents.

But generally a weather forecast office for the National Weather Service has someone on staff 24 hours watching the radar to see what is happening in terms of precipitation, rainfall, other threats. And there are National Weather Service offices throughout the country that, because of staffing cuts, are no longer staffing their offices 24 hours a day.

And so we need these critical people to be keeping us safe 24 hours a day in every one of these offices across the country. And the second piece of this is that staffing cuts at NOAA or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration more broadly, are threatening the future ability to forecast events better.

Forecasting a storm like this one, where exactly is the heaviest rain going to fall? How is it going to translate from rain into flooding? These are extremely challenging problems scientifically, and it's the research of NOAA that enables us to improve our forecasts year over year so that we can more accurately pinpoint the warnings that need to go out to the public.

KINKADE: Yeah, certainly, a lot of concern about how those cuts at NOAA have potentially compromised the government's ability to warn people, I guess, not just now, but in the future. We appreciate your time today, Elizabeth (sic) [Kristina] Dahl. Thanks so much.

DAHL: Thanks for having me.

KINKADE: Well, still to come, search and rescue efforts continue in Texas, after flash flooding swept through the area, killing dozens of people, leaving dozens more missing. We're going to have the latest next.

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[01:45:00]

KINKADE: We're following breaking news tonight, as search and rescue operations are underway in Texas after devastating floods. At least 51 people are dead, including at least 15 children, and crews are currently looking for 29 people who are missing, 27 of them children. The kids went missing from a girls summer camp near Kerrville, Texas, when flash floods swept through that area, turning the nearby river into a torrent.

Kerrville officials say rescue efforts will continue through the night into Sunday, until they find every single person. the Trump administration says it will honor the disaster declaration that Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently signed.

I want to go to our Sarah Acosta from our affiliate, KSAT. She takes a closer look at the destruction left by the flooding in Kerrville.

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SARAH ACOSTA, KSAT REPORTER: This home floated about the length of a football field down the Guadalupe River when the flash flood rose quickly into the homes on waterfront drive in Kerrville along Bandera highway and loop 534 and this is what's left of that home, completely leveled by the river behind it. And the neighbors tell us they fear that the people who lived here may have not survived.

And we spoke with the people who live next door, and they walk us through what happened.

SCOTT WELDON, KERRVILLE, TEXAS RESIDENT: But I had no idea that something like this could happen, and then holy (BEEP) stuff started to hit the walls, and my wife jumped up and looked out the back porch and it was the river.

ACOSTA: Scott Walden and his wife say, the water came in so fast, there was no time to evacuate.

WELDON: By the time I went to get my keys to move my truck out of the way to just back up across the street, the water had risen and flooded my truck. The water got up there in the door about this high. And I looked at my wife, and it was like, we need to get out of here.

ACOSTA: That water too strong and fast, sweeping them down the river.

WELDON: We went ahead and jumped out, and we got washed down three houses and we finally ended up snagged on a -- on a big bush. So we hung onto the bush until we got rescued.

[01:50:00]

ACOSTA: They hung on to a crepe myrtle tree for about 30 minutes before they were rescued by police officers who formed a human chain.

WELDON: We were kind of going hope this isn't it.

ACOSTA: Weldon says they are grateful to be alive, saying his destroyed home and cars are just material things.

WELDON: Yeah, this is just stuff.

ACOSTA: Neighbor Irma Kanthu (ph) says they live a couple of houses over, fortunate, their home is safe and they were able to evacuate quick enough, feeling overwhelmed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A feeling of sadness, because, I mean, even the people that were here weren't expecting this to happen.

ACOSTA: As they pick up the pieces and continue to look for neighbors and loved ones, she hopes it's a time where the community can stand strong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: helping each other is -- this is when we need to come together and help each other out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Sarah Acosta with our affiliate, KSAT, our thanks to you. Well, the United Cajun Navy may not be part of the U.S. military, like the Coast Guard, but once again, the Volunteer Rescue group from Louisiana is stepping up to help. Wolf Blitzer spoke earlier with the group's Vice President about the challenges they face as they continue the search and rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRIAN TRASCHER, VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED CAJUN NAVY: It's been really

challenging. It's like deja vu all over again. In western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene, where you had mountainous, or in this case, hill territory that -- that it was inundated by an extreme amount of rainfall. And of course, gravity has nowhere to go but down, and it made its way down into these -- these lower valley areas, unfortunately, where a lot of these youth camps were located.

Extreme -- extremely fast, kinetic flood waves, and that's made rescue efforts extremely challenging. You know, we're used to swift water rescue, but we're used to doing it in, you know, kind of slick flood waters. This is more like rapids, like we really could use, like people who are very experienced at white water rafting, I guess you could say, to help.

So we kind of transitioned. We initially had sent an air boat team out, but we transitioned to some of our partners to send up helicopters, because that seemed to be most effective way to get immediate extractions done.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the search mission is focused on rescuing victims who are still alive. How crucial is this time? This time framework, right now?

TRASCHER: The first 48 is the most crucial. You know, when people are -- when they're in flood waters, obviously they get wet. When the sun goes down, temperatures go down. You can have hypothermia. If they haven't had enough hydration or food, they can start to experience mild forms of hallucinations or dementia, which -- which affects their decision making capabilities and overall survivability.

So every hour counts. It's crucial. The closer you get to that 48 hour, you know, 58 hour mark, the less the chance for survival. And I don't want to, you know, throw any kind of grim, you know, projections on anybody, because we're hoping for the best, but -- but as soon as we can get to the people that are missing, the better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: And in other news, Israel says its negotiators will be headed to Qatar on Sunday for a new round of ceasefire talks with Hamas. The militant groups that have responded positively to the U.S. truce proposal on Friday, but it also requested some changes, which Israel says is a non-starter.

Officials in Gaza say more than 50 people were killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire on Saturday, and dozens more could be trapped in a collapsed four storey building near Gaza City. As our Oren Liebermann reports, some Israelis are taking to the streets demanding a hostage and ceasefire deal now.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Here in hostages Square, the crowd of thousands knows the significance of the moment. This is a crowd that's been held here week after week, almost every week for more than the past year and a half since the war has started. But they know that this moment is different. This is critical.

With a new proposal on the table from Qatar that was put forward earlier this week, Israel accepted that proposal on Tuesday, a major development, late Friday night, where Hamas said they responded positively and were ready to enter proximity talks. And then on Saturday night, ahead of a full cabinet meeting from the Israeli government, an Israeli official tells us Prime Minister Benjamin who authorized an Israeli delegation to go to Doha in Qatar for proximity talks.

It's one of the last stages before a deal where negotiators shuttle back and forth between Israel and Hamas to get those final details done. It's not a final deal right now, and there could still be challenges ahead, but this from the expectations we have seen, is the most positivity and the highest expectation we've seen in about half a year, and the crowd here knows it.

[01:55:00]

ORLY EREZ-LIKHOVSKI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ISRAEL RELIGIOUS ACTION CENTER: It's too bad that it's not going to be a whole deal that brings everyone back. I think the fact that those are, you know, sort of dividing to steps that are going to take for so long, that's very dangerous, but obviously it's better than you know nothing.

LIEBERMANN: The crowd here, thousands of them are calling for a complete deal. All of the hostages home for a complete end to the war, but they know realistically, that's not what's on the table. This is a partial deal for about half the living hostages and about half the deceased hostages over 60 days.

Still, it's what's right there on the table, and it's what they're pushing the Israeli government to take. That's what we've heard from all of the speakers here and from all of the attendees we have spoken with. Those who have been out here over and over again trying to get to this point and trying to do what they can to push it, to make sure that cease fire deal comes into effect and as quickly as possible. Oren Liebermann, CNN in Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, thanks so much for joining us in this edition of CNN Newsroom. I'm Lynda Kinkade. I'll be back with much more of our breaking news coverage in just a moment. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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