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Death Count Continues to Grow in Texas Flooding; How Drought, Heavy Storms Triggered Deadly Floods in Texas. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 07, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:05]

M.J. LEE, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm M.J. Lee in Washington. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you for being with us on CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Audie Cornish, and we are continuing to follow the breaking news. A desperate search underway for survivors from deadly flooding in Texas.

As the sun rises there, we are witnessing heartbreak in the heart of the state.

At least 82 people have now died in the July Fourth weekend. Flash flooding that includes at least 28 children in Kerr County, where ten girls and one counselor from Camp Mystic are still unaccounted for.

And that was just one of several camps swept away in the disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My brother here, he had to swim out of his cabin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The flood started getting bigger, and it was going up to -- we had bunk beds in our cabins, and it was going up to the top bunk. And we had one choice, and we had to swim out of our cabins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Several camps were in that area. And when it comes to Camp Mystic, the owner, Dick Eastland, died over the weekend trying to rescue campers during the catastrophic flooding.

His grandson paid tribute to him on Instagram, posting, "If he wasn't going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way -- saving the girls that he so loved and cared for. That's the kind of man my grandfather was."

Right now, more than 40 people remain missing, and the flood threat is not over. More rain is on the way, and people in parts of Kerr County are being urged to move to higher ground. According to reports, county officials previously considered

installing flood warning sirens, but the plan was never implemented.

And while the National Weather Service did issue alerts before the storm, questions remain about the agency's staffing and ability to reach residents at the time of the disaster.

CNN senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera explains the challenges emergency teams are facing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR 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 -- from Camp Mystic.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): 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 --

LAVANDERA: -- 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 that got washed up here along this bridge that crosses over the river. But you look at the denseness and the -- 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 along -- coming. There's alerts when -- causing evacuations of the area. And so that was -- 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 that it will continue, because there are still -- several days out from this tragedy, still many families looking for answers, some still holding onto 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.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Comfort, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CORNISH: OK, you can see they're showing us the debris in that area.

Well, emergency crews are using helicopters to scan for survivors. CNN's Isabel Rosales shares those efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see this helicopter sort of scanning the area here, which is a rock quarry.

I saw down there firefighters, police, EMS, and also volunteers. And I'm told that they discovered three RVs that were in there the mudded area of the quarry, inside of the gravel.

One of them was totally buried in the mud and flipped over. I'm told that they have been working to dig that out, that they're bringing in heavy equipment to help dig out that RV, that water was coming out.

And if you're questioning how in the world an RV can be buried like that, this is so much gravel that it's loose gravel that can be so easy to move, especially with the force of these flood waters.

The rain is a major problem for search-and-rescue operations. And we saw exactly that when the rain and the thunder and the lightning started to come in, we saw those volunteers, firefighters, and EMS, and police kind of scatter and take cover, up until they can go back in there again.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: OK. You may have been asking about what more you can do. And for more information about how you can help Texas flood victims, please go to CNN.com/impact or text "flood" to 707070. Ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we continue this breaking news coverage. We're going to take a closer look at the obstacles standing in the way for first responders as that search continues in Texas.

Plus, in Washington, Israel's prime minister heads here to the White House for a meeting as talks for a ceasefire in Gaza restart.

And Elon Musk making good on his threat to form a new third political party, driving another wedge between him and the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Third parties have never worked, so he can have fun with it. But I think it's ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:11:23] CORNISH: One climate scientist says the U.S. is unprepared for worsening natural disasters as the planet continues to warm. Meteorologist Chris Warren explains the key causes behind the catastrophic floods in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS WARREN, CNN 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, to 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 of 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 ten 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, 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 a 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. We still have showers and thunderstorms to get through during the day tomorrow.

But eventually, by tomorrow evening, things start to dry out. And fortunately, we're really going to get a break. It's going to be hot, but back to a dry stretch next week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: OK, thanks to Chris for that.

And coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we're keeping an eye on a developing situation in North Carolina. That's where a tropical storm has triggered flash-flood warnings in the Northern part of the state.

The National Weather Service reports more than eight inches of rain have fallen in some places.

Plus, Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks back on track as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in D.C. to meet with President Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:55]

CORNISH: All right. In other news, President Trump is set to, in just a few hours, meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Now, this visit comes amid renewed discussions on a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza. And this will mark Netanyahu's third visit to the White House since Trump returned to office.

And it comes on the heels of Israel's latest round of strikes on Gaza, which officials say killed nearly 60 people on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think there's a good chance we have a deal with Hamas during the week, during the coming week, pertaining to quite a few of the hostages.

You know, we've gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to the remaining hostages, quite a few of them will be coming out. We think we'll have that done this week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Today's visit also comes after the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran, after U.S. military strikes on the country's nuclear facilities.

Joining me now to discuss all this in the group chat, Isaac Dovere, CNN senior reporter; Sabrina Rodriguez, national political reporter for "The Washington Post"; and Kevin Frey, Washington correspondent for Spectrum News, New York One.

[06:20:05]

So, Isaac, I want to start with you, because as you've pointed out, Netanyahu has been one of the most consequential leaders for this country. But what's consequential about this moment, do you think?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's the longest serving Israeli leader. He's also, I think, had maybe the biggest impact of anybody on the U.S.-Israel relationship as one person.

CORNISH: Meaning with each president.

DOVERE: With each president, over time. And really contributed to what is now a sort of partisan support for Israel. It's much more of a Republican issue than -- than it was a nonpartisan issue.

Before this visit comes, as you pointed out, third time just since Trump has been in office, Netanyahu has been here. He has gotten himself as close as he can to Trump, in part because Trump is the most popular figure in Israel.

And Trump wants to get to some level of a solution, of an end to the conflict that has been there since October 7th. And so far, through Joe Biden and through Donald Trump, Netanyahu has been doing his own thing, including when he went and did the strikes on Iran.

CORNISH: Yes. You were pointing out, Kevin, though, that as a result of what happened in Iran, Trump is entering this meeting with some confidence.

KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS NEW YORK ONE: Yes. I mean, look, he's -- he's riding high off of what, ultimately, after kind of his own reservations that he expressed -- expects publicly about Netanyahu even taking these sorts of attacks on Iran.

Then he gets involved, and then they settle this in some sort of brokered ceasefire, at least for the time being. We'll see if that holds.

And so now, he is hoping that now this sort of verve that he got with Iran can be transferred to -- to the Israel-Hamas situation, which he, of course, has kind of made one of his raison d'etres upon entering office, that I'm going to be able to fix this, much like I'm able to fix things around the world; that I'm this great peacekeeper and ceasefire expert.

We'll see if that translates, though.

CORNISH: Sabrina.

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I think there's a lot of momentum here, and that's part of it. It's like you can do both at the same time: celebrate and try and tout, you know, the -- the Iran strike and them feeling like it was a success and also try and build on that momentum.

But I think for Trump, you know, there's an added layer here where, you know, he campaigned so much on he was going to get all these deals done. He was going to end the war in Russia and Ukraine.

He was going to, you know, deal with Gaza and sort of get that ceasefire done. And we're months into the administration that hasn't come to fruition.

So, you know, a lot of people on the campaign trail would hear talk about, oh, you know, Trump the dealmaker. And I think for him, it's important to actually solidify that and show, yes, I can get things done on the foreign level.

CORNISH: Right. And of course, we're reaching the point where there's going to be the end of that 90-day pause on the tariffs that were supposed to be set.

So, I think a lot of us are going to be watching to see what deals actually get made. What's the tally there? You guys stay with me, because we've got a lot more to talk about.

And still ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we're continuing our breaking news coverage out of Texas. Frustration is growing over the warnings given ahead of the storm. Why so many were caught off guard.

Plus, how President Trump is responding to the finger pointing and whether staffing cuts may have been a factor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:52]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CORNISH: Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Audie Cornish, and we're coming up on half past the hour on the East Coast. And we continue to monitor breaking news this morning.

In fact, the desperate search for more than ten missing girls and their camp counselor in Texas continues. They were swept away by flood waters this weekend.

CNN's Pamela Brown is in Texas, near the camp where they were last seen.

Pamela, good morning. And can you just start by what you've been learning about how this tragedy unfolded?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I will -- I will get into that. But I just want to first establish where I am here, Audie.

I'm here at the Hunt store, and you can kind of see the sign behind me. It says, "Hunt Strong."

And that is really the embodiment of this town where I am right now. This is the heart of the community, this convenience store in Hunt, Texas, just down the road from several of these camps, including Camp Mystic.

And we've talked to so many folks here who have gathered, leaning on each other in this time of grief. It seems like everyone knows someone who has been impacted by this horrific tragedy, and they're all just grappling with that reality. Now at this hour, there is still a search going on to find those who are still missing.

But of course, now here we are, more than three days in, and people are keeping hope alive. But I will be honest, that hope is -- is dwindling.

And you know, but I will say, I've spoken to several first responders. People out here, they're throwing all of their resources at this or trying to do everything they can.

There's also been the concern of more rain coming. You know, a wall of water potentially coming. Yesterday, we had to evacuate due to concerns about the wall of water.

And right here, we're seeing video of some of that devastation. You see a home just floating in the water at Camp Mystic that water was the source of so much joy for those campers over generations of campers.

I was a camper there 30 years ago, and I loved that river. That river was where we had so many laughs and feeling of joy and fun and games.

But then that river turned, and it -- it created this devastation.

I want to bring in Alan Gerard from Norman, Oklahoma, to speak more to that. How a river can rise so fast without more warning.

[06:30:00]