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The Situation Room
At Least 120 People Confirmed Dead, 160-Plus Still Missing; 31 Workers Rescued from Collapsed Tunnel in Los Angeles; Russian Drones Swarm Kyiv from All Sides in Shift of Tactics. Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired July 10, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:00:00]
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, search for the missing. Rescue crews working tirelessly through challenging conditions looking for at least 160 missing people in Central Texas. I'm on the ground in Kerrville with the latest.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, tunnel collapse, investigators on the scene in Los Angeles after a tunnel collapses, trapping 31 workers underground. Miraculously, everyone got out alive.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Will Blitzer, along with Pamela Brown in Texas, and you're in The Situation Room.
And we begin this hour in Central Texas where the search for victims is now in its seventh day. At least 160 people are missing, remarkably, 150 of them are from just Kerr County. The death toll has climbed yet again to 120 people, and that includes adults and children, a lot of children.
We're expecting to learn more at the top of the hour. When officials hold their next briefing, we'll have live coverage. Stand by for that.
Six days after heavy rains unleashed a flood, a wall of water plowing through neighborhoods and washing away riverside communities in Los Angeles, exhausted first responders and search volunteers are dealing with the horrors of what they're finding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF DIANA BACCUS, INGRAM FIRE DEPARTMENT: I saw children floating in the water begging for help that we could not reach, and that takes it out of you.
TAMMY LANDIN, RETIRED FIREFIGHTER: Later on, it's going to hit everybody.
I was born and raised here, pretty bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: All right. Let's begin this hour with my colleague, Pamela Brown. She's in Kerrville where the briefing will be held right at the top of the hour. Pamela, what's the latest? What are you seeing? What are you hearing?
BROWN: Well, Wolf, this morning, there are growing questions about the emergency response and potential missed opportunities, even as so many here on the ground I've been speaking with say this event was an act of God. That is a big sentiment here, but that doesn't take away some of these questions.
And Kerr County officials say a meeting have been scheduled just this month, Wolf, to set up a centralized flood monitoring system on the Guadalupe River. It would have served as a flood warning mechanism for emergency managers, and actually had been discussed since a deadly flood 38 years ago.
Dick Eastland, the co-owner of Camp Mystic, who died while trying to rescue his campers, had advocated for a flood warning system in 1990, saying, quote, the river is beautiful, but you have to respect it.
Meanwhile, Wolf, the sheer enormity of this disaster is still revealing itself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can actually see the waterline about 30 feet high up into the trees here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: As CNN's Ed Lavandera shows us, water lines appear almost hauntingly, suspended 30 feet off the ground. In many areas, the wall of water rose within minutes.
And I spoke to a family of nine who had gathered for the 4th of July weekend. As flood waters rushed in, they fled to the highest point of their house and then had to break through a wall to escape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PENNY DEUPREE, TEXAS FLOOD SURVIVOR: Right there's the escape hatch, right there.
BROWN: Yes.
DEUPREE: The escape hatch.
BROWN: So, you all squeezed through that --
DEUPREE: I was the hardest one to squeeze. That was the problem. I couldn't diet fast enough to get out there. But anyways --
BROWN: But you got out.
But at one point though you were going to die or -- DEUPREE: No, I didn't.
BROWN: You didn't?
DEUPREE: No, because that's not an option.
BROWN: Yes.
DEUPREE: Right? Is it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And we should note, well, if the water was so high that once they were able to squeeze through that little window, they were just right there and the, the rapid waters that then took them to the top of the gutter. We're going to have much more on this remarkable family and their story of survival in my special report later this hour.
[10:05:01]
Let's go live now to CNN's Isabel Rosales. She's live on the ground of an R.V. park in Center Point, Texas, with one camper story of escape from the floods. Isabel?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pam, good morning to you. Yes, we're at an RV park here in Center Point that has been absolutely totaled. And I actually want to push the camera in that direction because we just saw here in the past five or so minutes a task force roll into this area and also FEMA, two members of FEMA. I asked if they could talk to us and they said, not at this moment. They're not in a position to talk right now.
But I want to walk you through what happened here at this R.V. resort. This is the Guadalupe Keys R.V. resort, and what was supposed to be their busiest weekend out of the entire year. The park owner, his name is Drew. He says that there were 30 to 40 people here, families here, 12 campers in total, including his own. When at 6:00 A.M. he woke up to pounding on his door from his park manager saying the water was coming. They had to get out. So, they went door to door telling families get out.
He thought he would be okay because it would take 27 feet for the water to get up to his trailer. But as we can see the situation was not okay. Campers have been turned over or completely demolished. His trailer is all the way over there hitting the Guadalupe River. Listen to what else he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW YANCEY, CO-OWNER, GUADALUPE KEYS RV RESORT: You know, and that's why we have wheels on them because of the flood zone. And we've got out of them before. But this one, we just didn't have time.
And we started hooking up to the trailers and we got two of them out and then the wall came and it just came down. And we were down here, it started. I took the golf cart up to mine, which was just over there, ran in and got my wallet, came back up and it was up to here.
ROSALES: That quick?
YANCEY: That quick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: Yes, you can see having machinery behind me working to clear out all of this debris. Of course, as the search continues for these missing people. And I do want to leave you with this. Drew told me, hey, at the end of the day, this is all just stuff, right? You can replace stuff. Pam?
BROWN: Yes, that's the sentiment I've been hearing from survivors, but they also say, look, finding anything, you know, of value also makes them feel like they have a little win amid all this loss.
Isabel Rosales, thank you so much.
And we have new reporting this morning that begins to answer just some of the mounting questions directed at the federal response to this devastating flood. Four officials inside FEMA tell my colleagues that cost controls implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem requiring her sign off for anything over a hundred thousand dollars greatly slowed the ability for FEMA to act on the ground in Texas.
Yesterday, Secretary Noem renewed the call to eliminate FEMA as it exists and overhaul it. She reiterated her message this morning defending the federal response to Texas, calling for local communities to handle disaster responses moving forward.
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KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: But we were there immediately. You know, the, as soon as the flooding happened, I went there and showed up. And it was devastating. The alert system went out from the National Weather Service, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the thousands of people that were camping along the river, you know, heard that alert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What could be changed?
NOEM: Well, I think that is always a response that the local officials make a decision for each of their towns, each of their counties, what their alert system is.
We don't make the decisions for the local communities. We shouldn't make the decisions for the states because every state is different. Every town is different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Let me bring in CNN's Shimon Prokupecz. Key questions remain, Shimon, about who did what during those critical early hours of the flooding. What are you learning? SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think it's really interesting there, Pam, what Kristi Noem said, it's really up to the local officials, right? And that's what this is about at this point. It's about the local officials. What did they do? Not the state, not the federal government. Because on July 2nd, two days before this, the state is already sending out press releases, saying, be careful. You've got this weather storm. You've got this storm coming through, raising the alarm bells.
The alarm bells are starting on July 2nd, and the Texas Department of Emergency Management is moving in resources. They're moving the resources in, were saying to the locals, we have things available for you, we have emergency response available for you, so get prepared.
And this was a warning on July 2nd to this community. Now, what happens after that? Where do those warnings go starting on July 2nd? How does those warnings, how do they, did they ever get to the locals? And I think that's the biggest question.
And much like you yesterday, I had the opportunity to head down towards the river and talk to people, and most of them, most of the people I talked to said they did get the alerts, but they didn't take them seriously.
[10:10:01]
First of all, it was in the middle of the night, so most were sleeping. It was a beautiful day before the rain started on July 3rd. And they were just looking forward to the fun that they were about to have on July 4th down at the river.
And keep in mind, so many people were in town for this. So many people came from outside this area in their R.V.s. How are they supposed to know that something could go wrong. And so that's the big question. What efforts did the locals make? At this point, it doesn't appear to be that they were making any efforts. And we'll see if they ever answer those questions. At this point, they said they're focusing on the recovery efforts and the families and trying to give them some closure.
BROWN: And, of course, I have this press conference coming up. We will be taking that live and I know you'll be asking them those important questions.
Shimon, thank you so much. Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: All right, Pamela. New this morning out of Los Angeles, 31 workers who were trapped in a collapsed industrial tunnel have been rescued. Audio from the Los Angeles Fire Department reveals some of the challenges rescue crews were facing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What limited communication they have. They lost their phones so they do not have any communication with them at this point. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: CNN Correspondent Stephanie Elam is on the scene for us. Stephanie, what more are you learning, first of all, about what happened?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really miraculous Wolf that no one lost their life. In this, we are talking about this tunnel that is 400 feet below the surface, and these workers were about five or six miles out in the tunnel when this effect, what they call a squeezing ground effect, occurred, and that's when the soil degrades and falls apart.
Now, this is part of the tunnel that they had already went -- had already gone through with their boring equipment and then it collapsed. There were some workers on the other side, and from what we understand, they had to scramble over about 12 to 15 feet of soil to make it back onto the side to get out. And then they were able to use their tunnel transportation to get them back to the opening. And there, we know that there are about a hundred Los Angeles County Fire Department officials, including urban search and rescue there to help get these workers out of the tunnel. And they were able to pulled them out.
They said that nobody was hurt and that nobody is missing, no visual injuries. But one L.A. County official saying that they were definitely shaken up as this has happened here. Obviously, they're stopping work and they're inspecting this to try to figure out what happened. But lovely to tell you for once, Wolf, that we have good news, all 31 workers are safe and sound.
BLITZER: All right, thank God. Stephanie Elam, thank you very much for that report.
Right now, we have several major developments unfolding around the world, all focused on the war in Ukraine overnight. Watch this.
A second consecutive assault on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, at the hands of Russia. Hundreds of Russian drones, once again, swarmed the Ukrainian capital from all directions, killing at least two and injuring dozens.
Also, overnight shipments of U.S. weaponry to Ukraine have resumed after halt directed by the Pentagon last week that was reversed by President Trump.
And this morning in Malaysia, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, meeting his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, an awkward circumstance given President Trump calling out Vladimir Putin for his, quote, B.S. surrounding peace negotiations just days ago.
In the midst of all of this, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Demir Zelenskyy, is now in Italy, urging partners to increase investments and defense systems to combat the mounting Russian military offensive.
Coming up, one-on-one with former Vice President Mike Pence, our Kate Bolduan joins us to talk about her sit down interview and his thoughts on President Trump's U-turn when it comes to Russia and Ukraine.
And the rise of Caitlin Clark, sports writer Christine Brennan is here to talk about her new book about the basketball star. You're going to hear why she says Caitlin Clark changed the game for women's sports.
Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.
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[10:15:00]
BROWN: As we get new glimpses of the devastation here in Kerr County, the destruction left behind reflects just how quickly and ferociously the floodwaters came in that fateful night. I met up with one family of nine who was gathering at the family home here in Kerrville for what was supposed to be a fun filled 4th of July weekend that quickly turned into a fight for their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEUPREE: It's hell. It's whatever. But we're alive. God was with us every second, provided what we needed.
BROWN (voice over): An incredible story of survival for this Hunt, Texas, matriarch and her family.
DEUPREE: Right. There's the escape hatch.
BROWN: Right there, the escape patch.
DEUPREE: Yes.
BROWN: So, you all squeezed through that --
DEUPREE: I was the hardest one to squeeze. That was the problem. I couldn't diet fast enough to get out there. But anyways --
BROWN: but you got out.
83-year-old Penny Deupree was the first to wake up, and since something was wrong in the early morning hours of July 4th.
[10:20:05]
DEUPREE: I got up to go to the bathroom. And when I went to the bathroom, I flushed it and it goes. And I went again. You know, we're having plumbing problems.
So, I laid down for a few minutes and I went, you know, it's rained a lot. I think maybe I better check the front of the house. And that's when I -- it was just flooding already.
BROWN: Her daughter, Keri Wilt, who lives two miles down the road, explains how all nine people staying at the house managed to escape.
KERI WILT, SURVIVED TEXAS FLOODS: So, they gathered everybody up into the sleeping loft. This is where the grandkids slept, right? And they all got up to there. And you can see as you pan around that where the water level was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. Each one of them had a buoy and were just hitting it and trying to get out.
BROWN: Who was holding the babies?
WILT: Their parents. So they had a whole system in getting them to safety.
BROWN: Oh my God. Wow. This is insane. This is -- I can't believe they survived.
WILT: It's a miracle. It's not insane. It's a miracle.
BROWN: So, just imagine they're up here, seven adults, two babies, two dogs, and the water is rising so quickly, they're trapped. And the only way to get out was somehow to burst through. And so they just grabbed something and the three men were trying to create this. And all they had in the pitch black was a baby monitor light.
Most of their possessions are gone, but they're left with the most important thing.
DEUPREE: We have nine lives. We have everybody's safe, everybody's healthy, not barely a scratch on anybody.
BROWN: And a connection to their family history, while a little battered and bruised, is another story to tell.
WILT: My great-great grandmother is Frances Hodgson Burnett. She's the author of The Secret Garden, Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess and 50 other books. And my mother was the keeper of, you know, kind of her stuff.
So, she remained actually hanging here throughout. She got waterlogged, of course, but she's okay.
A lot of laughter was had in this house, right?
DEUPREE: You are exactly right.
WILT: Another win.
BROWN: And plenty of laughter still to come.
WILT: That's my dad. He's in there. We found his --
BROWN: Oh my gosh. Should we move the Dr. Peppers off of him, just give him some dignity here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would somehow find that amusing, I think.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh yes.
BROWN: Even if it's sitting around in a circle by the rubble, because they're still on this side of earth and together. You must have thought at one point though, you, you were going to die or --
DEUPREE: No, I didn't.
BROWN: You didn't?
DEUPREE: No. because that's not an option.
BROWN: Yes.
DEUPREE: Right? Is it?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (on camera): Well, as you saw, Penny's house is unlivable after the flood. I asked the family where she'll be staying and her daughter says she's moved in with her and that she's thrilled to have a new roommate. The Deupree family does have a GoFundMe to help with the rebuilding process.
And we'll be right back.
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[10:25:00]
BLITZER: We will head back to Kerrville, Texas, for our continuing coverage of the devastating flooding there. We'll just do that in a few moments. But, first, there's other important news we're following right now. President Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence just spoke with CNN, making some very candid remarks about voices in the Republican Party now calling for less U.S. intervention across the world.
I want to bring in our colleague and CNN Anchor Kate Bolduan. Kate, you did an excellent job. You interviewed the former vice president. Tell our viewers what he said.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We focused a lot on Ukraine as we saw there's unprecedented attacks over the last couple of days that Russia launched on Ukraine, and also this shift that we've seen in President Trump this week where he essentially called Putin B.S. and he is losing patience with Putin over the stall and not happening ceasefire talks with Ukraine.
And I asked Vice President Pence about that shift that he sees in President Trump, because he has seen himself Trump's sympathy toward Vladimir Putin up close. Let me play what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE (R), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I welcome his decisions this week and his rhetoric. And I think what may have changed is that some of the isolationist voices in and around this administration that recently condemned the president's correct and courageous decision to launch military assault against Iran, I think they may have lost some of their footing with the president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And I found that his take on where he thinks the shift is coming from in President Trump very interesting. Pence made very clear that he has long supported, been on the side of President Zelenskyy in Ukraine. He does support supplying U.S. weapons, defensive and offensive weapons, to Ukraine.
He almost shook his head in disbelief though, Wolf, when I brought up the reporting that we have, of course, that the Pentagon paused some U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine signed off on by the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, but without informing, without the approval, without the knowledge of the president of the United States.
[10:30:07]
Here's what Pence said about that.
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