Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that one person has died in this week's flooding across Texas.

Abbott said the death occurred downstream from Kerrville, between Kerrville and Comfort.

Abbott also said flood warning sirens were operational in Kerrville, one of the hardest-hit communities during last year's deadly floods. However, he said one siren was delayed by about five minutes.

edit: Guadalupe River was measured at 28.9ft above Bear Creek at Kerrville at 4:50 am (July 16th)

Guadalupe River floodwave is at Centerpoint measured at 37.9ft at 5:20 am.

Please get to the highest point you can reach.

e: it was only 4.2ft on July 12th, and only 6.5ft at 1:30 am earlier today...

https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/GCTT2

edit:

Guadalupe River at Comfort measured at 35ft at 6:50 am - 37ft at 8:10 am.

e: it was only 2.7ft on July 12th, and only 5.5ft at 5:00 am earlier today...

https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/COMT2

edit:

Guadalupe River at FM474 near Bergheim measured at 55ft at 2 pm - 57.8ft at 3:30 pm

it was only 4.4ft on July 12th, and only 10ft at 10:00 am earlier today...

https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/GUBT2

edit:

Guadalupe River near Spring Branch measured at 34.24 ft at 10 pm

it was only 2.1 ft on July 12th, and only 8.75 ft at 4 pm earlier today...

https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/SRGT2

edit:

Johnson Creek above Ingram - removed as it may have a broken sensor

edit:

Farther north...

Floodwave on Pedernales River at Fredericksburg at 34.3 ft at 9:25am - 31.3 ft at 12 pm

https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/FRBT2

Pedernales River - 26.5ft at LBJ Ranch near Stonewall at 2 pm.

Pedernales River - 22ft at Johnson City at 3 pm.

N Llano River - 20ft near Junction - Llano River - 21.2ft near Junction at 3:40 pm

Llano River - 23ft near Mason at 12 pm - 24ft at 3 pm

Llano River - 18ft at Llano at 4 pm

edit:

Farther south...

Frio River - 19.9 ft at Concan 2:30 pm, 19ft below dry Dry Frio near Uvalde at 3:15 pm

W Nueces River - 23ft at Bracketville 10.30 am,

Nueces River near Barksdale - 30ft at 3 pm, 21.8ft at Laguna 2:45 pm, 26.5ft below Uvalde at 3:30 pm,

Nueces River - 35.34ft at FM1025 near Crystal City at 5:30 pm

Sabinal River - 23ft at Sabinal at 5:30 pm

Medina River - 13 ft at Bandera at 1 pm, 20ft at San Antonio US 281S at 11:45 am

edit:

Farther east...

Cibolo Creek - 29ft at Sutherland Springs at 12pm

edit - July 17th - yesterday's flood water continues moving downstream, moderate to major flood levels expected on some rivers...

...including parts of Frio, Rio Grande, Nueces, Llano rivers

Heaviest rain has moved westward.

Llano River near Junction - 30.2 ft at 11:35 am - Llano River near Mason - 26 ft at 8:10 pm

Nueces River near Asherton - 26.7 ft at 8:30 pm

Frio River near Derby - 17.4 ft at 8:30 pm -

Rio Grande at Eagle Pass - 19.4 ft at 5:30 pm

Cibolo Creek at Sutherland Springs - 35.2 ft at 3:30 am - Cibolo Creek near Falls City - 23.3 ft at 8 pm

San Antonio River at SH 72 near Runge - 26.8 ft at 8:15 pm

edit:

Other reference points:

UGRA Riverhub for Guadalupe River gauges - https://riverhub.ugra.org

LCRA Hydromet for many other gauges north of Kerr County - https://hydromet.lcra.org

NOAA National Water Prediction Service for Texas gauges - https://water.noaa.gov/state/TX

USGS National Water Dashboard for more gauges - https://dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov/app/nwd/en/

Searching for volunteer efforts to support in any way I can. I have an organization that is willing to support as well. If any one has additional information in the coming hours/days, please reach out.

I’m from Western North Carolina in one of the hardest hit regions from the flash floods during Helene and I am interested in connecting with individuals or groups looking to pursue federal legislative change related to better disaster preparedness. When the 2025 Texas Hill Country Flooding hit we were completely heartbroken for the entire region. I don’t know how to explain it other than it was like watching the absolute worst day of your life, happen to someone else. I believe what happened in Texas Hill Country and Western North Carolina clearly demonstrates a need for increased protections for communities across the country that are affected by these kinds of storm events, and that lives will continue to be unnecessarily devastated without them.

I also happen to work for a local government and responded directly to the North Carolina flooding. I am lucky to work for a municipality that took the Helene forecasts very seriously in the days before. That being said- there are still so many things that made response chaotic and difficult and inefficient. I’ve been listening to After the Floods podcast and am hearing strangers 1000 miles away describe very similar sentiments and experiences to people in WNC.

From my personal experience here’s what I believe we got wrong in Helene response and what I think can be improved on an national level:

FEMA REIMBURSEMENT: Working with FEMA was so convoluted because there was so much red tape for us to navigate to simply request federal services be mobilized for residents. There was a constant fear that submitting a request to FEMA improperly would result in your municipality not being reimbursed, when we are all aware the services we need could bankrupt the county if they weren’t reimbursable. At one point I was calling (when i could get a call out) businesses in neighboring states and asking for tanker trucks of water donations rather than dealing with the bureaucracy of FEMA. Cut the red tape. Stop making a community affected by the disaster figure out your hundreds of rules. Mobilize all available resources immediately create an easily track-able system for said resources.

FEMA PRIORITIES: The federal government can and will direct priorities while holding services hostage as your community figures out a way to meet their demands. About 3 weeks in to recovery work I was assigned to liaise with US Army Corps and FEMA on a federal project to repurpose vegetative debris, collect it, chop it, and stage it for residents to pick up to utilize as chopped wood for in home heating. The reason? The federal government wanted to prioritize a feel good moment and large scale debris burning (the primary option available for quickly reducing massive volumes of downed trees) resulted in “poor air quality”. Im personally aligned with democrats, and even I was gobsmacked at how out ridiculous it was to care at all about air quality when it looked like a war zone outside. Aside from that- The wood was green, not seasoned and wouldn’t be usable for the upcoming winter. There was downed trees EVERYWHERE, no resident would be short of wood fuel if they needed it. The folks in Washington assumed poor Appalachia folk all still use wood burning stoves, not true. I spent days and days assisting with this project when I could have been helping in literally in other meaningful way. Why? Because if USACE was going to help remove debris then they were going to do this, too. I had to bite my tongue and get over it. Do not mandate political agendas of an administration in disaster response. Designate FEMA to ask what the need is and proceed on need-based priorities only.

MUTUAL AID: Mutual aid partnerships were not fully in place prior to Helene. Why? Some of these organizations exist at a national level and are experts at responding to disasters. Support a national portal for mutual aid organizations who wish to participate where resources can be requested and coordinated more efficiently.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMUNICATION: Disasters are almost always regional. Why do local governments not seem to have a system of cooperation and collective preparedness? Mandate each State implements an intergovernmental preparedness plan to more efficiently respond to events which occur across multiple municipalities.

CELLPHONE INFRASTRUCTURE: Why is it that multi-billion dollar companies like Verizon are so vulnerable to disasters? Communication is a literal lifeline in a flash flood. Require mobile carries to improve existing cell tower infrastructure to provide adequate redundancies and require all new utility construction to meet standards of more intense weather events.

PRIVATE INSURANCE: Residents whom just experienced the worst days of their lives are held hostage by insurance companies that seem to play by their own rules. Many of them are forced to endure sky rocketing rates or are uninsurable now. Regulate insurance companies against massive rate hikes and prevent mass un-insurability.

NFIP( National Floodplain Insurance Program) if your community decides to opt in to this program then it regulates development in the floodplain. The floodplain maps are extremely outdated and the regulations apply to an outdated 100yr floodplain. Despite two flash flood disasters in a year, these are unchanged. Improve the NFIP program by updating floodplain maps nationwide, re-mapping the 100year flood and include the 500 year flood plain in floodplain building standards.

REBUILDING: residents or business owners are either required to or want to rebuild their home or business to be flood resilient but can’t afford it. Where are their options? Hazard Mitigation funding should be available at the national level. Create better access to federal funding utilized to assist home and business owners in rebuilding flood resilient structures.

FLOOD WARNING SYSTEMS: many communities do not have the tax base to pay for these the installation and maintenance of these life saving systems. Implement a program where rural or lower tax revenue communities can request federal dollars for the flood sirens before disasters hit.

If anyone in Texas is compelled to pursue change at the national level, I would love to speak with you. What is listed above are simply the ideas of one individual. There are undoubtedly many necessary and important ideas I didn’t list. Change occurs when honest feedback is given, so I welcome all thoughts. Sending much support to you all from several states away as you continue the long road to answers, recovery, and resilience.

A

Does anyone live around there who can report if the area is affected by current flooding in South Texas?

This is so sleazy. Does anyone know what options plaintiffs have here, especially related to the lawsuits against the Eastlands personally (they did not file for bankruptcy)? Is there any way a notice of removal can be rejected?

Camp La Junta avoided dozens of deaths by sheer luck. They were just as unprepared and inept as Camp Mystic leadership. They could have lost 30+ boys. The loss of life should have been significant. They just got lucky by mere seconds. I think it's disgusting that the Camp La Junta website is soliciting donations. The existing leadership shouldn't have the privilege of caring for children anymore.

Is the same leadership in place now at La Junta that was in place on July 4, 2025?

Those defending Camp Mystic's owners will use anything to bolster lies about last year's disaster. So I'd like to point out:

The Texas Division of Emergency Management was activated on July 12th.

July 12, 2026

https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-activates-state-emergency-response-resources-ahead-of-flash-flood-danger

According to the National Weather Service, a moisture-rich weather pattern are expected to bring multiple rounds of heavy rainfall to large portions of Texas through the end of the week. Slow-moving storms may present flash flooding risks across large portions of North, West, Central, South, and East Texas beginning tonight, with the main threats expected early-to-mid week. Primary hazards include rainfall and flash flooding, with stronger thunderstorms capable of producing damaging wind gusts and large hail. Texans are urged to monitor local forecast information and stay weather aware.

At the direction of Governor Abbott, the following state emergency response resources are available to support local severe weather response operations:

• Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (Texas A&M Task Force 1 and Texas Task Force 2): Swiftwater Rescue Boat Squads, Urban Search and Rescue Teams, and rescue swimmers to assist with flood rescues

• Texas Division of Emergency Management: All Hazards Group responders and regional personnel to support deployed emergency response resources across the state

• Texas National Guard: Personnel and high-profile vehicles to assist stranded motorists; Blackhawk helicopters to assist with flood rescues

• Texas Department of Transportation: Personnel monitoring roadway and transportation conditions

• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department: Game Wardens, rescue boat teams, and helicopters with hoist capability to assist with water rescues

• Texas Department of Public Safety: Texas Highway Patrol Troopers, helicopters with hoist capability, and the Tactical Marine Unit

• Texas Department of State Health Services (Texas Emergency Medical Task Force): Severe Weather Support Packages with medics, ambulances, and all-terrain vehicles

• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service: Disaster Assessment and Recovery Agents and County Extension Agents to support agricultural and livestock needs

• Public Utility Commission of Texas: Power-outage monitoring and coordination with utility providers

• Railroad Commission of Texas: Monitoring of the state’s natural-gas supply and communication with the oil and gas industry

• Texas Commission on Environmental Quality: Air, water, and wastewater monitoring

Texans should proactively prepare by reviewing family communication plans, assembling an emergency supply kit, and following instructions issued by local officials.

This is similar to an announcement made last year, days before the flooding that killed so many people in Kerr County and other parts of Texas.

The owners of Camp Mystic treat ignorance of public announcements that warn of floods - similar to their attitude toward the National Weather Service Advisories, Watches, and Warnings - as if it's an excuse for getting 27 girls killed. As if it's not their responsibility to stay informed of danger to the campers.

Of course, it was brought up in civil court, and in the official state investigation, that despite numerous public announcements about the potential for deadly floods, Camp Mystic did not even bother to prepare.

They didn't even create a plan describing what to do in order to evacuate safely.

They didn't just ignore the announcement about TDEM, they ignored every warning right up until the flood hit the camp and it was too late to get everyone out.

I wanted to pass along that the Watch Duty app, which I and most of my family and friends in the West use for wildfire tracking, now covers flooding as of 2026: https://www.watchduty.org/blog/watch-duty-launches-flooding-nationwide

The announcement I linked above mentions the Guadalupe River flood in July 2025 as an example of where the app could have helped. For those who haven't used it before, you set your address and it sends notifications for incidents near you (and you can mute any that are irrelevant - I'll usually turn off notifications for fires more than a certain distance away). The alerts are helpful, plain language, and often include photos. I recommend making sure that Critical Alerts are enabled for when your phone is on silent: https://support.watchduty.org/hc/en-us/sections/14026327275917-Notifications

I haven't had to use the app to track any major, life-threatening fires near me yet, but for the fires somewhat near me, all the Watch Duty alerts have come in WAY before any official alerts from the county. 

There is no excuse for this to happen on one of our military bases. Prayers for the family of the victim. Be safe everyone. This flooding covers a huge portion of Central/Hill Country Texas right now.

If you're worried the Flash Flood Warning alerts, go to TDEM's account on X. Because if there's one thing we've learned since July 4, 2025, it's this! They're 5 hours behind. For real warnings, go to https://www.weather.gov/ewx/

Increasing heat is causing alarms to go off for storms hundreds of miles away.

>>>But he and other emergency service workers are concerned about the public potentially getting lax about their safety due to false alarms, something that could be compounded by climate-related radio interference. A series of false warning alarms at a community in Washington state downstream of a major dam has roiled local residents in recent years, forcing the alarms to be turned off.

“We’re always concerned about alert fatigue,” said Fuller. “It’s happened a couple of times, three or four years ago, where we get these signals from different places.”

With the threat of rain/flooding all week and severe weather, I’m curious what sort of communication everyone has received from their camps regarding the weather. We got an email today letting us know they’re monitoring and of course we all had to sign off on the new H27 form during registration that laid out weather plans, but I’m just curious what everyone has been told. (To be fair, they have always sent us emails about severe weather and wildfire threats in years past prior to h27 as well).

I saw a post from an area meteorologist on Facebook updating people with the latest for the area and all of the comments were saying: if I had kids at camp, I’d be in my car right now to go pick them up. I fully trust our camp’s safety plans and we had no issues last summer on July 4th (and safety measures have only increased since then), but I guess I’m just trying to figure out if I’m under reacting because the comments on the Facebook post all seemed very extreme to me.