Texas Flash Flood Death Toll Rises Past 80 as Stories of Heroism and Heartbreak Emerge
Dale Hurd : Jul 7, 2025
CBN News
Camp Mystic's owner, Dick Eastland, died heroically trying to rescue campers. His grandson wrote, "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."
[CBN News] Rescuers are still searching for victims of the flash floods in central Texas after the disaster took the lives of more than 82 people over the weekend. Officials say the overall death toll is sure to rise as the rescue effort is ongoing. (Screengrab image: via CBN News)
Dozens of people are still missing, including 10 girls and a counselor from a Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River in Texas Hill Country, where the river rose 26 feet in just 45 minutes early Friday morning.
Lorena Guillen, who owns a restaurant in the area, described "hearing people's screams, kids screaming, asking for help, cars were floating away with the lights on. You could see the lights and you can hear honking. And there was like not one or two, but there were dozens of vehicles just floating away."
Christian Fell, 28, says he stood on the electric meter box outside his home for nearly three hours to stay alive.
Friday's flash floods started after a storm dropped almost a foot of rain. The National Weather Service office issued an urgent flash flood warning at 1:14 a.m., but most near the river were asleep.The quickly rising Guadalupe River brought down trees and buildings, tearing through Camp Mystic, where 750 girls were spending the holiday weekend.
"It was an absolute force of nature that I've never witnessed before," said Amanda Sue Jones, who was camping near the river with her husband and four kids and evacuated moments before the worst of the flooding hit.
"From the time we crossed the bridge to when everything's getting swept away was, I mean, probably 10 minutes," Jones said.
At Camp Mystic, where more than two dozen campers and counselors were swept away in the night, 27 are believed dead.
Among those who lost their lives, Janie Hunt, the 9-year-old cousin of Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt. His wife wrote on social media, "If your heart is broken, I assure you God is near."
Eighteen-year-old Camp Mystic counselor Chloe Childress is being remembered for her work with senior citizens.
Camp Mystic's owner, Dick Eastland, died heroically trying to rescue campers. His grandson wrote, "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."
Ryan Robinson, who knew Eastland, said, "He was just an extremely selfless person and he showed that until the very end."
Also dead are Jane Ragsdale, director of Heart O' the Hills camp, and 27-year-old Julian Ryan, who died after placing his two young sons on a floating mattress.
The National Weather Service has extended the flood watch over much of south-central Texas as several inches of rain are expected for the region today.
A team from CBN's Operation Blessing is at the scene of the disaster, serving meals to local families and first responders.
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Operation Blessing's Bob Burke said, "You've got destroyed trailers. You've got the house behind me that's been completely destroyed, and then trees are down everywhere."
President Donald Trump has signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County, and will visit the area later this week. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here
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Dale Hurd utilizes his four decades of experience to provide cutting-edge analysis of the most important events affecting our world.