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Floods. Texas on fifth day of search for survivors

Floods. Texas on fifth day of search for survivors

A day after the death toll from Texas flash floods surpassed 100 , search and rescue teams remain on the ground searching for survivors. There are still 24 people missing, according to CNN International , including 10 campers and a counselor from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp in Kerr County .

In this camp alone, 27 girls and counselors lost their lives after the Guadalupe River rose eight meters in 45 minutes in the early hours of last Friday, July 4. The date of the tragedy is especially relevant because it was during the US Independence Day holiday and the camp was full — more than 700 children were sleeping in cabins when the river began to overflow.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz visited the Camp Mystic complex in Kerr on Monday and later said at a press conference that he believes it was a “miracle that more children did not lose their lives,” given the scale of the damage and the trail of destruction the river left behind.

“I’ve never seen anything so horrible. The huts were under five feet of water ,” she added, adding that her own daughter had been at a nearby holiday camp before the floods and that she had gone to pick her up last week.

The senator assured that the US President, Donald Trump, gave Texas “everything” it needs to carry out searches with precision and speed and criticized the politicians who are criticizing the emergency services and the lack of warning for a tragedy, which some say could have been minimized with the proper warning systems.

The National Weather Service (NWS) continues to maintain active flood warnings for several areas of Texas, but reports this Tuesday that "the chances of rain will gradually decrease ". "Drier and warmer conditions are expected from Wednesday through the weekend", adds on the social network X .

Chances of rain will gradually decrease Tuesday. Drier and warmer conditions are forecast Wednesday through the weekend. pic.twitter.com/L40xQmAgvT

— NWS Austin/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) July 8, 2025

As CNN points out, it is unlikely that the showers and storms forecast for the next few hours will pose a risk of further flooding. The Guadalupe River has now returned to normal levels, which could help with searches in the area.

It has not yet been officially explained why the early warning system for floods in the Texas region did not result in the timely evacuation of several areas of Kerr, where the overwhelming majority of fatalities are reported, and with particular emphasis on Camp Mystic, where 700 girls were camped in a plain known to be susceptible to flooding by the Guadalupe River.

As The Guardian highlights, the delay in issuing alerts has been linked to the cuts ordered by Trump and Elon Musk — when the latter was still part of the Republican government — in the NWS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).

Several former federal employees and experts have been warning for months now that these deep staff cuts at the US Meteorological Institute could be putting lives at risk.

According to the Associated Press (AP) , after torrential rains and flash floods hit the state of Texas on Friday, the weather service has been criticized by local officials, who describe the forecasts as “inadequate,” although most in the Republican-controlled state have stopped short of blaming Trump's staff cuts.

According to the AP, the NWS office responsible for that region had five employees on duty as storms formed over Texas Thursday night into Friday, the usual number for an overnight shift when severe weather is expected.

The truth is that despite this, the urgent warnings of flash floods were only issued in the early hours of the morning. At that time, most people were asleep, meaning that the warnings had no practical effect and culminated in the tragedy that is now known.

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