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Rescue and recovery efforts following Friday’s catastrophic Guadalupe River floods continued on Monday. At least 68 people have died, including 40 adults and 28 children.

In a statement on Monday on its website, Camp Mystic said it mourned the loss of more than two dozen campers and counselors:

“Camp Mystic is grieving the loss of 27 campers and counselors following the catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe river. Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly.

“We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls. We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from community, first responders, and officials at every level.

“We ask for your continued prayers, respect and privacy for each of our families affected. May the Lord continue to wrap His presence around all of us.”

It was not clear if the death toll officials updated on Sunday night reflected the loss Camp Mystic officials acknowledged on Monday.

Rain fell steadily on Sunday, and cell phones buzzed with new warnings that the Kerrville area may see even more flooding. The area remained in a flood watching until 7 p.m. on Monday.

Severe weather continued to ravage communities farther east throughout the weekend. Several people died after heavy flooding in the Austin region on Saturday.

In a statement on Sunday, the Trump administration approved a disaster declaration for Texas “to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding from July 2, 2025, and continuing” for “affected individuals in Kerr County. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals recover from the effects of the disaster.”

Federal funds were also made available to Kerr County government agencies and nonprofits to pay for rebuilding or repairing their damaged facilities.

The statement added: “Individuals who sustained losses in the designated areas should first file claims with their insurance providers and then apply for assistance by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 1-800-621-3362 or by using the FEMA App.”

Officials reported that about 850 people have been rescued from the area.

On Sunday Congressman Chip Roy shared a story with reporters about the rescue of a young girl. “She floated on a mattress for three hours yesterday morning, and we just got the text notice that she survived, and we’ve located her and that she’s safe and sound.”

State and county officials did not offer additional information on Sunday on the missing girls attending the 99-year-old Camp Mystic, a riverside retreat that was hosting some 750 campers, or a missing camp counselor.

Among the dead was Dick Eastland, the director of Camp Mystic. His nephew Gardner Eastland confirmed his death in a Facebook post on Saturday.

Jane Ragsdale, a camp director and counselor at the Heart O’ the Hills Camp for Girls on the Guadalupe River, was also among the people who died.

Ava Steindl attended the camp beginning in 2010 and was a counselor there in 2017. Of Ragsdale, she said, “she taught me and most of these girls everything that we know, from basic life skills to learning how to change a tire.”

Thomas Mayo’s daughter Caroline started attending Heart O’ the Hills when she was six years old. He said the impact that Ragsdale had on thousands of girls and their parents was immeasurable. “She loved the camp, and she loved those kids,” Mayo said. “And it’s a darker place today without her in it.”

Ragsdale became a co-owner of the camp in 1976 and became camp director in 1988. Although camp was not in session on Friday, some of the camp counselors were staying at the camp for the Fourth of July holiday.

The state has deployed hundreds of search-and-rescue personnel and more than a dozen helicopters to the region, with a focus on boys and girls summer camps, parks and low-lying areas. Boats raced along the Guadalupe on Saturday looking for survivors on the riverbanks and in trees. First responders set up aid stations for residents who had lost or damaged homes.

“So many people have been swept up into an extraordinary catastrophe,” Gov. Greg Abbott said. “It needs God, but it also needs a robust response by the state and local governments and by people who live in these communities impacted by this.”

Abbott signed a disaster declaration for Kerr and 13 other counties impacted by Friday’s flooding, enabling them to access state resources for emergency operations. On Saturday, he added more counties to that declaration, including Bexar.

Pop superstar Shakira announced that she donated a portion of the proceeds from her Saturday night concert in San Antonio to help flood relief efforts.

‘People underestimate Mother Nature all the time’

By Saturday afternoon, people strolled along the riverbank and water crossings to view for themselves the malevolent power of water.

Some gingerly stepped over branches, pieces of concrete and other wreckage to get closer looks at a pickup truck half submerged in muck and bent like a neglected toy. Children waded in muddy puddles. Nearby brush and trees were filled with flotsam, including shreds of black plastic sheeting and metal shards. A soaked U.S. flag was crumpled among the branches, its vibrant colors contrasting with the greens and browns of the broken vegetation surrounding it.

James and Lisa Allison, both retired ranchers who live in Kerrville, called what they were looking at “overwhelming.” James Allison remembered welcoming the rain at first on Friday morning, “but as the morning progressed, it started becoming more than just a small flood.” Lisa Allison said a modest flood with rain did not faze her. She remembered a major flood in 1978, but what she saw on Friday was worse. And the death toll was unprecedented.

Brian Rubino, a retired firefighter, was stunned as he processed the scale of destruction around him. He pointed to the roof ripped away from a park pavilion. The former professional rescuer kept in mind “the destructive force of water, knowing the way this particular flood hit, there was nothing you could do. … This thing hit so fast. … People underestimate Mother Nature all the time.”

Mary Stone, a teacher who lives in Kerrville, said she was shocked when she viewed the riverbank area where she normally walks. “It’s devastating,” she said, as she viewed a car mangled in a nearby tree and chunks of asphalt where she said she regularly parks her car. But she held on to hope. Stone said the disaster was “unsettling, but at the same time I know that we’ll move forward. That’s how this community is.”

Ricky and Dody Pedraza, who live in Comfort, shared that hope. “Kerrville will bounce back,” Ricky Pedraza said. “All these little Hill Country towns — they will bounce back.”

Warning of a flash flood

Frustration and anger began to grow among members of the public as their grief deepened. Some are asking if they received adequate warning of the flash flood on Friday.

On July 3, the NWS issued a flood watch for the Hill Country, forecasting up to seven inches of rain overnight. Totals reached up to 12 inches in some areas — far exceeding the initial forecasts — which swelled the Guadalupe River by 20 feet in less than two hours.

On Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blamed the lack of severe weather alerts on the NWS’s outdated technology.

“We know that everybody wants more warning time, and that’s why we’re working to upgrade the technologies that have been neglected by far too long to make sure that families have as much advanced notice as possible,” she said.

The NWS has seen mass layoffs under the Trump administration.

Kerrville city officials have pushed back on criticism that more could have been done to evacuate the region ahead of the rain.

Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice said the flooding occurred quickly, adding that the north and south forks that feed into the Guadalupe River reached peaks at about 3:30 Friday morning.

“I was on the river trail at that time and everything was fine,” he said. “Within an hour [or] two-hour period, the water was up almost to the bridge.”

Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said there was not a warning system in place on the Guadalupe River to detect rising waters.

“We do not have a warning system on the river,” Kelly said. “We didn’t know this flood was coming. Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming. We have floods all the time.”

How it happened

Jason Runyan, a meteorologist with the NWS, said a combination of factors led to the unexpected rain.

“The first being some high amounts of moisture for this time of year — some near records of moisture — vertically into the atmosphere,” Runyan said. “The second were the remnants of a midlevel disturbance from what used to be tropical storm Barry. So a combination of that disturbance and these record levels of moisture have led to the very heavy rainfall, especially over Kerr County.”

All that rainfall on Friday drained into the Guadalupe River Basin. He said it started up by the headwaters near Hunt, in western Kerr County, and “traveled downstream through Kerrville where it crested” and then traveled toward Comfort.

“We saw some pretty sharp and steep rises on the river,” he said, “in some cases rivaling the 1987 flood, the famous 1987 flood.” That year, 11 inches of rain flooded the region, and ten teenagers died when their church bus ran into flood waters.

Friday’s floods, Runyan said, were so high and forceful that some of the water gauges along the river were affected or washed out entirely. “So it’s a pretty catastrophic type flood wave coming down the Guadalupe River.”

Because of the damaged river gauges, it may take the U.S. Geological Survey a few days to get accurate data on how high the river crested in the Hunt and Kerrville area.

He said some parts of the Hill Country, including Kerrville on Friday and Burnet on Saturday, were placed under a rare flash flood emergency, which is different from a flash flood warning.

“Typically, most people are familiar with flash flood warnings,” he said. “Our typical flash flood warnings are when we expect imminent flooding in areas — rises and streams and creeks that go over low water crossings.”

Flash flood emergencies, Runyan explained, are “saved for days where we’re expecting catastrophic type damage or widespread damage or even loss of life.”

The Texas Newsroom’s Ana Campbell and NPR’s Sergio Martínez–Beltrán contributed to this report.