Texas floods victims aged 11 and 13 sent family heartbreaking three word text before dying with ‘hands locked together’: Live updates

The National Weather Service warns heavy rains of up to three inches and thunderstorms could cause more flooding across the Texas Hill Country today.

Some areas could see rain that exceeds five inches which will ‘quickly lead to flooding’, the NWS said in an advisory.

Rain is already falling near Williamson County this morning and is expected to increase throughout the day.

The heaviest storms are currently near Killeen, a city in Bell County, where a flash flood warning is currently in effect.

Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding areas are among the areas predicted to be impacted by today’s storm, according to the NWS forecast.

Officials warn the risk of heavy rainfall remains across the region.

Meteorologist note it it is hard to pinpoint exactly where storms will break out, btu warn the ‘rainfall rates will be very intense in the heaviest showers and storms’.

The slow-moving storms could cause more flash flooding and renewed river flooding in the coming hours, especially in the regions that were hardest hit by torrential rainfall over the weekend.

‘Any additional heavy rainfall over hardest hit areas of the past few days will lead to rapid runoff and flash flooding,’ the NWS added.

Floods are most likely to occur in areas that are currently under a flood watch – which is in effect until 7pm today for communities along the I-35 corridor, the Hill Country and the Edwards Plateau.

A heartbreaking photo shows an entire cabin of Camp Mystic girls and counselors who were washed away in the horrific Texas floods.

The 13 girls and two counselors were staying in Camp Mystic’s Bubble Inn cabin, which, alongside the Twins cabin, housed the youngest of the girls, aged 8 to 10.

The cabins were less than 500 feet from the river and thus took in water from two directions – the Guadalupe river and a creek nearby, making the girls’ escape particularly challenging.

The bodies of nine of the girls and counselor Chloe Childress, 18, have been found as of Monday morning, while counselor Katherine Ferruzzo and four campers remain missing.

Those confirmed dead are: Janie Hunt, Margaret Bellows, Lila Bonner, Lainey Landry, Sarah Marsh, Linnie McCown, Winne Naylor, Eloise Peck, Renee Smajstrla and Mary Stevens.

By: MaryAnn Martinez, Texas Bureau Chief for DailyMail.com

The Texas Division of Emergency Management predicted the number of dead as a result of catastrophic flooding in Kerrville on July 4 would top 100, Daily Mail can exclusively reveal.

In an email sent out Saturday, the state disaster office told partners the number of dead would surpass 100, two different sources confirmed to Daily Mail.

The estimate of the dead is vastly different than the message state officials are projecting publicly, insisting that they are still searching for people who are alive, and refusing to say rescue efforts have shifted to recovery of remains.

Families have been asked for blood draws or other records to help identify the bodies of loved ones who have been recovered.

The emergency warning system alerting Texas residents of the deadly floods was working sufficiently, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has claimed.

Noem was questioned this morning on Fox & Friends about any potential breakdowns in the warning system, but insists none have been found.

‘The National Weather Service put out the alerts when they received them and, unfortunately, in many places in our country we have flash floods like this that do occur, and the notification was proactive and out there,’ she told the news channel.

‘Would everybody like more time? Absolutely. So many situations when we see terrible events like this and these national weather disasters, more notification is always extremely helpful.’

Noem added that President Donald Trump has been ‘working to put in new technology and a new system’ at the National Weather Service ‘because it has been neglected for years’.

‘It’s an ancient system that needed to be upgraded and so President Trump recognized that right away and got to work on it when he came into office in January but that installation is not complete and that technology isn’t fully installed.’

At least 82 people were declared dead – with dozens more missing – when torrential rains created a near-Biblical flash flooding that caught thousands of Lone Star residents by surprise.

At least 28 bodies, including those of 10 children, have yet to be formally identified. Here are the faces of the disaster so far.

Former First Lady Laura Bush used to work as a drama counselor at Camp Mystic, the Christian summer camp where 27 people were killed in flash floods this weekend.

Her daughter Jenna Bush Hager confirmed her mother used to work at the century-old camp and shared how ‘so many of my friends were raised at this camp’.

‘Texas camps are institutions,’ she told the Today Show this morning. ‘This camp was 100 years old, so grandmothers, mothers, kids have all gone there.’

‘Many of my friends were there, had their kids there last week, and the stories that I heard over the last couple of days were beautiful and heartbreaking,’ Jenna added.

Search teams are looking for dozens of people still missing as flash floods in central Texas face the danger of more heavy rain and thunderstorms today.

Search and rescue operations are continuing round the clock, with hundreds of emergency personnel on the ground contending with a myriad of challenges.

‘It’s hot, there’s mud, they’re moving debris, there’s snakes,’ Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told reporters yesterday.

Search teams waded through mud-laden riverbanks and flew over the flood-stricken landscape on the fourth day of the search for survivors after Friday’s flash floods.

Thomas Suelzar, adjutant general of the Texas Military Department, said airborne search assets include eight helicopters and a remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper aircraft equipped with advanced sensors for surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Officials said on Saturday more than 850 people had been rescued, some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches of rain across the region, about 85 miles northwest of San Antonio.

The bulk of the dead were in the riverfront Hill Country Texas town of Kerrville, where 68 were killed including the 28 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said.

The Guadalupe River that runs through Kerrville was transformed by predawn torrential downpours into a raging torrent in less than hour on Friday

State officials said 10 other flood-related fatalities had been confirmed across four neighboring south-central Texas counties, and that 41 other people were still listed as unaccounted for beyond Kerr County

Authorities also warned that continued rainfall – even if lighter than Friday’s deluge – could unleash additional flash floods because the landscape was so saturated.

An all-girls Christian summer camp situated along the Guadalupe River is ‘grieving the loss’ the loss of 27 campers and counselors this morning.

Camp Mystic issued a statement today confirming the fatalities after the devastating flooding sent a wall of water through the century-old summer camp over the weekend.

‘We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls,’ the camp said in a statement posted on its website.

‘We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from community, first responders, and officials at every level.’

Pictured: Search and recovery workers dig through debris looking for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding near Camp Mystic on July 6, 2025 in Hunt, Texas

Pictured: People look through belongings on a camp trunk at Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River on Sunday after a severe flash flood swept through the area

Pictured: Search and recovery workers dig through debris at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas on July 6, 2025

In a terrifying display of nature’s power, the rain-swollen waters of the Guadalupe River reached treetops and the roofs of cabins in Camp Mystic as girls slept overnight Friday, washing away some of them and leaving a scene of devastation.

Blankets, teddy bears and other belongings at the camp were caked in mud. Windows in the cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water.

A cabin full of girls held onto a rope strung by rescuers as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs.

At least 10 girls and a Camp Mystic counselor are still unaccounted.

Pictured: Camp Mystic issued a statement this morning confirming that 27 people were killed in the deadly weekend floods

Two young sisters killed in the deadly Hill Country floods sent their parents a heartbreaking final text before they drowned to death.

Blair, 13, and Brooke Harber, 11, were found dead about 12 hours after the flash floods erupted along the Guadalupe River early Friday morning, the family revealed in a crowdfunding campaign.

The sisters were staying in a rented cabin along the Guadalupe River with their grandparents Mike and Charlene Harber over the July 4th holiday.

Their father RJ and mother Annie were staying in a separate cabin, located in the Casa Bonita cabin community near Hunt, nearby.

The married couple were woken up by the sound of rushing water early Friday morning as their cabin began to flood. RJ and Annie managed to escape the building by jumping out of a window as the water reached neck-level.

RJ started to kayak towards the cabin where his daughters and parents were staying, but swell knocked him into a post about halfway through his journey.

Pictured: Blair (left) and Brooke harber (right) have died in the catastrophic Guadalupe River floods.

Pictured: Brooke and Blaire Harber (center) with their parents RJ and Annie (right) and grandparents Mike and Charlene (left)

RJ shined a flashlight towards the cabin and saw an entire building had detached from the foundation and struck against the cabin where his family was.

‘I shined a flashlight out there, and I could see it was white water, and I’ve kayaked enough to know that that was gonna be impossible,’ he told The Wall Street Journal.

‘There were cars floating at me and trees floating at me. I knew if I took even one stroke further, it was gonna be a death sentence.’

He kayaked back towards Annie and the pair headed to higher ground with other families who managed to flee the floods.

When they arrived at a safe spot, the couple checked their phones and saw they each received a text from their daughters that read ‘I love you’, timestamped at 3.30am. The girls also sent a similar message to their grandfather in Michigan.

Their bodies were found Friday afternoon in Kerrville, about 15 miles from the cabin.

‘When they were found their hands were locked together,’ the fundraiser states, with relatives adding: ‘They had their rosaries with them.’

Their grandparents Mike, 76, and Charlene, 74, remain missing.

A GoFundMe established in the family’s honor has already raised more than $170,000.

Pictured: Mike, 76, and Charlene Harber, 74, who are currently missing

A flood watch has been extended for the Heartland, Concho Valley, Edwards Plateau and northwest Hill Country until at least 7pm today (6pm EST).

An additional one to three inches of rain is expected to fall on the region today, with some communities possibly receiving more than five inches.

The National Weather Service warns a threat of flash flooding remains throughout the day.

Flash flooding in central Texas has killed at least 82 people, including 28 children, officials have confirmed.

A further 41 people are confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing, Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday.

The majority of deaths occured in hardest-hit Kerr County, home to youth camps in the Texas Hill Country. Searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including all 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said.

Fatalities in nearby counties brought the total number of deaths to 82 as of Monday morning.

Ten girls and a counselor were still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.

Beyond the Camp Mystic campers unaccounted for, the number of missing from other nearby campgrounds and across the region had not been released.

Pictured: A view inside of a cabin at Camp Mystic, the site of where at least 10 girls went missing after flash flooding in Hunt, Texas, on July 5, 2025

Pictured: Search and recovery workers dig through debris looking for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding at Camp Mystic on July 6, 2025 in Hunt, Texas

Friday’s flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in the dark early morning hours.

After a flood watch notice midday Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning around 4am that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life.

By at least 5.20am, some residents in the Kerrville city area say water levels were getting alarmingly high. The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes.

The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up.

Pictured: Construction equipment is seen caught in the Guadalupe River in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerrville, Texas on July 6, 2025

Pictured: The sun sets over the Guadalupe River on July 6, 2025 in Kerrville, Texas. Heavy rainfall caused severe flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas, leaving more than 80 people reported dead

Pictured: A drone view shows houses flooded following torrential rains that unleashed flash floods along the Concho River in San Angelo, Texas on July 4