A total of 109 people have been confirmed dead in six Texas counties, 161 remain missing in Kerr County, and an additional 10 are confirmed missing in Travis County from July 4 flooding, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.
Abbott gave an update on recovery efforts in the Hill Country, where residents and vacationers primarily in Kerr County suffered devastating losses from flash floods that came crashing through in the early hours of July 4.
The majority of known missing in the county appear to be from RV camps, trailer parks and vacation rentals, where residents and vacationers were swept away.
“The hearts of our fellow Texans are breaking every single day because of what people of this community and the surrounding area are going through,” Abbott said. “There’s nothing more important on our hearts and minds than the people of this community, especially those who are still lost.”
The governor said rescue efforts would continue “until this job is finished. The job right now, the primary job right now, continues to be locating everybody who is affected by this flood. Find every single person who’s missing, and that’s job number 1.”
He gave an updated death count, saying there were 94 confirmed fatalities in Kerr County, up from 87 reported Tuesday morning. A total of 15 confirmed dead have been reported in five other counties. Ten are confirmed missing in Travis County.
The number missing from Camp Mystic near Hunt, Texas, total five campers and one counselor. Another child is missing from Kerr County, he said.
Because so many people were vacationing in the area staying in tents, RV parks, camper vans and motorhomes, hotels or other places, and not everyone was registered, he said it is hard to get a complete picture of how many people are missing.
“One thing we’ve been reaching out to the public about is to get information on those who aren’t registered at camps or hotels,” he said. Through multiple law enforcement agencies working together, they were able to confirm that 161 people are known to be missing in Kerr County alone, he said. “There’s 161 known people,” he said. “We will not stop until every known missing person is accounted for.”
He encouraged members of the public to contact authorities by calling 830-258-111 or emailing [email protected] about anyone they believe is missing.
He also repeated a previous warning about providing false information, saying, “If you make a prank call or provide false information, that’s a crime, and you’re hindering our investigation.”
When the legislature convenes for a special session on July 21, he said an investigation would be conducted in both the Senate and House and lawmakers would propose policies, procedures and potential legislation to address the needs of the community. This includes assessing emergency warning systems and other concerns already raised by members of the community.
“We’re going to address every aspect of this storm to make sure that we’re going to have in place the systems that are needed to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future,” he said. “When we end that session, we are going to end it to make sure these communities are more resilient.”
Abbott also said he made a commitment to residents of local communities that “Texas will not stop until we finish the job. We will not stop until we identify, recover every single body. Will not stop until every road is rebuilt, every inch of debris is removed.
“We will not stop because we are a state that cares about our people, cares about our communities, and we’ll be with them every step of the way.”
