Kerr County, known for its riverside camps, RV parks, and vacation hotels, became the hardest-hit area. Forecasters predicted 3 to 7 inches of rain.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a flash flood warning, indicating imminent or ongoing flooding, was issued at 1:14 a.m. Friday by the NWS San Antonio office, hours before the Guadalupe River surged. By 3:14 a.m., a rare flash flood emergency was declared for the region.Torrential rain, fueled by remnants of Tropical Storm Barry, poured up to 18 inches in three hours in parts of the Texas Hill Country, according to Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon. Stagnant wind patterns prolonged the extreme rainfall.
By 3 a.m., the Guadalupe River at Camp Mystic reached flood stage, with the worst flooding occurring between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter described the river rising 30 feet in an hour, turning from a shallow, slow flow into a raging torrent—a rare but not unprecedented event in the region.
A flood gauge in Hunt, downstream from Camp Mystic, stopped transmitting at 4:35 a.m. At 5:10 a.m., the NWS urged residents to seek higher ground as water levels at Hunt surged.
A Kerrville resident recounts her escape from the deadly flash flooding that claimed 24 lives and left more than two dozen missing in central Texas. https://t.co/Wc8nnoeRxP pic.twitter.com/LxEygKVlcM
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) July 5, 2025
Flood watches and warnings were relayed via an emergency alert system to cellphones in the area, according to an NWS San Angelo meteorologist.Despite recent federal cutbacks leaving the San Antonio NWS office short six of 26 staff (including two forecasters) and the San Angelo office short four of 23 (also including two forecasters), Tom Fahy, legislative director of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, confirmed the staffing shortages did not impair the offices’ ability to issue timely flood warnings.
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