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At Least 91 Killed in Texas Floods. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 07, 2025 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Thank you so much for sharing your afternoon with us. I'm Boris Sanchez coming to you live from Kerrville, Texas, alongside my colleague Jessica Dean in the nation's capital.

We begin with the breaking news. Right now, hundreds of first responders and volunteers are still desperately searching for survivors, as dozens remain missing here in Central Texas. And as the search now enters its fourth day, loved ones of those still unaccounted for are praying for a miracle.

We just got in some new drone footage capturing the aftermath of the catastrophic flooding in Kerr County, which saw the majority of fatalities. According to the last update that we got from local officials, the death toll across the state of Texas now stands at 89. And that is expected to increase.

Among those still unaccounted for, 10 campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic. Even as crews continue their work, the threat of more flooding is far from over, the risk level in parts of Central Texas upgraded today to a level three of four. Officials are warning folks to stay away from the worst-hit areas.

Our crews were actually moved out of Hunt, Texas, which is where Camp Mystic is, that all-girls camp. They have described just how difficult this rescue operation has become. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALTON RICE, KERRVILLE, TEXAS, CITY MANAGER: ... is that they're running into a lot of technical challenges with terrain, with water, even potentially with weather in the rising fields. We have talked about this before. Volunteers, stay out of the way because if we start getting weather reports and all the other complications that are out there, we then have to pull off of those search-and-rescue missions to be able to communicate to those volunteers to get off to make sure that they don't become victims themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It is an extremely precarious situation.

I want to sort of paint a picture for you of where we are in Kerrville. This is downriver from Hunt. And the breadth and scale, the width and height of the damage that we're seeing is just staggering. A 20-foot wall, essentially, of water is what the Guadalupe River turned into.

As it came this direction, it essentially took out massive trees. I have seen cars just crushed, scattered around like children's toys. As you walk around this area, this is sort of an overlook park on the Guadalupe River, the smell in some areas, it's purely just a rotting flesh.

That is some of what rescue officials have had to contend with and cleanup crews as well. Just to give you an idea of some of the damage, I'm going to step out of the way and you could see the bridge that's behind us. Crews are there right now working to open that bridge up because of the amount of debris that got on there.

To give you a sense of the height, some of these trees are approximately 30 feet high. And you see just how far many trees and brush and debris were scattered and pushed into that bridge. This is a very wide area. And I can tell you that the banks of the Guadalupe River moved closer and closer, encroaching into a neighborhood over here just to the right of us, and also lower elevations over to the left.

This is going to be a very difficult process and your heart just breaks for those families who now, about four days later, are still waiting to hear word from loved ones who are unaccounted for. On top of all of these challenges, the weather is an additional one.

Let's get you the latest on the forecast with CNN's Derek Van Dam, because he's detailing what the flood threat looks like today.

Derek, what are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Boris, so we're just getting some information this morning that increase in the level of flood threat here across the Texas Hill country.

This is what we're concerned about, because these storms are very slow to move over the same regions. They're not being pushed along. And they're running over very vulnerable soil and vegetation. Here's a look at the upgraded map from the Weather Prediction Center.

Notice the Hill Country encompassing much of this level three of four, Kerrville still within that slight risk, which is a level two of four. Any way you slice it though, we are seeing a resurgence of these showers and thunderstorms. And we have also noticed that the National Weather Service has been issuing more flash flood warnings and advisories across a large area that has been impacted so much by the floods over the past few days.

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So here's a look at the radar, right? So you can see how these storms are just bubbling up. This is the Kerrville region, but we're talking about the Llano River, which is located just about here. And we're seeing these storms move over this location. So I'm going to go back one and you can see there's actually these flash flood warnings indicated with the shading of red.

That is Llano County. And they're also back-building further west of that towards the San Angelo region as these storms continue to fire across the area. But I do want to talk to you about what has happened. And so this is the Llano River back on the Fourth of July. And I just want to show you how quickly this time-lapse shows that this wall of water raising 22 feet in a matter of about 30 minutes can do to this particularly flood-prone region.

So what you're looking at now is a river gauge of the same area. This is that spike when the water reached those levels. Now, that went down from there, but because of our recent rainfall today, we're now noticing a forecast trend into moderate flood stage territory, nowhere near what was experienced on the Fourth of July, but it does show you that there is the potential for additional flash flooding in and around some of the hardest-hit areas.

Here's a look at the future radar. Now, it's really difficult to pinpoint exactly who will get the heaviest of rain, but the Weather Prediction Center has identified this area to pick up anywhere from four, locally higher amounts of rainfall, depending on where those cells produce the heaviest amount of rain over the same regions for a long period of time -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: And, Derek, simultaneously, there's another flood threat, this on the East Coast.

VAN DAM: Yes, so we have got so much attention, rightly so, in Texas, but we're also contending with flash flooding on the East Coast because of the remnants of another tropical system. That was Tropical Storm Chantal, Triple Storm Chantal, that made landfall in the Carolinas this weekend, just a deluge of moisture bringing these flooding scenes in Orange County, North Carolina, near Durham.

This area now contending with flash flood warnings, as well as flood watches for millions across the mid-Atlantic, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, just outside of D.C., basically the Delmarva Peninsula. Again, this is the remnants of a tropical system.

And you can see some of the heavier rainfall moving north and east of the Fredericksburg region. This is an area we're going to watch out for the potential of additional flash flooding that has nothing to do with the storm system that brought the rainfall into Texas, so two separate events impacting the country in various places.

SANCHEZ: Yes, very important to keep an eye on that storm on the East Coast as well.

Derek Van Dam, thank you so much for the update.

As you just heard a moment ago, the death toll here in Texas stands at just short of 90 people killed as a result of these floods. And when things like this happen, you hear from leaders that we should look out for heroes. We should look at the people helping for inspiration.

Our next guest is being hailed as a hero. U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer and 3rd Class Petty Officer Scott Ruskan his team helped to air rescue 165 campers that were trapped just down the road at Camp Mystic. Notably, this is his first Coast Guard mission. He just graduated from rescue swimmer school.

The Petty Officer Scott Ruskan joins us now.

Thank you so much for being with us and taking the time to speak to us live. We are so impressed to hear your story.

We understand that your crew arrived on the scene at Camp Mystic via helicopter. Talk to us about the difficult conditions getting there and what was going through your mind, what you saw as you arrived at that scene.

SCOTT RUSKAN, U.S. COAST GUARD RESCUE SWIMMER: Yes, of course. Yes, guys, thank you guys for having me on today.

Yes, just talking about how we kind of got there, we originally got a call from Task Force 1, which is like a local agency here in Texas, asking for additional resources. So they launched us from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi at about 6:30, 7.00 p.m. -- or -- sorry -- 7:00 a.m. in the morning on the Fourth of July.

Kind of battled some weather with the crew on the way in. We were obviously flying through the storm that was causing all the rain. So in the crew, we had our aircraft (AUDIO GAP) our co-pilot Blair Ogujiofor. And then also our flight mechanic, Seth Reeves, and myself were kind of on the crew, battling some pretty nasty weather, some of the worst I have ever experienced in my career so far.

It took us about four different attempts to try to make our way into Kerrville. And finally on the fourth attempt, with the help of the Air National Guard, the Army guys, we were able to kind of make our way into Mystic.

So our original tasking was just to get to Camp Mystic. And we heard there was about 200 campers there and they were in need of airlift. There was no other way to get them out. Bridges were gone, roadways were gone, and the water was coming up too high for boat rescue. So the only option was airlift.

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We kind of assessed the scene a little bit, had an internal crew discussion with the rest of the crew with Ian, Blair and Seth and myself. We decided the best course of action would probably be to leave me there. At the time, there was no triage coordinator, and just because it was

kind of hectic. A lot of people were needed on other assets and other airframes. We just decided that, hey, we can fit a couple extra kids if we leave me on scene.

That air crew with Ian, Blair and Seth kind of went to a more dangerous location to try to airlift a few more people out of a tighter landing zone. And they were able to airlift about 15 people, 15 children out of there. And they left me on scene at Camp Mystic.

And there, yes, we kind of -- I kind of helped facilitate some of the organization and the triage, just comforting these kids and getting 165 of them out on the Army Black Hawk helicopters.

SANCHEZ: Scott, what was it like to comfort them? These are young ladies. They're 8, 9 years old. And like you said, they must have -- I mean, they must have been disoriented and seeking help. What did they share with you? How did you comfort them?

RUSKAN: Yes, great question.

It was pretty traumatic. I mean, yes, you have a lot of kids. They're having probably the worst day of their life. They're missing friends. They're missing loved ones. They don't know where they are. Some of them may be unaccounted for. Some of them may be somewhere else. We just haven't (AUDIO GAP) with each other yet.

So it's a lot of unknowns on that first day, especially on Friday. Cell service was bad. Radio reception was bad on my comms. So I really didn't have any communication with the outside for about three hours. So I was really just trying to comfort them and let them know like, hey, like, I don't know where your friends may be right now, but my only objective is to get you guys out of here and get you guys to safety. We're going to get you guys to a landing zone, local fire department or something, and get you guys taken care of.

But, yes, just trying to comfort them and reassure them that, hey, I'm here to help you guys and you guys are going to be OK now.

SANCHEZ: And is there anything that stood out to you about them? I understand that there were some counselors that had to bash open some windows in a cabin to help get them out as the floodwaters came in. Did they share anything with you that is going to stay with you?

RUSKAN: Yes, it's a good one.

There definitely was a lot of -- there's going to be a lot of heroics from this, not only from like first responders, but just the people that were the survivors, right, like caught in the flood. Hearing stories from some of the camp counselors when I was on the ground with them, just telling them, like, hey, I was throwing kids out the door just to get them out of the floodwater, grabbing one Croc for them.

Like, a lot of the kids didn't even have shoes on. I was just carrying them to the helicopter because they're stepping on wet rocks and feet might be cut up and stuff. So, just that experience of like, yes, these camp counselors and the kids too, like, they were being so brave and tough.

And, like, I know there's a lot of them I was able to kind of like get hands on with. And if you guys (AUDIO GAP) yes, seriously, like, you guys were the best. Like, I'm sorry this happened to you guys, but you guys were so brave and tough. And it made me a better rescuer because you guys were acting so bravely.

SANCHEZ: Scott, obviously, this is a heck of a first mission like this for you. Was there any part of you that was concerned for your own safety?

Because, I mean, we keep telling folks, just from some of the estimates, this was a historic wall of water moving through these towns. Were you at any point scared?

RUSKAN: Yes, I mean, we kind of had to plan with our crew not to deploy me to the water unless -- if I was attached to the rescue hook on our helicopter.

So once I was on scene, I was I was knowing that I was not planning on getting in the water whatsoever. It's way too dangerous. Like, I wouldn't -- even as a rescue swimmer, I wouldn't be able to battle that. But, yes, just knowing like I had a job to do, and, yes, any fear and stuff, I had to kind of just pushed it aside for a little bit, because, yes, like, I'm a rescue professional.

This is kind of what the Coast Guard rescue swimmers are known for, just kind of getting the job done. And any of the rescuers on the scene were doing the exact same thing as me. They were all super professional, some of the best men and women I have probably worked with. So...

SANCHEZ: Yes, there are there's something like 160-plus families that are so grateful for your work and your courage.

The Department of Homeland Security tweeted out your picture praising your extraordinary bravery and selfless service. They're calling you an American hero. How does it feel knowing that, at a dark moment like this, people are focusing on your heroic efforts as a source of inspiration?

RUSKAN: Right. I mean, I think, for the inspiration part, it's really cool and it's really humbling to have everyone kind of calling me a hero right now.

But, again, I'm just a person, right? I'm just a guy. I'm just a dude. I chose to enlist in the Coast Guard. Anyone is able to do this. Anyone's able to do this job if you raise your right hand and do it. So I'm just happy I was given the opportunity to help these people out.

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SANCHEZ: Scott Ruskan, thank you so much, not only for your work, but your humility as well. You really are a hero, and we're grateful that you're sharing your story with us. RUSKAN: Yes, I appreciate you guys sharing it as well and getting

these other agencies involved and really speaking to some of the other heroics going on during this tragedy.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much, Scott. Appreciate your time.

So, as you're hearing from local officials, there are so many people that need help right now. And you can help lend them a hand at a difficult time. For more information about how you can help Texas flood victims, you go to CNN.com/impact or text flood to 707070. CNN has vetted these organizations to make sure that every dollar that you donate, every bit of help that you can offer goes to where it is most needed.

We're also learning more about the victims lost in this flooding, among them the owner of Camp Mystic, Dick Eastland. He actually passed away while trying to save campers.

His grandson wrote this tribute to him on Instagram -- quote -- "If he wasn't going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for. That's the kind of man my grandfather was. He was a husband, father, grandfather and a mentor to thousands of young women."

He went on to say -- quote -- "You were not just my grandpa, but my dear friend, fishing buddy, hunting guide, golf partner, avid Texas Longhorns fanatic, my number one fan and, above all else, a hero."

Stay with CNN. Our continuing coverage continues after a short break.

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Person after person says it's not only the scope, but the speed of the Texas flooding that's unprecedented. Survivors in the Hill Country all described just how quickly the floodwaters grew, rising by the foot in just minutes.

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SCOTT WALDEN, FLOOD VICTIM: By the time I went to get my keys to move my truck out of the way to just back up across the street, the water had risen and flooded my truck.

DAVID FRY, FLOOD VICTIM: It was a very, very close call. And had we been 10 or 15 minutes later, it would have been too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Tom Foreman is here. He took a look at just how quickly these floodwaters rose. It's hard for I think a lot of us to comprehend how quickly and violently these waters rose.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Even if you have been around floodwaters, you rarely see something

like this. Look, this was Thursday afternoon, the flood watch issued at 1:18. By 1:14 on Fourth of July morning, they were getting into the emergency alert and saying this is a big deal.

And this is also one of the real problems here, Jessica. Look at this. Look at those times there, 1:35, 1:30 in the morning. Most people are asleep. It's hard. You may or may not get any kind of alert about this.

DEAN: Right.

FOREMAN: And if you actually watch a time-lapse, this is on the Llano River, which is up near Austin in this case in a place called Kingsland. Look at this, rising 22 feet in about 30 minutes.

DEAN: That's incredible.

FOREMAN: Now, why does this happen like this? This happens because not only is there torrential rainfall, but in the Hill Country of Texas, you have a lot of places where the mountains there will channel the water. You look at this, it pushes it down in these areas and then sometimes you will have a buildup of debris, which forms a temporary dam, and then that breaks through.

And if you want to see it in relationship to what it would be for a building, imagine a 10-foot-tall building, the normal height of one. In 30 minutes, you would go from the water being at the doorstep to being way up here.

DEAN: Wow.

FOREMAN: This is actually enough to cover a two-story building in large form in 30 minutes. And in some other areas, they had it even more so.

If you look at the overall map of the area, that first time-lapse of flooding was up here near Austin. Camp Mystic is down in this area.

DEAN: And there was also this discussion about updating the flood warning system in Kerr County. What more did you learn about that?

FOREMAN: Yes, this is -- we have had officials talking about this during the day here. Back in April of 2016, so nine years ago at a county commissioner's meeting, this is what it said.

"What we're doing is looking at the flood warning system in Kerr County to see what we might do, if anything, to enhance and improve it. We're not going -- we're not saying we need to. We're just going to do a little systematic approach."

But a month later, the same person in another version of the same meeting said: "Our system is, quite simply, pretty antiquated. It's marginal at the best. It's OK. It serves some purposes, but it's not what we should have." That was, again, nine years ago. There are obviously challenges in getting systems like this in place, but you have seen it, I have seen it, many of you out there have seen it, a lot of municipalities, lot of various consider systems like this for various dangers over the years, it's often hard to get the funding, it's hard to get it moving forward until you have a catastrophe.

But, undeniably, if there could have been some form of a better warning system here, maybe some more people would have had a better chance.

DEAN: A catastrophe, indeed.

Tom, thank you so much.

Boris, let's go back out to you there on the ground in Texas.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and, no doubt, given the scale of the destruction and the human toll, officials will explore everything that could have been done differently and how to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again in the future.

Being here in Texas Hill Country, it's clear that nearly everyone has a personal connection to this catastrophe that has claimed at least 89 lives. And that includes the local officials that are helping to lead rescue and recovery efforts.

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My colleague Pamela Brown, who actually attended Camp Mystic some 30 years ago, spoke with the mayor of Kerrville as he grew emotional over the loss that he and his town are suffering. Here's a portion of their conversation.

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JOE HERRING JR., MAYOR OF KERRVILLE, TEXAS: It all happened upriver at the worst possible place. And I think everyone in Kerrville, everyone in Kerr County wishes to God we'd had some way to warn them, to warn those people.

I have lost two friends. We loved them. And they're gone. They're gone. Everyone here, if we could have warned them, we would have done so. And we didn't even have a warning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The nation's eyes are on Central Texas right now, including at the White House, where Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the situation here just moments ago. Let's watch.

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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. I want to start by addressing the devastation from the tragic flash

floods in Texas. Moments ago, the Department of Homeland Security provided an update that 91 innocent souls have now perished. Everyone here at the White House, including the president of the United States, is praying for the victims' families and friends during this unimaginable time.

President Trump swiftly signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County, Texas, to ensure our heroic first responders have every resource they need in the relief and recovery efforts. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem traveled to Texas over the weekend, and the entire Trump administration is working hand in glove with state and local officials to provide every assistance available.

The situation on the ground remains dangerous, and there could be additional public safety threats with potential incoming heavy rain. So we encourage everyone in the area to remain vigilant, listen to all warnings, and respond accordingly.

Unfortunately, in the wake of this once-in-a-generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer and some members of the media. Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning.

Here are the facts. In the lead-up to this tragic natural disaster, the National Weather Service did its job. Despite unprecedented rainfall, the National Weather Service executed timely and precise forecasts and warnings.

On July 3, the National Weather Service office in Austin, San Antonio, Texas, conducted forecast briefings for emergency management in the morning and issued a flood watch in the early afternoon. Flash flood warnings were also issued on the night of July 3 and in the early morning of July 4, giving preliminary lead times of more than three hours before flash flooding conditions occurred.

And the National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, which delivers forecasts for Austin, San Antonio, and the surrounding areas, had extra staff on duty during the storms, despite claims of the contrary. So to any person who has deliberately lied about these facts surrounding this catastrophic event, you should be deeply ashamed.

At this time, the administration's focus will be giving -- on giving the victims and their communities the support they deserve during these recovery efforts in this tragic time. May God bless the great people of Texas, especially the parents who have lost their children. President Trump loves you.

We are praying for you. And he will be traveling to see you later this week. Moving along to some further...

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SANCHEZ: We're hearing news there from the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, not only addressing an increase in the death toll and a new death toll -- we're now at 91 fatalities as a result of these devastating floods -- a number that is certainly expected to go up, given that there are still dozens of people who are unaccounted for.

On top of that, after touting the president signing a disaster declaration and also defending the federal government's response and the National Weather Service's response and warnings during this event, Leavitt making clear that the president will visit Texas at some point, or at least hinted that the president would be visiting Texas at some point this week.

We will continue to monitor future plans for the president when it comes to coming here to Kerrville and Central Texas, this area that has been so devastated by these floods, where so many have been lost.