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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

At Least 82 People Dead in Catastrophic Texas Flooding; Netanyahu in U.S. Amid Renewed Hostage-Ceasefire Talks. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 07, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. Rahel Solomon is Off, I'm MJ Lee. It's Monday, July 7th, 4 a.m. here in Washington, D.C. Let's get straight to our breaking news.

Parts of Texas are bracing for even more heavy rainfall after the catastrophic flooding that's left at least 82 people dead, including 28 children. New video shows the dramatic moment two people were rescued from the raging floodwaters. The El Paso Fire Department says they were clinging to a tree before the rescue.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott says flash flooding still poses a threat for some areas as water levels begin to rise again. That prompted officials to urge people in the Hunt community to move to higher ground on Sunday. A local sheriff says more than 400 first responders from more than 20 agencies are part of the rescue operation.

But the treacherous conditions are making it harder for rescuers to search the area. At last check, officials said at least 41 people were still missing. That includes at least 10 campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic. That's an all-girls summer camp near the Guadalupe River that burst its banks early Friday when most people were still sleeping. Governor Abbott visited the camp and says it was quote horrendously ravaged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGG ABBOTT, (R) TEXAS GOVERNOR: It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through. And we will remain 100 percent dedicated searching for every single one of the children who were at Camp Mystic as well as anybody else and the entire riverbed to make sure that they're going to be recovered.

LEE: CNN's Ed Lavandera has more on the rescue efforts from Comfort, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: While the death toll from the flooding continues to go up dramatically, there are still a number of people missing. And because of that, we're seeing large numbers of volunteers fanning out across the Guadalupe River from Camp Mystic all the way downstream to where we are here in the town of Comfort, Texas, some 36 miles away from Camp Mystic. And up and down the river, we've seen groups of people coming out trying to help the search and rescue teams bring those answers and the closure to so many families that are still awaiting news about their loved ones.

But this is what they're up against. Look, this is all of the debris just in one little spot. They got washed up here along this bridge that crosses over the river.

But you look at the denseness and the thickness of all of this debris and it just makes you realize how difficult this search operation is. You know, cutting through all of this and trying to find a possible victim in this kind of scene is just incredibly difficult, incredibly taxing. But we've seen all that.

And a lot of that was brought to a halt here today because there had been some concerns that there was more flash flooding along -- coming. There was alerts when causing evacuations of the area. And so that caused a lot of concern.

And because of that, we saw the teams of volunteers here being told to kind of evacuate these areas. So those search and rescue operations and the volunteer efforts kind of came to a halt because of that. And we presume that it will continue because there are still several days out from this tragedy, still many families looking for answers, some still holding on to hope that maybe someone could be rescued alive.

But with every passing hour, they know full well that that is a very, very unlikely scenario to unfold here, as difficult as that is to say right now.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Comfort, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: The United Cajun Navy, a volunteer rescue group from Louisiana, has been assisting in the search and rescue efforts. Earlier, my colleague, Polo Sandoval, spoke to one of its members about some of the issues that they are facing on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK SORTOR, PIO, UNITED CAJUN NAVY: The Cajun Navy, the United Cajun Navy is not giving up yet. There's still hope, still in rescue mode at this point, not in recovery mode. Obviously, the scene is just absolutely heartbreaking.

[04:05:00]

You go and, you know, today, our guys are out in the riverbed there where the water has receded a little bit, still trying to dig. And, you know, looking into trucks that are buried. You know, we've seen miracles before.

There was a rescue made of a young girl that was swept 12 miles down the river and found up in a tree. Absolute miracle. I mean, it's pretty hard to believe that that even happened.

Another one of the issues that we're still trying to work out is connectivity. The first responders are still really struggling to connect with each other. You know, even radios don't work. Cell coverage is out in lots of different places. So we've been outfitting vehicles with Starlink. We just got a bunch of them today to outfit every single sheriff's deputy vehicle in Kerr County.

So we're working on that as well. We're installing them ourselves, making sure they all run and work. We're going to be hooking their radios up to those as well.

So they'll be able to actually use those radios to communicate car by car, you know, with a Wi-Fi connection to Starlink. And so we're hoping that's going to help out a lot. But, you know, a lot of these efforts have been hampered by the lack of communication. And I'm hoping by tomorrow, you know, we'll have put a lot of that to bed.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, in terms of some of the complications, you mentioned comms right now, you mentioned Starlink, which for some of our viewers, it's a system that relies on satellite technology for comms. What other sort of obstacles and challenges are you all facing right now? Is it the infrastructure in jeopardy here, like roads?

Is it the new round of warnings that have been issued by authorities about further possible flooding?

SORTOR: Oh, absolutely. Today, a lot of rescue workers had to pull out of the area and get to higher ground because there were reports of a wall of water that was headed right downstream straight back at Kerrville. And as you can imagine, after what we saw the other day, you know, the ground is super, super saturated.

It doesn't take much to get that water level back up. And just as dangerous as it was that day, it takes a lot less water to do that. And so when you get reports like that, obviously, it's pretty terrifying.

And then the job turns into making sure civilians are totally out of those areas, making sure they heed the warnings. And, you know, they have to be taken seriously. The warnings absolutely have to be taken seriously.

And most people did, which was definitely great. And luckily, not much came. It was the best case scenario. Very happy for that. And the weather is looking up for the next few days, which is something that everybody here has been looking forward to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: If you'd like to help those affected by the flooding in Texas, please go to cnn.com/impact. There you can find resources for donations and you'll be connected to charities that are on the ground there right now.

One climate scientist says the U.S. is unprepared for worsening natural disasters as the planet continues to warm. Meteorologist Chris Warren explains the key causes behind the catastrophic floods in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It really is hard to imagine how something like this could happen. And in this case, a lot of different things came together to create this disaster. One of those was the drought.

Days, if not weeks in the making, you might say, well, why would a drought make flooding worse? Wouldn't that be more water, you know, into the soil, more room? Well, it doesn't necessarily work that way.

With the very hot and very dry conditions, the soil kind of gets baked and it gets hard. So initially you get this downpour of water and it doesn't go right into the soil. It just runs off.

When you think of how big the land is, if it would go right into the soil, that would at least help. But in this case, there were a lot of things going against the situation here.

So another one would be once the rain started, it was tapping into moisture, not just from the Gulf, which helps make things very humid in Texas anyways, but a couple of these former tropical systems add a little bit extra juice. So there's another thing.

The other aspect of it, it was slow moving. The overall system that was helping to trigger these showers and thunderstorms just wasn't moving very fast.

And then the location, right? We knew there was going to be storms and possibly flash flooding. But the fact that this one, this bad, horrible storm set up right here, right over the north and south forks of the Guadalupe River that feed into here, anything that falls from the sky, any rain, any water is going to drain that way.

And it was hours and hours of some of the heaviest rain you could even imagine. And it all ended up being well over 10 inches in some areas, around a foot in some spots, estimated by radar. And it's over several counties.

So that water drains out in many cases into the same locations.

[04:10:00]

And because of that, in just a matter of hours, going from -- this is the river gauge here, the Guadalupe River at Kerrville -- going from less than a foot, below a foot water level, to about a two-story house in a matter of couple of hours. That's all of that rain being funneled down the stream there. And then this is the forecast. Not completely done just yet. Still

have showers and thunderstorms to get through during the day tomorrow. But eventually, by tomorrow evening, things start to dry out. And fortunately, really going to get a break.

It's going to be hot, but back to a dry stretch next week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: Tropical Depression Chantal made landfall in South Carolina on Sunday. It's now become the first named storm to strike the Atlantic coast of the U.S. this hurricane season. More than five million people in North Carolina were under flood alerts by the early morning hours yesterday.

And Virginia also put at least two million people under flash flood warnings. As the storm tracks deeper inland, rain is expected to push further north later this week. Chantal was recently downgraded from a tropical storm, but it's still inflicting heavy damage on coastal communities.

This image on screen shows a collapsed highway amid major flooding in Central North Carolina.

Still to come, the very latest on the deadly floods in Texas.

Plus, could Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire agreement this week? We'll bring you the details of the Israeli prime minister's upcoming meeting with President Trump and the renewed talks taking place in Qatar. Stay with us.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEE: A recap of our breaking news.

At least 82 people, including 28 children, have been killed by flash floods in Central Texas. State and local officials say 41 people are missing. Most of the victims were in Kerr County, where the Guadalupe River rose more than 20 feet in the span of hours.

Some of the youngest victims died at Camp Mystic, a Christian all- girls summer camp located on the riverbank. Search and rescue operations continue for a camp counselor and 10 campers who are still missing.

Indirect negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release between Hamas and Israel restarted in Qatar on Sunday, a diplomatic source tells CNN.

The renewed talks come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with President Trump today, and they are set to expect the latest hostage ceasefire proposal. Just before boarding his flight to the U.S. on Sunday, Netanyahu said President Trump, quote, can help move us closer to a ceasefire agreement, but reiterated some of Israel's non-negotiables.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): So far, we have freed 205 out of 255 hostages, including 148 alive. There are 20 living hostages remaining and 30 deceased. I am determined, we are determined to bring them all back.

We are also determined to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. This means we will not allow a situation where there are more kidnappings, more murders, more beheadings, more invasions. It means one thing, the elimination of Hamas' military and governmental capabilities. Hamas will not be there.

I am committed to all three missions together, the release and return of all our hostages, both living and deceased, the elimination of Hamas' capabilities, removing them from there, and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: For more on this, we go live now to London with Paul Salem, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. Paul, very good to have you. I want to ask you first how you are watching the prime minister's visit to the White House today.

For starters, do you think President Trump sees this as a meeting to sort of close the deal on a Gaza ceasefire? And is the prime minister anywhere amenable to that right now?

PAUL SALEM, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Well, this is the third visit by Prime Minister Netanyahu to President Trump. Their relationship is an interesting but complex one. They're both strong men, but they're also competitors in many ways.

And they will be dealing with two issues during this visit. One is the ceasefire and long-term arrangements for Gaza, and the other is what are the next steps for Iran. I do think that they're in agreement about at least the 60-day ceasefire, although in the long run they probably have different visions.

LEE: Yes, and you heard just there what the prime minister said right before traveling here to the U.S., that he is certainly determined to bring all of the hostages back, but that at the same time what Israel's goals are in the broader conflict basically remain the same. I just wonder what you think the families of the hostages, hearing those comments from the prime minister, what their reaction might be. I mean, do you think they hear that and think the prime minister treats the return of the hostages as his number one priority?

SALEM: Well, I don't want to speak for them, but they've spoken for themselves, or at least many of them have. And from the early months of this conflict, many of them have accused the prime minister of not prioritizing the return of hostages above all else.

[04:20:00] But rather prioritizing the war with Hamas at any cost. That has included great devastation to the Palestinian over 60,000 killed, hundreds of thousands injured, two million displaced, and it's also probably contributed to the death of many of those Israeli hostages. And as you know, that has continued to fuel a deep divide politically inside Israel.

LEE: And as you know, this is not the first time the two leaders are seeing each other in person since the U.S. and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran and Iran's nuclear program. It's fair to expect, I think, that we'll probably see a victory lap of sorts, though these Oval Office meetings have been quite unpredictable lately.

How do you think the Trump-Netanyahu relationship and really the power dynamics between the two men have shifted since those attacks?

SALEM: Well, I think they've shifted in favor of Prime Minister Netanyahu. When President Trump was first elected back in November, Prime Minister Netanyahu was very wary of President Trump. He immediately got to a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon on Trump's insistence, even before he became president.

And in the final hours before Trump took over in the White House, he agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas, which he had not wanted to do previously. He also held off for two months on Trump's insistence from attacking Iran. But I think since the attack on Iran, which in military terms went probably better than many expected on the Israeli side, Trump felt himself that Netanyahu was, you know, stealing the limelight and rushed to join that military campaign.

So Trump will want to say that he really was the decisive factor in Iran. But both of them face the long-term challenge. The Iranian nuclear program is still there. It's weakened, but there isn't a clear solution yet to the Iranian nuclear program.

LEE: That's interesting. So, Paul, are you not of the belief that perhaps Prime Minister Netanyahu heads into this meeting feeling like he owes the U.S., owes President Trump and the Trump administration for those attacks on Iran?

SALEM: No, I do feel that. And I think he will allow President Trump to claim a lot of credit for the, you know, the more impactful strikes on certainly the big nuclear reactors and enrichment areas in Iran. He will grant him that.

I think he already, Prime Minister Netanyahu, while leaving Israel, gave President Trump a lot of credit, saying that he will help us get to a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. So, yes, I think on the PR level, he will want, you know, he will grant this to President Trump. But the strategic disagreements between Trump and Netanyahu will continue in Gaza.

Trump wants a final end to this war, not a temporary ceasefire in the long run. Netanyahu doesn't want that. Trump wants to go ahead with a deal between the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel, which will require significant concessions to the Palestinians. Netanyahu doesn't want that. And finally, President Trump wants a negotiated deal with Iran to manage the nuclear program, not an open-ended war. And Netanyahu disagrees with that as well.

LEE: Yes, many potential headlines that could come out of this White House meeting. Paul Salem, thank you very much.

We have much more to come on the deadly flooding in Texas and the race to find dozens of people still missing with more heavy rainfall likely on the way.

And Donald Trump says take it or leave it letters will be going out soon to U.S. trading partners that don't have a deal in place. More on that next on CNN.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEE: Welcome back. More now on our top story. At least 82 people have now been killed in the flash flooding in Central Texas. At least 41 others are still missing.

The National Weather Service is warning that more rain is headed for the state with up to 10 inches possible in some areas. And the flooding could still get worse in Kerr County, where the majority of the destruction has taken place.

Search and rescue crews are still searching for at least 10 campers and a counselor who are missing from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp near the Guadalupe River.

It took less than two hours for that river to rise more than 20 feet or about six meters. The mayor of Kerrville says the city is doing everything it can to help those affected by the floods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE HERRING JR. KERRVILLE, TEXAS MAYOR: I'm old enough to remember Fred Rogers and he one time said during a crisis look for the helpers. In Kerrville those helpers are the city staff, county personnel, state agencies and federal agencies. We're doing everything we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: CNN's Isabel Rosales shows us the damage in Kerr County where rescue crews are working to find more survivors from the flooding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see this helicopter scanning the area here where there's a body of water right over there past that road. This is a rock query where I saw earlier police, EMS, firefighters, volunteers using shovels and digging in there through the mud through the loose gravel. I'm told that they found three RVs in this area one of which was --