Heart-wrenching pleas poured into the Kerrville, Texas, police department’s Telecommunications Center as catastrophic floods swept across the Hill Country in the early hours of July 4. Newly released 911 recordings capture the disaster minute by minute — from the first uneasy warnings to the panic-stricken cries of people watching the water rise by inches, then feet, through homes and cabins along the Guadalupe River, AP news agency reported. What begins as a handful of calm, almost prophetic calls quickly erupts into chaos. In an instant, frantic voices overwhelmed the two county emergency dispatchers on duty: a firefighter clinging to a tree after seeing his wife swept away; a family smashing through their roof in a desperate bid to survive; a woman stranded at an all-girls camp as swirling waters closed in. More than 400 calls for help flooded Kerr County’s emergency lines that night, recordings released Friday show — , revealed the scale of the overnight floods that killed at least 136 people statewide and prompted chaotic rescue efforts. The recordings capture frantic pleas from residents trapped in cabins, trees and on rooftops as floodwaters from the Guadalupe River rose rapidly. Camp counsellors, residents, firefighters and emergency dispatchers feature in the calls. A camp counsellor at Camp La Junta reported, “There’s water filling up super fast, we can’t get out of our cabin. We can’t get out of our cabin, so how do we get to the boats?” All cabin occupants and other campers were subsequently rescued.
136 killed in flood
The flooding claimed at least 136 lives during the holiday weekend, including 117 in Kerr County. Most victims were Texas residents; others came from Alabama, California and Florida, according to a county list. Among those who died were 25 campers and two teenage counsellors at Camp Mystic, a century-old girls’ summer camp. The floodings occurred overnight on the July Fourth holiday last summer. Recordings were made public on Friday. Where: Heavy rain caused the Guadalupe River to overtop its banks, inundating Kerr County in the Texas Hill Country. Calls came from sites including riverside cabins and summer camps such as Camp La Junta and Camp Mystic. Exceptional rainfall led the Guadalupe River to overflow without warning. Residents and officials have questioned whether sufficient alerts were issued before the floods struck. Two county officials told state legislators they were asleep during the initial hours and a third was out of town.
Police released distress calls
First responders and volunteers rescued people using boats and emergency vehicles. Some survivors clung to trees and rooftops. Kerrville Police Chief Chris McCall warned that some audio is unsettling, as it includes calls from those who did not survive. In one call, firefighter Bradley Perry said calmly, “The tree I’m in is starting to lean and it’s going to fall. Is there a helicopter close?” He added, “I’ve probably got maybe five minutes left.” Perry did not survive; his wife Tina was later found alive, clinging to a tree. Other calls recorded trapped families moving to higher floors. A woman in a riverside cabin community reported, “We are flooding, and we have people in cabins we can’t get to. We are flooding almost all the way to the top.” Children’s voices are faintly heard in the background. As daylight approached, call volume rose. Dispatchers, overwhelmed but composed, advised callers to seek rooftops or higher ground. One caller from Camp Mystic said, “There is water everywhere, we cannot move. We are upstairs in a room and the water is rising,” and later asked, “How do we get to the roof if the water is so high? Can you already send someone here? With the boats?” The dispatcher replied, “I don’t know. I don’t know.”
