Kerrville emails, texts show local leaders spent hours unaware of flood's tragic toll
The CBS News Texas I-Team obtained dozens of text messages and emails exchanged between Kerrville city officials as they learned of the devastation caused by the Guadalupe River flooding on July Fourth.
The texts, which began around 5:30 a.m. that day, first focused on the Independence Day festival planned at a city park.
"Heavy rain in Hunt. Water is coming up at Louise Hayes. Port-a-potties floating away. The waterline is at the base of the stage right now," texted one assistant city manager.
Another responded, "Are there still kids at camp in Hunt?"
"Don't know," came the response.
Minutes later, the city manager sent a group text to Kerrville city council members warning of "major flooding."
One member responded, "Oh, my!! I didn't realize we had that much rain."
Another texted, "Ugh!!! Not what we needed today."
At 6:32 a.m., Kerrville police called for evacuations along several streets filled with RVs and apartments.
Ten minutes later, the city sent a mass email warning residents to avoid driving down flooded streets: "Much needed rain swept through Kerrville overnight, but the downside is the severe weather may impact many of today's scheduled July 4th events."
By 8:30 a.m., the mayor was signing a disaster declaration, but emails show it took another half hour for the emergency management coordinator to call in off-duty firefighters to help with rescue efforts.
The toll of the flooding begins to sink in
Just after 10 a.m., it appears the toll began to sink in for many council members. In the group chat, one message read, "Heard 32 missing from camps?!" Another replied, "I heard that too..."
The city manager responded with updates on the rescue efforts and appeared to criticize the county's response at the time.
"The county is reacting poorly to this but we are assisting, especially since we have unconfirmed reports of kids missing from Camp Mystic and some resorts out west. We are attempting to gain access but it's still an ongoing and developing situation."
Hours later, at 6:14 p.m., another mention of the camps. The city manager texted the council, "We have three no-answer camps, Camp Mystic is the big one in question, all other camps are accounted for."
Twenty-seven campers and counselors from Camp Mystic would later be confirmed dead.
Texts reveal city leaders personal losses
The texts also reveal personal connections and losses.
One council member texted, "My friend is still waiting on word of his sister. Missing."
The city attorney shared that one of his friends was among the dead, calling it a "devastating day" for the community.
The next day, the city manager texted his team words of support: "Take the time you need, cry, grieve, hug someone, vent, anything so you can focus on getting back into the fight." He later added, "Most of our team have not been through a disaster of this scale. Many people don't go through disasters of this scale."
Later, one city staffer shared, "Just watched crews pull a counselor out of debris, so that will stick with me."