Disaster record

Texas Hill Country Flash Floods (July 2025)

Six months after the disaster 139 deaths $18 billion

Summary

Flash flooding on the Guadalupe River and across the Texas Hill Country became national news on July 4, 2025. The water rose more than 20 feet in Kerr County before dawn. One hundred thirty-nine people died, including 27 children and counselors at Camp Mystic. Kerrville, Hunt, Ingram, and Center Point were among the places hit.

One hundred thirty-nine people died, according to one-year tallies. One hundred nineteen of those deaths were in Kerr County.

Scientific attribution

A rapid attribution study found the storm’s moisture was up to about 7 percent higher than similar past events. Warmer air holds more water. That does not mean climate change was the only cause.

Jul 4, 2025 · Texas Hill Country — Kerr County (Hunt, Kerrville, Ingram, Center Point), Kendall, Travis, and Burnet counties; Guadalupe River, including Camp Mystic · flash flooding

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Observation window: Jul 4, 2025 → Jul 11, 2025

Messaging tallies

51 / 51 Core Democratic Officials reviewed
11Disaster Mention
1Climate Connection
0 Mentioned Republican Obstruction of Climate Action

About these tallies

“Core Democratic Officials reviewed” shows how many of the 51 Core Democratic Officials have been examined for this disaster. Scoring rules: Methods.

Democratic framing

Summary

Eleven Core Democratic Officials named this flood in the seven-day window. Sen. Amy Klobuchar connected it to a warming climate. None named Republican obstruction of a climate law. Four named cuts to weather agencies or the Trump administration’s staffing of NOAA, the National Weather Service, or FEMA.

Senate Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Commerce inspector general on July 7 whether National Weather Service shortages in Texas made the flood worse. DNC Chair Ken Martin said the same day that President Trump had been warned his weather-service cuts could lead to needless deaths. Sen. Chris Murphy asked whether cuts to NOAA, the National Weather Service, and FEMA made these floods more deadly.

Klobuchar spoke at the July 9 Commerce Committee hearing on NOAA nominations. She named the camp deaths in Texas and New Mexico, said events like this one are not isolated, and called stronger storms a scientific fact of a warming climate. In the same remarks she named NOAA buyouts at the worst time.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a July 5 statement on the Hill Country floods and Camp Mystic. Senate Whip Dick Durbin offered condolences on the Senate floor on July 8. Sens. Maria Cantwell, Ben Ray Luján, Andy Kim, Tammy Baldwin, and John Hickenlooper named the Texas flood at the July 9 hearing. They did not connect this flood to climate change. They did not name a blocked climate law.

Texas has no Democratic U.S. senators. Sen. Bernie Sanders’s July 13 climate statement is after noon on July 11.

Statements

Republican framing

Gov. Greg Abbott said on July 8 that asking who was to blame was the word choice of losers. Sen. Ted Cruz called criticism of National Weather Service cuts partisan finger pointing. He also said there was zero evidence of weather modification. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a bill to criminalize weather modification that week. She later said it was not about Texas.

Statements

Sources

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