Heart-Wrenching 911 Calls Reveal Desperation During Texas Floods

Sat Dec 06 2025 11:50:22 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Emergency dispatch recordings have surfaced depicting the harrowing calls made during the catastrophic floods in Kerr County, Texas, last July. Families were trapped in cabins, trees, and rooftops, seeking urgent rescue as the waters rose around them.

Last July, devastating floods struck Kerr County, Texas, leading to over 400 emergency calls from desperate residents caught in rising waters. Many families huddled on rooftops or clung to trees as they awaited rescue, revealing the frantic nature of their pleas through unsettling 911 recordings. Tragically, at least 136 lives were lost, including children at a nearby summer camp. The community feels let down by the lack of warning as officials asleep during the initial hours of flooding raise scrutiny over preparedness. Fortunately, many were rescued amid the chaos, highlighting both the bravery of responders and the urgency of the situation.

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Many of the voices were frantic and desperate. A few were steady and calm amid mounting, frightening danger, and in some cases, inescapable doom.

They came from families huddled on rooftops to escape rising, swirling waters, mothers panicked for the wellbeing of their children and onlookers who heard people yell for help through the dark as they clung to treetops.

One man, stuck high in a tree as it began to break under the pressure of the floodwaters, asked emergency dispatchers for a helicopter rescue that never came.

Their pleas were among more than 400 calls for help across Kerr County last summer when devastating floods hit during the overnight hours on the July Fourth holiday. The recordings of the 911 calls were released Friday.

The sheer volume of calls overwhelmed two county emergency dispatchers on duty in the Texas Hill Country as catastrophic flooding inundated cabins and youth camps along the Guadalupe River.

“There’s water filling up super fast, we can’t get out of our cabin,” a camp counselor told a dispatcher above the screams of campers in the background.

Amazingly, everyone in the cabin and the rest of the campers at Camp La Junta were rescued.

The flooding killed at least 136 people statewide during the holiday weekend, including at least 117 in Kerr County alone. Most were from Texas, but others came from Alabama, California, and Florida, according to a list released by county officials.

Many residents in the hard-hit Texas Hill Country have said they were caught off guard and didn’t receive any warning when the floods overtopped the Guadalupe River. Kerr County leaders have faced scrutiny about whether they did enough right away.

Using recordings of first responder communications, weather service warnings, survivor videos, and official testimony, The Associated Press assembled a chronology of the chaotic rescue effort.