The mortal floods that hit Texas on July 4 took offset local officials when torrential rains caused the Guadalupe River to rise to almost historical levels in a matter of minutes, authorities said at a press conference on Saturday.
According to officials, at least 27 people died after the heavy rain of Kerr County, Texas, which led to “catastrophic” floods, according to officials.
A flood clock was vigilant for parts of New Mexico and western Texas on Thursday afternoon while rounds of slow motion storms that packed heavy rains moved through the area. For Thursday night, five inches of rain had fallen in parts of western Texas, including Midland and Odessa.
Boerne’s search and rescue teams navigate upstream in an inflatable boat on the Guadalupe River flooded on July 4, 2025 in Comfort, Texas. Heavy rains caused floods along the Guadalupe River in the Texas downtown with multiple deaths reported.
Eric Vryn/Getty Images
The National Meteorological Service issued a sudden flood warning for Kerr County, where the river is located, around 1:14 am on Friday.
The Guadalupe River went up 26 feet in 45 minutes that morning, said the mayor of Kerville, Joe Herring, to the journalists on Friday.
A first responder seeks an area along the Guadalupe River that reached sudden floods, on Friday, July 4, 2025, in Kerville, Texas.
Eric Gay/AP
“This came at night, when people were asleep in bed,” he said.
The river reached its second highest registered height, exceeding a flood level of 1987, said the National Meteorological Service.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told journalists that it corresponds to the mayors and local counties evacuate if they feel the need and that many were not sure where the storm would land.
At a press conference on Friday, Kerr County judge, Rob Kelly, said the county does not have a warning system in the river.
Kelly was pressed by a journalist about why the evacuations took place on Thursday, but the judge said: “We did not know that this flood was approaching.”
A man examines the rubble along the Guadalupe River after sudden flood hit the area, on Friday, July 4, 2025, in Kerville, Texas.
Eric Gay/AP
“We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States, and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We were not right to believe that this was going to be something like what happened here, none,” he said.
The rain continued to arrive in the region on Saturday, which caused sudden flood emergency warnings for much of Burnet’s county and the western parties of Williamson County and Travis county.
ABC News’ Emily Shapiro and Kyle Reiman contributed to this publication.
