911 calls capture minute-by-minute desperation of deadly Texas floods as callers beg for rescue

By Alaa Elassar, Taylor Romine, CNN

Kerrville, Texas (CNN) — Heartbreaking pleas for help poured into the Kerrville, Texas, police department’s Telecommunications Center as the deadly catastrophic floods swept across Texas Hill Country in the early hours of July 4.

CNN is listening to the more than 20 hours of 911 calls that were released by the Kerrville Police Department on Friday.

The recordings, uploaded in the order they were received, trace the flood emergency minute by minute, the rising terror of people trapped as water climbed first by the inch then by the foot through homes and cabins.

The earliest calls in the overnight hours signaled the rising peril.

Scott Towery, general manager of the River Inn Resort, called at 2:52 a.m. CT to warn that more than 100 guests were at the property as the water surged at an alarming pace.

His follow-up call came moments later, his voice taut with urgency, comparing the rising flood to one of the region’s worst on record.

“We’ve got about 130 people out on site and a big flood coming. We’re waking them up now,” he tells the dispatcher. “Our dam went under water two and a half hours ago … It’s really high, like the 1998-flood-type high.”

Then the shift became unmistakable.

The next call was barely a call at all — a faint, almost indecipherable voice tangled in the sound of rushing water. The dispatcher, listening to nothing but that open line and the relentless sloshing beneath it.

What began as a cautious warning quickly escalated into panic, as callers plead for rescue while dispatchers, repeating the same urgent directive to get to higher floors, struggle to keep their voices steady.

“We cannot,” one frightened caller replies. “There’s water everywhere. We cannot move. We are right upstairs in a room and the water levels rising.”

Together, the recordings form a harrowing portrait of a night when the water rose faster than help could reach.

Overwhelmed dispatchers race to keep up as waters rise

Police have warned the calls are unredacted and “highly distressing,” especially for families who were impacted.

“Some callers did not survive. We ask that you keep them and their family members, loved ones and friends in your thoughts and prayers,” Kerrville Police Chief Chris McCall said in a video statement Thursday.

The first calls feel almost like premonitions, fragile voices that foreshadow the terror that would soon sweep across the Hill Country. They begin with an eerie calm — soft-spoken warnings from residents who sensed the rising water but could not yet see the catastrophe gathering in the dark.

The devastating flash flooding on the early hours of the Fourth of July killed 136 people, including young children at summer camp, across the region as parts of the Guadalupe River rose from about 3 feet to almost 30 feet in just 45 minutes.

Just two people were on staff at the Kerrville Police Department Telecommunications Center when 911 calls starting coming in at 2:52 a.m. on July 4, according to the chief. Callers quickly overwhelmed dispatchers as the tragedy escalated.

With every new call, the dispatchers repeat the same warning over and over, urging terrified callers to climb to higher ground as deputies tried to make their way to them. The uncertain reassurance hangs in the recordings like a held breath, a testament to both the limits of the system and the unbearable human cost of that night.

“We just needed somebody to know that we were here,” one caller told a dispatcher.

The dispatchers answered a total of 435 calls over the next six hours, the police chief said, including more than 100 between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. The 911 calls are being released to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests, McCall said.

Some of the calls were transferred to a nearby dispatch center to help relieve the call load, as is protocol in high call volume situations, McCall added.

After dispatchers got “the basic critical information” and could no longer help over the phone, they faced “a difficult decision to disconnect and move on to the next call,” McCall said.

“I’m immensely proud of our telecommunications operators,” he said. “These public safety team members showed incredible perseverance as they faced high call volumes and did their best to provide assistance and comfort to every caller.”

The City of Kerrville issued a statement acknowledging that the 911 calls’ release “will bring up strong emotions,” but that it “presents another moment to affirm who we are: a united, resilient community determined to recover and rebuild.”

The chief also encouraged those who have struggled with the tragedy to get support, saying all members of the police department have participated in peer support meetings.

The local emergency response to the July Fourth flooding was heavily scrutinized by the community, who alleged local officials were unprepared for the weather event that ripped the rolling countryside to shreds.

Of the 136 flood victims, more than 100 died in Kerr County, where the Guadalupe River rose to 30 feet after four months’ worth of rain fell in just hours. The raging floodwaters devastated homes and popular recreation areas, including several summer camps.

The flooding deaths include 25 girls and two counselors who were swept away from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp situated along the banks of the Guadalupe River. The families of more than a dozen victims filed lawsuits against the camp and its owners last month.

In September, Texas lawmakers enacted new camp safety laws aimed at addressing gaps in disaster preparedness by strengthening requirements and streamlining the emergency response. The owners of Camp Mystic said this week they plans to exceed those requirements when a portion of the camp reopens next summer, according to The Associated Press.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Amanda Jackson contributed to this report from Kerrville, Texas.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.