Texts among officials show confusion about missing campers during July 4 floods

This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans.

The first 911 call from the historic Camp Mystic on the Guadalupe River came in at 3:57 a.m., when a caller told the dispatcher she was stranded on a hill and cabins around her were filling with water. Around the same time, the swelling river swept away Camp Mystic’s owner and his son, the family’s lawyer said, along with a number of campers.

But it wasn’t until 6:34 a.m. — more than two hours later — that a Kerr County sheriff’s office captain sent the first text message to a group of emergency response leaders about what he called potential “issues” at Camp Mystic.

As the hours went on and the road to the camp remained impassable, the texts show the leaders in the text thread received sparse and sometimes contradictory information about whether anyone from the camp was missing — and how many were missing. As nightfall neared, the officials were still struggling to understand the scope of the disaster there.

“NO confirmed dead bodies at mystic only searching,” Texas Ranger Chad Matlock texted the group just before 7 p.m.

Hundreds of newly-released text messages and emails, obtained through a public records request and published for the first time here, detail the frantic, dayslong exchange among senior leaders in the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office during the July 4 flood.

The text thread, which included Sheriff Larry Leitha, County Emergency Management Coordinator William “Dub” Thomas and other leaders from the office, shows confusion among those charged with responding to a devastating natural disaster. It appears to be the primary way Sheriff’s Office command staff communicated via text about the disaster — it’s unknown the extent of other discussions that happened in person or by phone.

At least seven phone numbers in the group that day were not identified in the records. Matlock’s number was identified using the voicemail on his phone, and confirmed by the Department of Public Safety.

The Texas Newsroom and Texas Tribune sent extensive questions to county officials regarding the communications. They did not respond. The lawyer for Camp Mystic and the owner’s family, Mikal Watts, said the camp on July 4 was focused on taking care of the surviving girls, identifying how many were missing and relying on first responders to search downstream.

Rachel Osier Lindley

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The Texas Newsroom

The messages and other newly-obtained records add more detail to the devastating timeline of the flooding.

The first 911 call about the impending disaster in Kerr County came in at 2:52 a.m., when the general manager of a local inn on the river warned of “a big flood coming.” Calls surged as the waters rose.

At first, dispatchers told panicked callers that rescuers were coming. Around 3:50 a.m., one admitted to a caller that help might not arrive.

At 4:40 a.m., an alert was dispatched through the Code Red system, which can send warnings to people who subscribe: “IF YOU ARE IN THE HUNT AREA ALONG HIGHWAY 39 OR THE RIVER, EVACUATE THE AREA OR GET TO HIGH GROUND.”

It reached 1,113 users, according to records obtained by The Texas Tribune.

Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly later testified that he didn’t wake up until an hour or two later.

At 6:27 a.m., Kelly sent an email to Thomas, the emergency management coordinator, who also testified that he slept through the early morning hours of the flood. Kelly wrote: “Just checking in regarding storm damage. I’m at Lake Travis for the 4th but reports I’m getting and video footage I’ve seen from West Kerr looks like our drought finally broke. How bad is it there. What do we need to be doing. [Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice] called and says Louise Hayes Park is under water. Emergency declaration time?”

Six minutes later, the text thread that would be named COMMAND CHAT - FloodEvent began between Kerr County Sheriff’s Office leaders, according to the records. Camp Mystic was already top of mind for Kerr County Sheriff’s Office Captain Clint Massingill, head of the criminal investigations division.

By this time, the river had already surged to disastrous levels in Hunt, downstream of Camp Mystic. It would peak in Kerrville around 6:45 a.m. above 35 feet — at which point weather forecasters expect some roads and bridges to be “extremely dangerous” — as the wave of debris-filled floodwater pushed downstream.

Kerr County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Scott Prout, the patrol division director, wrote that state game wardens were flying to the camp from Austin. Matlock wanted to know if the 30 were “missing or just stranded.”

After these initial reports, officials struggled to find out what was happening at the camp.

By this point, the river had fallen in Kerrville from more than 35 feet to slightly less than 13 feet — still very high for a river that at that location normally flowed at about one or two feet. Roads and bridges typically flood at 13 feet, according to weather forecasters.

Officials on the Sheriff’s Office text thread also exchanged information about the situation at the camp that was better than the reality. The source of the information is not clear.

Just over 20 minutes later, the officials realized that information could be false.

County officials had been trying to confirm the missing number all morning and get a helicopter on the ground, according to the text messages. Prout, the sheriff’s patrol division director, shared information in the text thread about the missing at Camp Mystic.

At 11:05 a.m., Matlock said a helicopter was coming to get him to “get eyes” on Camp Mystic. He said he was airborne at 11:25 a.m.

Before noon, local officials held their first press conference. Kelly, the county judge, said he had “some numbers” of the missing and dead, but would not share those until they could flesh them out. When asked specifically about Camp Mystic, he said he did not know exactly how many were missing. When asked how parents with children at a local camp could get information about whether their children were safe, Kelly told them to “call the camp.”

Meanwhile, another flash flood emergency was issued for central Kerr County, including Hunt and Ingram. Concern over the fate of hundreds of children at Camp Mystic had risen all the way to Gov. Greg Abbott, who was demanding information.

The texts show the officials asked for information about the camp from “Chad,” referring to Matlock.

Matlock noted that the phone lines were down and there was no cell service at the camp. The officials debated how to search for the missing campers.

Some 11 hours after the first 911 call about flooding, officials made plans to evacuate what they believed were roughly 200 girls and reunite them with their parents. But they disagreed on whether to focus on evacuation or searching for the missing.

Around 3 p.m., local leaders including the sheriff and the mayor of Kerrville held a second press conference, where Leitha said they still didn’t know how many people were missing. He did issue a countywide tally of the dead: 13 people. The officials said they would not take questions from the media, citing the changing scenario. A reporter yelled out a question about Mystic as the officials left the podium and just before the press conference live feed concluded.

At 3:43 p.m., Abbott posted on the social media site X about an air rescue, with a promise to “not stop until everyone is accounted for.”

At 5:17 p.m., Massingill updated those on the text thread with a new estimate of the number of dead: 16.

At 5:51 p.m., Massingill asked how many kids were left at Mystic needing rescue, explaining that DPS was “under the impression the rescue has not taken place” and, eight minutes later, “sending additional birds to the area.”

Alex Monroe, currently a lieutenant with the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office, tried to track down a list of the missing. Matlock earlier in the day said he had a list of kids missing.

A few minutes later, Massingill told others on the text string that they could give out his email so families could send photos and information.

No one in the thread replied. The question was repeated two minutes later, and then asked again.

Officials continued to coordinate an effort to get kids picked up at Camp Mystic in SUVs or buses. Soon after, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, another statewide elected official, wanted information.

Shortly after, officials appeared to get concrete numbers about deaths at Mystic.

Countywide, the flood claimed 119 lives and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage. More than a fifth of the deaths occurred at Camp Mystic, where 25 campers, two counselors and Dick Eastland, a camp owner and executive director, perished.