Weather 
Authorities are releasing hundreds of 911 calls from the deadly flash floods that devastated parts of Texas Hill Country on July 4, killing more than 130 people, including dozens of young campers.
Kerrville Police Chief Chris McCall warned that the calls received by dispatchers are distressing.
“Some callers did not survive,” he said in a video posted on Facebook Thursday. “We ask that you keep them and their family members, loved ones and friends in your thoughts and prayers.”
McCall said that starting at 2:52 a.m. on July 4, the Kerrville Police Department, which was staffed by only two people at the time, began receiving 911 calls. The dispatchers answered a total of 435 emergency calls, including 106 calls alone between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., he said.
One woman who called from Camp Mystic, a summer camp for girls where more than two dozen people died, said on a call, “There is water everywhere, we cannot move. We are upstairs in a room and the water is rising.”
“If the water will be higher than the room, what should we do?” she asked.
“How do we get to the roof if the water is so high?” she asked in a later call. “Can you already send someone here? With the boats?”
She also asked the dispatcher when help would come.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” the dispatcher said.
Another caller told a dispatcher a house had washed away.
Brenda Bazán /The Washington Post via Getty Images
The Kerrville Police Department said it worked with the Texas Attorney General’s Office and determined that all the calls should be released without redaction in order to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests made by eight media outlets.
McCall praised the 911 dispatchers for showing “incredible perseverance” amid the high call volumes to “provide assistance and comfort to every caller.”
“Once the basic critical information was collected and no more assistance over the phone could be provided, telecommunicators were faced with the difficult decision to disconnect and move on to the next call,” he said.
Most deaths during the floods were along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, including at least 27 campers and staff from Camp Mystic. Many of the campers who died were the camp’s youngest attendees.
Last month, the families of several campers and counselors who died in the flash flood filed a lawsuit accusing the camp and its owners of gross negligence and reckless disregard for safety.
Earlier this month, Camp Mystic announced it is installing new high-tech river monitors and safety upgrades.
The Hill Country region is naturally prone to flash flooding because its dry, dirt-packed soil cannot soak up heavy rain.
“As our community continues to recover, please make sure you’re taking care of yourself emotionally,” McCall said. “I’m proud of the strength and resiliency shown by our community in the wake of this tragedy, and the care and comfort we have shown for those lost.”
