NewsNation
Text timeline raises questions around Texas flood response
Members of a search and rescue team embrace as they visit a memorial wall for flood victims on July 13, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
(NewsNation) — Hundreds of newly released text messages are adding troubling detail to the timeline of the deadly July Fourth floods that tore through central Texas last year.
On July 4, 2025, a flash flood warning was issued at 1:14 a.m. local time. But investigators found no emergency communications between midnight and 6 a.m. addressing responses to Camp Mystic.
The first 911 warning about flooding in the county came at 2:52 a.m. The first 911 call directly tied to Camp Mystic was made at 3:57 a.m., when a caller reported that cabins were filling with water and she was stranded on a hill.
Evacuation alerts for Hunt, Texas, and Highway 39, where the camp is located, were issued at 4:40 a.m. But the first internal note to top emergency leaders flagging possible issues at Camp Mystic was a text sent at 6:34 a.m., nearly two hours later.
The timeline has sparked backlash in the community amid calls for accountability and fixes to the system to ensure this kind of communications black hole doesn’t happen again.
On the accountability front, these texts are now public records. They’ll be used to press county leaders on who knew what and when, and why Camp Mystic wasn’t a top priority early in the command chat. When it comes to solutions, it starts with why alerts didn’t go out at the height of the emergency.
The messages show officials still trying to pin down who was missing many hours later, the kind of information gap incident command is meant to prevent.
Nationally, the biggest lesson is uncomfortable but simple: If a warning system depends on perfect cell service, perfect timing and every decision-maker being awake and online, time will be lost when minutes matter most.