---
title: "Texas Hill Country floods again, one year after a disaster that killed scores"
description: "Torrential rain sent the Guadalupe River surging again through the Texas Hill Country, killing at least one person and forcing frantic rescues in the same area where more than 130 people, including children at a summer camp, died in floods a year ago. This time, officials said, warning sirens installed after that disaster helped people get out in time."
category: "World"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/world
author: "Tyler Grant"
published: 2026-07-16T22:56:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-16T22:56:00.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/texas-hill-country-floods-again-one-year-after-a-disaster-that-killed-scores
tags: ["texas", "flooding", "guadalupe river", "kerr county", "disaster"]
---
# Texas Hill Country floods again, one year after a disaster that killed scores

Torrential rain sent the Guadalupe River surging again through the Texas Hill Country, killing at least one person and forcing frantic rescues in the same area where more than 130 people, including children at a summer camp, died in floods a year ago. This time, officials said, warning sirens installed after that disaster helped people get out in time.

The Texas Hill Country flooded again this week, and the fear was immediate and specific, because the people there had lived this before. Heavy rain sent the Guadalupe River rising with terrifying speed, and by Wednesday officials had confirmed at least one death and were racing to pull others from the water.

## What happened

The Kerr County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety [confirmed one fatality](https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2026-07-16/texas-hill-country-death-flood-kerrville-comfort-tx), a person recovered downstream of Kerrville, between there and the town of Comfort, and said the victim was not a camper. The rain was extraordinary, with parts of the region getting an estimated 4 to 12 inches, and the Guadalupe rose so fast, by some measures roughly 25 feet in an hour, that it crested near a historic high. A flash-flood emergency, the most severe warning issued for such events, covered tens of thousands of people around Kerrville, Ingram and Hunt. [More than 1,300 responders took part in the effort, carrying out over 70 rescues](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/16/weather/live-news/texas-flash-flooding-camp-mystic-climate).

## The shadow of last year

What made this flood so frightening was its setting. Almost exactly a year earlier, on July 4, 2025, a catastrophic flood tore through the same stretch of the Guadalupe, [killing more than 130 people](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/16/weather/live-news/texas-flash-flooding-camp-mystic-climate), most of them in Kerr County. Among the dead were children and counselors at Camp Mystic, a girls' summer camp along the river, a loss that came to symbolize the disaster and drew national grief. This week's storm struck the same soil, the same river, the same towns.

## What was different this time

There was, at least, one change officials credited with saving lives. After the 2025 tragedy, authorities installed warning sirens along the Guadalupe designed to alert people, including camps, to flee before the water arrives. This time, officials said, those warnings, and a faster state response, gave residents crucial minutes to get to higher ground. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office said the state was more prepared than a year ago, though for a region that has now watched the same river turn deadly twice in twelve months, preparation offers only cold comfort.

## Why it keeps happening

The Hill Country is one of the most flash-flood-prone places in the country. Steep terrain and thin, rocky soil mean rain does not soak in; it races downhill and funnels into rivers that can rise from placid to lethal in minutes. It is beautiful country, and dangerous country, and scientists warn that a warming climate is making the heaviest downpours more frequent, so that "once-in-a-lifetime" floods now seem to arrive with grim regularity. For the people of Kerr County, the water receded once before, and the grief did not; this week, they braced to do it again.

## Sources

- [At least 1 dead as severe floods hit Texas Hill Country](https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2026-07-16/texas-hill-country-death-flood-kerrville-comfort-tx)
- [Live updates: At least 1 dead as flooding hits Texas Hill Country again](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/16/weather/live-news/texas-flash-flooding-camp-mystic-climate)