KERR COUNTY, Texas – Kerr County officials provided an update Friday on the county’s response to this week’s flooding, detailing rescue operations, emergency alerts and infrastructure damage as floodwaters continued to recede in parts of the Hill Country.
The update comes after the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed Thursday that at least one person died following the flooding. Officials said the man’s body was recovered near Center Point. During a Thursday news conference, Gov. Greg Abbott said the man was swept away while inside an RV. Kerrville Police Chief Jerel Haley said the investigation into the death is being handled by the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office.
At Friday’s briefing, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha identified the man as John Mark Stewart of Kerrville. Leitha said Stewart’s home was washed away in the Goat Creek Road area of western Kerr County and that deputies recovered him near the 300 block of Center Point River Road.
Hundreds of calls, rescues across the county
Leitha said the sheriff’s office worked alongside Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Department of Emergency Management, Texas Task Force 1 and 2, volunteer fire departments and the City of Kerrville during the response.
On Thursday, Leitha said the sheriff’s office handled 234 calls for service tied to the flooding. He said multiple high-water rescues and evacuations were carried out countywide and emphasized that “no calls went unanswered.”
Leitha also said officials had no reports of anyone missing at the time of the briefing, even as crews continued checking areas as water levels fell. He noted that search efforts had located vehicles and an RV in flood-impacted areas, and that owners had been identified.
How the county activated emergency operations
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s emergency management director, walked reporters through the timeline of the county’s disaster response and the activation of its command structure.
Kelly said the governor issued a declaration earlier in the week, prompting the county to stand up an incident command post Tuesday evening at the sheriff’s office complex. Kelly said he returned to the command post around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and found it already staffed with weather monitoring screens and personnel ready to operate.
By Wednesday evening, Kelly said rainfall totals were mounting. Citing National Weather Service statistics, he said Kerr County recorded between 20 and 24 inches of rain during the event. Kelly said he was awakened again early Thursday morning with updated rainfall and river conditions and declared a local disaster around 3:30 a.m. Thursday, after consulting with Precinct 1 Commissioner Tom Jones and coordinating with Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice, who declared a city disaster at about the same time.
Kelly said officials had to relocate the incident command room due to electrical issues and water seepage at the original site and re-established operations at the current facility in less than 30 minutes.
Bridges damaged; assessments still underway
Commissioner Jones said the flooding was widespread and differed from last year’s deadly Hill Country floods, describing faster-moving water and impacts that were concentrated farther downstream in the county.
Jones said Kerr County has 19 bridges, and six have sustained major damage to some degree. Some sites remain difficult to access, he said, and crews are waiting for water to recede before completing a full assessment. Jones said the county’s engineering department and road and bridge teams are working with TDEM to document damage.
Flood alerts and sirens “worked as designed,” officials say
Jones also addressed questions about the county’s flood warning system, saying it “worked, and it worked the way it was designed to work.”
He said officials began sending alerts at 1:36 a.m., issuing a total of 59 CodeRED notifications during the incident. Jones said cellular monitoring alerts went out before the county activated sirens under its protocols. He said three sirens were triggered — two along the South Fork and one in Hunt — and that water levels did not prompt siren activations along the North Fork.
Officials cite improved preparation compared to last year
State Rep. Wes Virdell and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy both pointed to improved communication and pre-positioned resources as major differences compared to last year’s flooding, which caught some residents off guard.
Virdell said this week’s flooding came after nearby communities had been dealing with flooding for roughly two days, giving officials time to stage resources from agencies including TDEM, TPWD and DPS. He also said camps upstream near Hunt appeared to have limited flooding compared to areas hit harder from Ingram downstream.
Roy said he had been in contact with sheriffs across several counties, as well as federal officials, about potential disaster assistance. He said the extent of damage is still being evaluated and noted the broader regional impacts as flooding continued in other parts of the Hill Country. Roy also referenced how communities raised significant funds to rebuild after last year’s disaster, saying similar efforts may be needed again once the immediate response phase ends.
Shelter status, volunteering and donations
Leitha said one shelter had been open, but officials were considering closing it after he was told it had no occupants at the time of the briefing (down from 17 people earlier that morning).
Kelly urged volunteers to coordinate through Kerr Together at 98 Coronado Drive, which he described as the disaster relief center. For donations, Kelly encouraged the public to give to Global Empowerment Mission, a 501(c)(3) organization.
Why Friday’s briefing happened after Thursday’s death confirmation
When asked why officials did not hold the press conference sooner, Leitha said response teams were still actively working through flooding impacts Thursday and that the sheriff’s office was being cautious about releasing information before it could be verified. He described receiving a report of two bodies that required hours to investigate, ultimately turning up unconfirmed, and said he did not want to release numbers the sheriff’s office could not “put eyes on” and confirm.