KERRVILLE, Texas – Before hundreds of first responders and volunteers from around the country came to help, it was the local residents of the Texas Hill Country who faced down a deadly wall of water along the Guadalupe River and witnessed terrifying scenes.
FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray met Bud Bolton, a Kerrville resident, while he was clearing flooding debris. Bolton said he and his wife lost their home, but the material losses are nothing compared to what they experienced during and after the July 4 flooding.
“It’s just all those screaming kids we had to listen to that we couldn’t get to and couldn’t save them,” Bolton said.
Bud Bolton, of Kerrville, Texas, clearing flooding debris on July 8, 2025, five days after the historic flooding.
(Robert Ray/FOX Weather / FOX Weather)
The Guadalupe River surged 26 feet after parts of Central Texas received 20 inches of rain, creating a deadly wall of water that swept away anyone in its path.
Bolton said he and neighbors tried to reach some families in RVs, campers and cars being pulled down the river. He described a stretch of the river bank that contains unimaginable wreckage.
“There’s about 75, 80 homes that wadded up in about a 300- or 400-yard stretch. They’re all wadded up,” he said. “About 25 tiny homes and the rest are RVs and fifth wheels, and all that kind of stuff.”
Bolton and his son have been working from daybreak until dark, searching through debris and hoping to bring closure to any families still waiting.
HERE’S HOW TO HELP THE VICTIMS OF THE TEXAS FLOODING
In Kerr County, there are 30 children among the dead. Many of those young victims are girls from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp along the river. Campers and counselors were pulled from their cabins by floodwaters, while others waded through the water to reach evacuation points.
Bolton said the morning after the flooding started, his son got in his kayak and went out on the raging river. He continues to help with the search, as more than 160 others, including five girls from Camp Mystic, remain missing.
“He said, ‘Dad, I got to go, I got to go.’ So he took his kayak and all of his gear, and he’s not a rescuer, but he knows this river just as well as anybody,” Bolton said.
Bolton said his son found the body of a young girl, believed to be one of the Camp Mystic girls. He carried her back on his kayak. That is an image he can never forget, and he doesn’t want anyone else to forget the victims either.
CAMP COUNSELORS, NEIGHBORS DISPLAY ‘SELFLESS COURAGE’ DURING DEADLY TEXAS FLOODING
“Some people need to see that. As hard as it is, and not to be disrespectful to nobody, everybody needs to see that little girl that my son was swimming with and her in his kayak,” Bolton said, holding back tears. “Because that’s reality, that’s life, and they don’t understand. Until you see a young man, my son, down there all by himself and he ain’t quit. He’s been going daylight to dark, and he didn’t lose anything.”
Bolton said he hopes a flood warning system is put in place along the river in the future. He believes something good could come of this tragedy.
“It’s sad it takes tragedies like this to bring people together, but good’s going to come out of us. God promises that,” Bolton said. “So just have faith, believe in the Lord. Know that better times are ahead of us.”
