The new figure was a significant decline from 97 just days ago. The death toll in the county remained the same, and officials said many of the missing were reported safe.
The number of missing people in the Texas county hardest hit by the devastating July 4 floods is now just three, a dramatic drop from the nearly 100 officials had reported just days ago. Many were confirmed to be safe, local officials said on Saturday.
The new figure is a significant decrease from the 97 who were reported earlier in the week, and it represents those missing only in Kerr County. A handful more remain unaccounted for in other areas of the Hill Country that were devastated by the disastrous floods, which have killed at least 135 people statewide. Kerr County was the area in the state most affected by the floods, accounting for 107 of the deaths.
In a statement on Saturday, officials in Kerrville, the seat of Kerr County, said that “many individuals who were initially reported as missing have been verified as safe.” As of Saturday evening, the death toll in Kerr County had not changed.
It is not clear how many of the people previously listed as missing were actually affected by the floods. Some could have been out-of-town vacationers whom the authorities eventually found to be safe back home. Others could have been reported erroneously by worried relatives. The authorities have not publicly released a list of the missing.
“We are profoundly grateful to the more than 1,000 local, state and federal authorities who have worked tirelessly in the wake of the devastating flood that struck our community,” said Dalton Rice, the Kerrville city manager.
It’s common for the number of missing to fluctuate or to decline sharply after a natural disaster. After a catastrophic wildfire in Maui, Hawaii, in 2023, the number of missing people was initially listed as 1,100, but about six months later, it had dropped to two, with 102 deaths. Few of the missing turned out to be dead.
