After flash floods swept through central Texas in July 2025, people online searched for reasons why the disaster was so deadly.

After a tragedy, records from local archives can help us understand how a community understands itself. Here’s some of what we learned following the devastating July 4 flooding in Texas.

The number of people reported missing in Kerr County, Texas, as a result of last week’s flash floods continues to soar. Authorities say search teams combing through the debris and destruction there are looking for more than 160 people who disappeared in the raging waters.

A "Basic Plan" for emergency response for three Texas counties labeled flash flooding as having a "major" impact on public safety, according to a page on a city website.

Even in areas that are mapped, like the Camp Mystic site in Kerr County, Texas, that was hit by a deadly flash flood on July 4, 2025, the maps may underestimate their risk because of a reliance on historic data and outdated risk assessments.

Heavy rain and a new wave of flooding in central Texas on Sunday prompted swift water rescues and hampered the grim search for victims of the deluge that swept through the region more than a week ago,

Just over a week after deadly flash floods swept through Texas Hill Country, the region may once again face a life-threatening deluge as slow-moving thunderstorms bring heavy rain, flash flooding, and rapid river rises to parts of central Texas Sunday.