Flood threat still looms over battered Texas Hill Country: See flood warnings

The threat of floods continues to loom in Central Texas as the search for survivors and victims of the historic flash floods that swept through the state intensifies.

At least 70 people died during the storm and Gov. Greg Abbott announced at a July 6 press conference that at least 41 people were known to be missing across the state and areas affected by the flooding. Among those still missing were 10 children and a counselor from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp near the Guadalupe River.

The impending storms forced Abbott and other state emergency officials to hold the Sunday evening news conference in Austin, with the governor saying that more expected storms will "pose life-threatening danger over the next 24 to 48 hours."

"There is heavy rainfall that’s already occurred and there’s more heavy rainfall that’s expected that will lead to potential flash flooding broadly in these in the Big Country, Concho Valley, Central Texas and once again Kerrville," Abbot said.

Where are Texas thunderstorms, flood warnings continuing?

Flood watches have been issued by the National Weather Service until at least 7 p.m. CT July 6 in Hill Country and along the I-35 corridor. The Weather Prediction Center added that scattered thunderstorms are likely to drop "torrential downpours over sensitive soils across parts of the Texas Hill Country."

A flash flood warning was issued through 6 p.m. CT for Cedar Park, Georgetown, and Leander. A separate flash flood warning was issued for Ingram and Hunt through 6 p.m. CT.

Abbot told Texans to remain "extraordinarily" cautious at the press conference.

"There's nothing expected at this time to the magnitude of what was seen in Kerrville," Abbot said. "That said flash flooding can occur at lower levels of water than what happened in Kerrville."

Texas flood warnings questioned

The new warnings come on as questions swirl around forecasters' response to the weather patterns that lead to the Independence Day floods.

Local officials said they were caught off guard by the floods.

"We didn’t know this flood was coming," Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly told reporters after the flood. "We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what’s happened here. None whatsoever."

Officials at the Texas Division of Emergency Management were publishing news releases warning that "heavy rainfall with the potential to cause flash flooding is anticipated across West Texas and the Hill Country" and readying resources, such as swift-water rescue boat squads, as early as July 2.

At around midnight on July 3, rain began gushing into the Guadalupe River – dropping more than 10 inches into the river at Hunt in just four hours and swelling it to dangerous levels.

At 4:03 a.m., the NWS Austin office put out a "flash flood emergency" bulletin: "This is a FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCY for South-central Kerr County, including Hunt. This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!"