Since the devastating flooding that struck the Texas Hill Country over the July Fourth Weekend, Sheriff’s deputies and police officers in Kerr County have performed remarkable acts of courage and sacrifice to rescue endangered people, locate the missing, and identify the deceased, county officials said Wednesday (July 9, 2025).
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said it was an “all hands on deck” situation.
Kerrville Police Community Officer Jonathan Lamb told stories of law enforcement officers responding to the disaster during a press conference that was streamed live by multiple media outlets.
Lamb explained how the flooding of bridges on the Guadalupe River isolated some towns and communities, transforming them into “islands.” He then told the story of Kerrville officers who live in the community of Hunt and were trapped by the flooded bridges.
The officers alerted residents to the flooding, helped them get down from the roofs of their homes, and rescued people from the water. Lamb said the officers, including a patrol sergeant, worked with volunteer firefighters and an emergency room physician to rescue endangered people and provide first aid to the injured.
“They worked 13 hours straight without relief,” Lamb said. It was 5 p.m. before other first responders arrived in Hunt.
In Kerrville, officers evacuated more than 100 homes in the early morning hours of July 4. “They went door to door waking people up and convincing them to leave,” Lamb said.
At a Kerrville trailer park, the first officer on the scene realized he couldn’t go door to door and get all the people to leave on his own, so he used his siren and PA to alert them to the flooding.
The trailer park was also the scene of a daring rescue. An officer saw two people clinging to a tree in the floodwaters, and he tied a 100-foot garden hose around his waste and with the help of two other officers was able to wade into the water and save them.
“This tragedy could have been so much worse,” Lamb said, referring to the many rescues performed by local first responders.
Lamb said officers have been serving around the clock since the flooding. “They’ve been working 16-, 18-, 20-hour shifts without complaint,” he said.
He added that one officer was sent home to get some rest. But the officer did not rest. Instead, he volunteered to search for victims.
Searching for victims and recovering bodies has been one of the missions of the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Larry Leitha said.
The sheriff said his patrol deputies are working their normal duties, but certain units are still working flood response. Special operations deputies are teaming up with construction professionals, Kerr County firefighters, and even firefighters from Mexico to search for missing people in debris piles using excavators and skid loaders. Detectives are working to identify the dead.
Kerrville PD’s Lamb stressed that people need to let law enforcement know if their loved ones who are missing have returned home or have been found. “We need an accurate count of the missing,” he said.
