Beltway Insider: Trump Visits Texas, Death Along The River, Warning System, Recovery, Blame Game

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Saturday, 12 July 2025 18:23; Written by Janet Walker

One week after fast rising water from the Guadalupe River produced catastrophic, record-breaking, flooding, President Trump visited the hardest hit area of Kerr County, where 120 have died and an additional 173 others remain missing.

The President's job approval rating, according to The New York Times for the period ending July 12, 2025, of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President remained constant at 44% and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as president remained constant at 52%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Trump Visits Kerr County

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived in hard hit Kerr County, Texas, Friday to tour the ravaged remains, of a region devastated by the July 4, 2025 floods. Mr. Trump, along with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and Senator Ted Cruz, (R) and Senator John Cornyn (R) met with first responders, media and other local and state officials.

"Mr. Trump has repeatedly described the flood in Texas as an unavoidable act of nature — "a hundred-year catastrophe," as he has put it — but his administration has faced intense scrutiny over its level of preparedness and response, including concerns over unfilled positions at local offices of the National Weather Service and troubles at the Federal Emergency Management Agency," The New York Times reported.

Mr. Trump also stated "he had never seen anything like this," after touring the hardest hit areas. With FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency now directed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Neom, teetering on the edge of DOGE elimination since the President took the oath, this disaster, in a true and true red through and through state, has tested his resolve to maintain his position on slashing the agency.

Even as this may happen, now is not the time to allow politics to dictate the decisions and responses to those who have lost so much.

Deaths Along The River

Kerr County, the heart of Hill County with the Guadalupe River bending through canyons, and lush Cedar Elms, Texas Red Oaks, and Pecan Trees, lining the banks are usually a haven for Fourth of July festivities, and this year was no different.

The river towns, much like beach towns that line ocean coastlines, thrive on summer events. Accommodations around the area were at capacity. RV parks, offering weekend getaways for world weary residents promising peaceful, and stress free off the grid living, for a weekend anyway, were filled, as were local cabins, and campgrounds for those who decided to just pitch a tent, build a campfire, and enjoy the gentle sounds of the summer evening.

Just after midnight on July 4, 2025, a weather phenomenon would creep into this idyllic countryside and over the next three hours turn this picturesque community into a debris field. More than lost property, downed trees, and destroyed homes, all of which can be replaced, but this rare, and unyielding cluster of catastrophic thunderstorms opened the skies and dumped a deluge of rain, pulling into its grasps, and refusing to let go, the lives of so many.

"They were victims of the cruelest perfect storm: a severe, stalled weather cell wringing out over a remote river basin in midsummer holiday, all in the dark of night. Had this one come 12 hours before or after, when the light of day would have allowed people to see what was happening before it was too late, there would likely have been far fewer fatalities," The New York Times reported.

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Warning System

Natural disasters, extreme weather emergencies, are commonplace in nearly every region of the world, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, earthquakes, tropical storms, snowstorms, ice storms, blizzards, weather phenomena are a vast ecosystem of atmospheric marvels.

Advances in early warning notification has spiked, especially in the last decade, with the advent of cell phone messaging systems, and once public warning systems are enacted citizens can make their way to safe areas.

So, what happened in Kerr County? With 120 fatalities, and 173 still missing, bringing the possible number of dead from the July 4, 2025 Hill Country Floods to 293, with the potential to reach above 300, why have many residents explained they received no warning of the impending floods from the Guadalupe River?

"That mass notification system, known as the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System, or IPAWS, is used by National Weather Service meteorologists to warn of imminent threats. Warnings of life-threatening weather events sent on that system — similar to Amber Alerts — force phones to vibrate and emit a unique, jarring tone as long as they're on and have a signal," The Washington Post reported.

Over the course of this one week, from July 4 forward, the gnawing question was why were residents not warned? As the Integrated Public Alert and Warning system is a free service, officials believed it was an alternative cost saving option to a full on warning system, that FEMA denied, essentially piggybacking off the federal emergency management system which is used during fires or tornadoes.

In order for the alert system to be successful, it must be utilized. The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies indicated the first flood warning went out between 1:10 am and 1:21 am. A flood warning means that flooding is occurring or will occur immediately and seek higher ground.

For the residents along the Guadalupe River bank, the messages were either not received for a variety of reasons, as the storms may have disrupted power making receipt of the messages impossible, as many residents were sleeping phones could be turned off, or choosing to ignore because of complacency. Another warning system, 'River Calling,' which has been in place for decades, it is essentially residents from upstream calling those downstream, and obviously not a reliable messaging system as it failed, on July 4, to notify any downstream residents of the wall of water that was headed their way.

Recovery Hampered

Over 45 minutes, the Guadalupe River rose more than 29 feet, swallowing campers, submerging entire cabins at Mystic Girls Camp, ripping houses and cabins from their foundation leaving only slabs of concrete, and uprooting hundred year old trees as the pressure of the nearly 2 trillion galloons of water rushed downstream.

"Water is capable of such destruction because it is heavy and can move fast. Just one cubic foot of water — imagine a box a bit larger than the size of a basketball — weighs about 62 pounds (28 kilograms). When the river rose to its peak at Comfort, [Texas, South of Mystic Camp] 177,000 cubic feet — or 11 million pounds (5 million kilograms) of water — flowed by every second," APnews.com reported.

Now, one week later, debris piles are massive, twisted mountains of broken and uprooted trees, intertwined with crumpled cars, and shredded remains of recreational vehicles. The worst, of course, is within this graveyard are approximately 173 missing loved ones, including several remaining girls from Camp Mystic, and so many other families, and children, and babies ripped from the arms of their parents as they tried to escape.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has promised the recovery operation will not stop until every missing person is recovered. As the days go by, the challenges of finding those lost become greater. The exposure to weather and other external factors can create worsening conditions. There is also the possibility that separation may impede identification.

The Science Behind the Texas Hill Country Flash Floods

Coronavirus Total

At the order of the President of the United States, the U.S. no longer recognizes the value of The World Health Organization. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually. The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants.

For the 7 days ending July 13, 2025, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the World Health Organization increased by 66,239 to 778,252,838. The total worldwide death toll increased by 279 to 7,097,851 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated June 22, 2025, from the World Health Organization).

The Blame Game

"A White House spokesperson stated that the recent deadly flooding in Texas was an "act of God" and not the fault of the administration, despite the flooding being linked to heavy rainfall. This statement sparked controversy as it coincided with reports regarding the Trump administration's cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) and FEMA," Hindustan Times reported.

The spokesperson defended the administration by saying that the warnings were issued early and consistently, and that the National Weather Service did its job. The blame game in the Texas flood has begun with the White House, as per usual deflecting all responsibility back to the states, and to God, someone we cannot actively hold responsible civilly or criminally, or secure an explanation answering the unanswerable, for that matter.

Blaming God for the deluge of rain that created the conditions for this catastrophic and shocking event is a deflection to stop further actions. The timeline of warnings are critical in understanding that while not all of the deaths could have been prevented, people do have free agency to heed warnings or not, the possibility that some of the more than 120 deaths and the 173 missing could have been prevented is very real.

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Throughout the week, words and phrases that signified concern over enacting prevention tactics on the evening of July 3, such as moving the younger girls at Mystic Camp housed in the Bubble Cabin to be hosted with others on senior hill or even waking them, deviating from their routine, and moving them at 1:30 am July 4, to higher ground. An old adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," to bring that home, precaution would have been better than counting bodies.

Of course, this is all in hindsight, but not the first time that campers were swallowed up by flash floods and raging waters. The deaths then, in 1987 which killed 10 and injured 33, barely caused pause in the local community. The great flood of 2025 will be remembered long after many of those who survived are dead. However, the enormity of the tragedy may be the one takeaway that will change the future along Flash Flood Alley, and possibly if we, the empathetic community, don't allow this story to fade or the allow the narrative to be controlled or changed, there is a chance, a small chance, that a stronger warning system, paired with common sense, will guide those who each summer, and allow their children to be part of a community, along with Guadulupe River.

God will continue to be a part of this disaster. As we can't speak to the deceased we want to believe their deaths have some meaning. Blaming God for not providing the miracle of escape, is unfortunately inaccurate. God did provide an escape; it just didn't appear in the way many expected.

The miracle was time, the first warning went out at 1:10 am Friday morning, according to the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, which shows the severity of the expected rainfall in the region. As of 1:04-1:10 am, on the Fourth of July, no flood warning had been issued. By 1:21 am, a flood warning had been issued with Doppler infrared imagery indicating a cluster of catastrophic thunderstorms was upon them.

Instead of waking everyone, just on the chance it could become disastrous, authorities waited. Authorities in the region, at Mystic Camp, and throughout the packed communities of vacationing residents. The second warning went out at about 3:00 am, still time, the second escape.

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In danger Christians believe that God will deliver them from the impending doom. We want the Red Sea to part, the bells and whistles, the big moments. Refusing to heed the warning, Camp Mystic and many of the other 18 camps along this stretch of usually beautiful countryside let their campers sleep.

By 4:00 am the miracle of time was gone, and we know the river rose so rapidly in just 45 minutes, the stories of summertime, days past, the memories which were supposed to made this year, were lost, forever. the miracle is time, time to escape, to risk being overly cautious,

Proverb 3:5 warns, "lean not on your own understanding." That is what we've learned from the deaths of so many, to heed the warnings, and lean not to memories of other times, other warnings that proved false and disrupting.

For more information on President Donald Trump: Whitehouse.gov.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and her second book, "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," will be completed soon. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.