Two young sisters killed in the catastrophic Texas floods sent their parents a heartbreaking ‘I love you’ text before they drowned.
Blair, 13, and Brooke Harber, 11, were found dead with their ‘hands locked together’ after the Guadalupe River rose to record heights over the weekend, completely flooding the camping area where they were staying with their family.
At least 82 people were killed in the devastation along the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio, and 41 remain missing.
Ten girls and a counselor are still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river where 27 people died in the raging floods.
Survivors have described the floods as a ‘pitch black wall of death’ and said they received no emergency warnings.
Officials have come under scrutiny as to why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner about the severe weather or told to evacuate.
The National Weather Service has extended a flash flood watch for the Texas Hill Country, where an additional one to three inches of rain is expected to fall today, until 7pm local time (6pm EST).
The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding. Friday’s flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches of rain in the dark, early morning hours.
Camp Mystic confirms 27 campers, counselors killed in floods
An all-girls Christian summer camp situated along the Guadalupe River is ‘grieving the loss’ the loss of 27 campers and counselors this morning.
Camp Mystic issued a statement today confirming the fatalities after the devastating flooding sent a wall of water through the century-old summer camp over the weekend.
‘We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls,’ the camp said in a statement posted on its website.
‘We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from community, first responders, and officials at every level.’
Pictured: Search and recovery workers dig through debris looking for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding near Camp Mystic on July 6, 2025 in Hunt, Texas
Pictured: People look through belongings on a camp trunk at Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River on Sunday after a severe flash flood swept through the area
Pictured: Search and recovery workers dig through debris at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas on July 6, 2025
In a terrifying display of nature’s power, the rain-swollen waters of the Guadalupe River reached treetops and the roofs of cabins in Camp Mystic as girls slept overnight Friday, washing away some of them and leaving a scene of devastation.
Blankets, teddy bears and other belongings at the camp were caked in mud. Windows in the cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water.
A cabin full of girls held onto a rope strung by rescuers as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs.
At least 10 girls and a Camp Mystic counselor are still unaccounted.
Pictured: Camp Mystic issued a statement this morning confirming that 27 people were killed in the deadly weekend floods
Sisters aged 11 and 13 send heartbreaking three-word text to loved ones as they drowned in flood
Two young sisters killed in the deadly Hill Country floods sent their parents a heartbreaking final text before they drowned to death.
Blair, 13, and Brooke Harber, 11, were found dead about 12 hours after the flash floods erupted along the Guadalupe River early Friday morning, the family revealed in a crowdfunding campaign.
The sisters were staying in a rented cabin along the Guadalupe River with their grandparents Mike and Charlene Harber over the July 4th holiday.
Their father RJ and mother Annie were staying in a separate cabin, located in the Casa Bonita cabin community near Hunt, nearby.
The married couple were woken up by the sound of rushing water early Friday morning as their cabin began to flood. RJ and Annie managed to escape the building by jumping out of a window as the water reached neck-level.
RJ started to kayak towards the cabin where his daughters and parents were staying, but swell knocked him into a post about halfway through his journey.
Pictured: Blair (left) and Brooke harber (right) have died in the catastrophic Guadalupe River floods.
Pictured: Brooke and Blaire Harber (center) with their parents RJ and Annie (right) and grandparents Mike and Charlene (left)
RJ shined a flashlight towards the cabin and saw an entire building had detached from the foundation and struck against the cabin where his family was.
‘I shined a flashlight out there, and I could see it was white water, and I’ve kayaked enough to know that that was gonna be impossible,’ he told The Wall Street Journal.
‘There were cars floating at me and trees floating at me. I knew if I took even one stroke further, it was gonna be a death sentence.’
He kayaked back towards Annie and the pair headed to higher ground with other families who managed to flee the floods.
When they arrived at a safe spot, the couple checked their phones and saw they each received a text from their daughters that read ‘I love you’, timestamped at 3.30am. The girls also sent a similar message to their grandfather in Michigan.
Their bodies were found Friday afternoon in Kerrville, about 15 miles from the cabin.
‘When they were found their hands were locked together,’ the fundraiser states, with relatives adding: ‘They had their rosaries with them.’
Their grandaprents Mike, 76, and Charlene, 74, remain missing.
A GoFundMe established in the family’s honor has already raised more than $170,000.
Pictured: Mike, 76, and Charlene Harber, 74, who are currently missing
Texas braces for more flash flooding today
A flood watch has been extended for the Heartland, Concho Valley, Edwards Plateau and northwest Hill Country until at least 7pm today (6pm EST).
An additional one to three inches of rain is expected to fall on the region today, with some communities possibly receiving more than five inches.
The National Weather Service warns a threat of flash flooding remains throughout the day.
Catastrophic Texas floods kill 82 people, including 28 children
Flash flooding in central Texas has killed at least 82 people, including 28 children, officials have confirmed.
A further 41 people are confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing, Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday.
The majority of deaths occured in hardest-hit Kerr County, home to youth camps in the Texas Hill Country. Searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including all 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said.
Fatalities in nearby counties brought the total number of deaths to 82 as of Monday morning.
Ten girls and a counselor were still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.
Beyond the Camp Mystic campers unaccounted for, the number of missing from other nearby campgrounds and across the region had not been released.
Pictured: A view inside of a cabin at Camp Mystic, the site of where at least 10 girls went missing after flash flooding in Hunt, Texas, on July 5, 2025
Pictured: Search and recovery workers dig through debris looking for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding at Camp Mystic on July 6, 2025 in Hunt, Texas
What caused the Guadalupe River floods?
Friday’s flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in the dark early morning hours.
After a flood watch notice midday Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning around 4am that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life.
By at least 5.20am, some residents in the Kerrville city area say water levels were getting alarmingly high. The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes.
The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up.
Pictured: Construction equipment is seen caught in the Guadalupe River in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerrville, Texas on July 6, 2025
Pictured: The sun sets over the Guadalupe River on July 6, 2025 in Kerrville, Texas. Heavy rainfall caused severe flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas, leaving more than 80 people reported dead
Pictured: A drone view shows houses flooded following torrential rains that unleashed flash floods along the Concho River in San Angelo, Texas on July 4
Share or comment on this article:
Texas floods victims aged 11 and 13 sent family heartbreaking three word text before dying with ‘hands locked together’: Live updates
