Jim Ryan, ABC News correspondent Interview

Jim Ryan speaks with Mendte in the Morning about the deadly floods in Texas as the death tolls increase and searching is still underway.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have Jim Ryan in Texas covering the flood coming
up in just a couple of minutes. And the big
beautiful bill is now law, and after all the fear mongering,
we're starting to understand all of the good things it's
going to do, including keeping the border the most secure
it's been in history. On this vote the Yser two

(00:21):
hundred and fifteen the Naser two hundred fourteen, with one
answering present, the bill is passed. So Donald Trump has
a whole lot going on right now. Right he has
the big beautiful bill that he's signed. He's working on
a cease fire deal between Hamas and Israel, he's still

(00:45):
dealing with Ukraine, and he's dealing with the tariffs. A
lot going on, but somehow he still finds the time
to slam Zorin Mamdani as President of the United States,
claiming here and now that America is never going to
be Communist in any way shape form, and that includes.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
New York City.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
And now, without any further Ado, let's get to ABC News,
corresponded Jim Ryan, who is in Curveville, Texas. Jim, why
don't we just start with you giving us the latest
from there. Jim go ahead. We got him, Hi, Jim.

(01:33):
I think we're having a little bit of a problem
for some reason. Jim Ryan has been covering and doing
an amazing job over the last couple of days. Dozens
of parents who sent their kids to summer camps along
the scenic Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country are
now having to plan funerals for those same children. It

(01:55):
is just a devastating scene from there, and every thing
we hear from there is just horrible. The search continues
right now, and we have Jim Ryan back. Jim go ahead.
I was just saying, if you can just give us
the very latest, Yeah, Larry.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
We know that at least eighty people were killed in
these flash flood events here. Eleven girls from one day
camp are still missing, but the number of missing we
really don't know at all there, because, I mean, those
girls were registered to be a part of this summer camp.
The camp missed it, But we have no idea how
many people might have been just camping alongside the Guadalupe
River in rbs or intents. And we're fast asleep at

(02:36):
three point thirty four o'clock Friday morning, when the water
rows up ten twelve inches in just a couple of
hours time at the deluge was just incredible, and the
death count is almost unprecedented here.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
I know, people are going back to the scene of
the camp site and they're saying, nothing's there. I mean,
it's nothing like at least it used to be. And
and many of the even the cabins, are now missing.
Is that the case.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
It is? Yeah, the governor yesterday toured that area and
the few buildings that are still standing are water logged.
They were up to their rafters in floodwaters just a
few days ago. Just very little left. I mean, those
girls and their counselors, the buildings were just washed into
the river and carried away. We've heard of people who

(03:25):
were recovered who you know, who were rescued, A couple
of young girls, sisters who were found miles and miles downstream,
clinging to a tree. And certainly the four hundred search
and rescue folks out of the field today are hoping
for more stories like that of people still alive waiting
for rescue.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
The federal government's been hit with some criticism for not
giving enough of a warning, and I know the National
Weather Service has put out a list of all the
warnings they gave and all the alerts they put out
up to twelve hours before. But even if that's the case,
something diff go wrong. Is it too early to talk
about that? What happened? Why wasn't there enough of a warning?

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Well, I mean, even a couple of days before this
event on Wednesday, they were talking about the possibility of
flash flooding. But Larry, this is known as flash flood Alley.
It's also known as the Texas Hill Country. And that's
relevant because you have this topography here bone dry. We've
had a drought here, so the water that falls onto
the ground simply washes into the creeks and streams that

(04:31):
feed into the Guadalupe River. And so we had moisture
coming up from the Gulf, from the Pacific, from the
South Plains, all converging right over those tributaries into the Guadaloupe.
And again, this happened at about three thirty or four
o'clock in the morning, So even if people had had warnings,
or if warnings had been issued, people might not have
heard them at all.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Right, I understand that there were some sirens that were
supposed to be put in in the area, and the
funding didn't come through or it just was and finished.
Have you heard anything about that?

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, I mean the warning systems that are out there
are fairly low tech, you know. But what's more, consider this,
there's seven hundred some odd girls were at this camp Mystic.
They've been there for a few days. We're spending a
month altogether there. But cell phones aren't allowed there, So
how were you know, the counselors were able to keep
to get warnings by their cell phones, but the kids

(05:24):
were not because cell phones aren't allowed there. That's just
part of how they do things. So just one, you know,
one part after another fell into place to create this
cataclysmic situation.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Jim, it seems like an unusual area. Maybe you can
paint a picture for us of what was there, what's
been destroyed, And I mean it's it's certainly not a
metropolis in that area. But are there people that live there?

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Sure? Oh? Absolutely, Kerbil where I'm right now, and Guadalupe
runs right through the middle of town. Twenty five thousand
people live here. Not too far to the east of here,
city of Austin is there. This is known generally as
the Hill Country. It's a large area in the middle
of the state kind of brushy and rocky hills, and

(06:14):
to the north you have the Dallas Fort Worth and
then to the south and southwest Houston and then Mexico.
But it's a scenic part of the state. Lots to
do out here. Campgrounds again, right around the Guadalupe, You've
got twenty different campgrounds. That's sort of what you find
here is people just coming here to relax.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
And it's interesting. There were several different camps. You said,
there's twenty different campgrounds, and some of them got hit
harder than others. Some of them were just destroyed decimated.
Were they the ones that are right on the banks.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yes, the ones that are the closest to the river
are the ones that sustain the most damage. So we
have a damaged footprint here that's extremely long. It goes
twenty twenty five miles or so, but it's very narrow
as well. And whatever was closest to the river was
the stuff that was pulled into the river and washed downstream.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, I've heard some of the people that have gone
to the sites that have talked about it, especially people
that are trying to return to the area that had
to evacuate, and as they come back. They keep wondering
will this be able to be rebuilt, Is there an
effort to rebuild it just like it was, or will
there will be something new put in to prevent this

(07:29):
from happening in the future.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Well, I think it'll. It will stay as much the
same as as people can keep it. But you know,
in looking at the massive trees that were just forests
worth of trees that were just toppled over and dragged downstream,
I mean, it's not going to look the same forever,
I assume, but and recovering and cleanup will take months,
if not years. Larry, Yeah, I just.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
To leave this on kind of a positive note or
an upnote in such a horrible story. I know there's
been some amazing stories of survival. Have you heard a
couple that you can share with us.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
A couple of young girls preteen girls, sisters who are
at one of these camps. They realized that the flooding
was happening. They got caught up in the floodwaters, but
managed to float downstream. They were found twenty miles away
from the point at which they went into the water.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Wow, what that's Thank you for that. Jim Ryan, ABC
News correspondent in Kerrville, Texas. Thanks a lot, Jim, that
was great. I appreciate it. By the way, you can
contribute to help the people in the area. All donations
to Community Foundation dot net will go directly to trusted
local organizations to provide food, shelter, healthcare, and of course hope. Natalie,

(08:47):
I know that you're a parent, and the first thing
I thought of when I heard of this was all
the times I sent my kids to camp, All the
times I sent my kids to some place where they're
going to be there for a week, and you know,
you want to go and visit them, you want to
get in touch with them, you want to do anything
because you're worried about them. And I can't imagine getting

(09:10):
this kind of phone.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Call and now hearing that they weren't allowed cell phones,
which I'm sure is a standard in a lot of camps,
especially these children are very young. To think that you
had no way of reaching them at that point, right,
it's even worse and more horrifying.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, not only that, I mean what Jim was alluding
to was the fact that nobody got warning notifications because
nobody had and how did the counselors not now I guess.
I guess this hit it four in the morning, but
apparently there were alerts throughout the night. There's somebody. Look,
I don't want to blame anybody, certainly in something as
horrible as this. I don't want to blame anybody, but wow,

(09:48):
a lot of questions to be answered.