During the night on July 3, 2025, devastating flooding hit the towns and buildings along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas. FEMA has activated Missouri Task Force 1 (MO-TF1) to assist in the water rescues.
The Team
Missouri Task Force 1 consists of fifty people, with two more joining them in a couple of days. Four canines and their handlers, a search team manager, and two Kansas City firefighters are part of the group. [1]
MO-TF1’s Job
The task force will focus mainly on water rescue and human remains detection. [2]
Difficult Mission
Boone County Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp stated:
It’s a difficult mission, it will be hard on our members. It will be hard seeing the people that have been through this devastation. But, providing some sort of closure for those families down there is very important to us and important to them, so we will make every effort to make that happen for them. [3]
The Flood
The flash flood hit in the late hours of July 3rd and into the early morning hours of July 4th. The Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. [4] As of Tuesday, July 8th, over 100 people have been confirmed dead, with over two dozen from a Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp. [5]
Notes:
- ^Missouri Task Force 1 deploys to Texas for flood rescue operations (go back ↩)
- ^Kansas City firefighters deploying to Texas as part of Missouri disaster relief team (go back ↩)
- ^FEMA sends Missouri Task Force 1 to Texas for flooding response (go back ↩)
- ^Here’s a timeline of the catastrophic Texas floods (go back ↩)
- ^Maps show where devastating flash flooding hit Texas, including Camp Mystic (go back ↩)
