‘We’re going to keep going until we find them’: Firefighter says search efforts continue after devastating Texas Hill Country floods

CENTER POINT, Texas — A Texas firefighter helping with the response to the catastrophic floods in Central Texas over the July 4 weekend that left more than 130 dead and more than 100 missing says search efforts remain intense 12 days on.

Firefighter Razor Dobbs with Center Point Volunteer Fire Department in hard-hit Kerr County said the intensity of the response to the devastating floods has remained much the same as it was shortly after the Guadalupe River rose on July 4. 

“We’re just further along in the recovery process,” Dobbs told WFAA. “Which means, now we’re able to get heavy equipment into some of these areas that were completely inaccessible so we can start dissecting layer by layer the huge debris fields, looking for people. That’s been critical in carrying out this mission.”

Dobbs said, in addition to crews clearing debris from water so divers can search, private contractors with heavy equipment and state and federal organizations are also involved in the response and crews are using everything from drones to helicopters in the search. 

“The divers now are being able to go in and really scour underneath the surface because up on top of the land, it’s been combed over in our area scores of times by human eyes, on foot, and also with the K9 units,” Dobbs said. “Right now we have a mission and that mission is unveiling.”

He said 12 days into the response, crews on scene “are still running on adrenaline.”

“We’re still in work mode…we have moments where you need to go talk to your fellow firefighter and there’s chaplains here and there’s other people, because you have to discuss it, because the things we’re witnessing are traumatic,” Dobbs said. 

He said the search will continue until the missing are found. 

“We’re going to continue to recover people,” Dobbs said. “We’re going to keep going until we find them.”