Rain falls over a makeshift memorial for flood victims along the Guadalupe River, July 13, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. Photo: Eric Gay/AP
[Episcopal News Service] The San Antonio-based Diocese of West Texas is assessing how best to assist with immediate and long-term recovery efforts after July 4 floodwaters killed at least 134 people and left at least 101 still missing in the Texas Hill Country.
“There’s going to be a lot of rebuilding to do. There’s going to be a lot of counseling to do. There’s going to be a lot of need in the long haul financially,” West Texas Bishop David G. Read told Episcopal News Service in a July 15 phone interview. “Right now, we’re focusing on financial support and then we’ll partner with other agencies.”
Episcopalians are encouraged to continue to pray for the victims and rescue workers and to donate to one of several relief funds. The Diocese of West Texas has launched a donation webpage, as has St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Kerrville and Episcopal Relief & Development. Sharing donation information on social media and elsewhere is “much appreciated,” Read said.
The diocese purchased an RV for rescue workers to use for search efforts and to assist people who’ve lost their homes in the floods, the bishop added. St. Peter’s is setting up a satellite site in Hunt, a small town about 12 miles northwest of Kerrville, to do ministry work with rescue workers and assist with search efforts. The church, which is located two blocks from the Guadalupe River, also is recruiting volunteers to assist with rebuilding efforts. The diocese told ENS last week that the flood did not severely damage St. Peter’s property.
St. Peter’s, which averages about 300 worshippers on Sundays, is in Kerr County, where most of the fatalities occurred when the Guadalupe River swelled and breached its banks along 40 miles. Seven parishioners, including two adults, a family of four and an 8-year-old girl, died in the floods, Read told ENS. Other parishioners remain missing as of July 16.
The 8-year-old girl, Renee Smajstrla, was among the 27 campers and staff who died at Camp Mystic, an all-girls nondenominational Christian camp located east of Kerrville along the river.
Smajstrla’s funeral was on July 12, the first of the funerals for flood victims held at St. Peter’s. The following day, she was among the victims and missing who were remembered during St. Peter’s Sunday morning worship services.
St. Peter’s has been open daily for residents seeking a place for prayer as the community grieves. Amid the recovery, the church’s worship schedule will continue as normal, and Read said that 90 students are enrolled in vacation Bible school, which started on July 14.
As early as July 2, emergency management officials warned of potential flooding heading into Independence Day. The deadly flood began early July 4 when a slow-moving storm brought heavy downpours to the region, dropping as much as 15 inches of rain on parts of Kerr County and causing parts of the Guadalupe River to rise as high as 30 feet in 45 minutes. Near Camp Mystic, the river’s water level peaked at 37.52 feet, surpassing the highest recorded crest in 1932.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning in central Kerr County and northwest Bandera County that night shortly after 1 a.m., while many people were asleep. Richard “Dick” Eastland, longtime Camp Mystic co-director, began evacuating the hundreds of campers and staff members about 45 minutes later. He died while trying to rescue girls stuck inside one of the cabins near the river. Campers and staff remain among the missing.
To provide short- and long-term counseling for children who’ve been impacted by the floods, the diocese is coordinating with the San Antonio-based nonprofit Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas, which offers counseling and support to children and families mourning the death of loved ones. The bereavement center established a permanent office at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Uvalde, where in 2022 19 children and two adults were murdered in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
“Some people with the center were up at St. Peter’s [on July 14] scoping out the possibilities and meeting with the director of the parish about needs and possibilities,” Read said. “It’s a conversation that at this point hasn’t fully developed yet, but it’s a great agency that we have a good relationship with.”
Read said at least 35 Episcopal bishops, including Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, have reached out directly to offer prayers and support. Some churches in other dioceses, like the Church of St. John the Divine in Houston, where the Diocese of Texas is based, have dedicated their own worship services to praying for rescue workers and for victims and their loved ones. Many of Camp Mystic’s alumnae are parishioners of the Church of St. John the Divine, according to the New York Times.
“I’m very, very grateful for the response,” Read told ENS. “The parishioners I spoke with at St. Peter’s have also expressed gratitude for the prayers and offered support from other congregations.”
Read said he’s also been in touch with the bishops in North Carolina, where heavy rain caused floods two days after those in West Texas. A tropical storm made landfall on July 6 in South Carolina, dropping heavy rain as it moved into North Carolina, with as much as 12 inches causing flash floods and minor tornadoes across the central part of the state. At least six people died from the floods in North Carolina. Also in the state, the Diocese of Western North Carolina continues to recover nine months after Hurricane Helene inundated the region.
Amid the recent tragedy in his diocese, Read said he’s lately been turning to Psalm 121:1-2: “I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and Earth.” The psalm is quoted in a letter he and West Texas Bishop Suffragan Angela Cortiñas wrote to the diocese on July 5 in the floods’ immediate aftermath.
“It seems like the right message for what’s happening [in the Texas Hill Country],” he said.
-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.