You might find it hard to believe just how much damage the Texas floods caused, as shown in recent images. The terrible flooding that hit the Texas Hill Country over the Fourth of July weekend, from July 4 to July 7, 2025, left behind a huge amount of destruction and took a heavy toll on human lives. The level of damage, clear in before-and-after pictures, is a powerful reminder of how fierce this natural disaster was.
The disaster was mainly caused by extremely heavy rain. A large, slow-moving storm system, partly strengthened by what was left of Tropical Storm Barry, parked itself over Central Texas. This weather event dumped an incredible amount of rain, with some places getting up to 7 inches in just three hours, according to the National Weather Service.
In the worst-hit areas, total rainfall reached as much as 15 inches, which was more than double what experts had predicted. In some spots, the ground was too dry and hard from earlier droughts to soak up the sudden rush of water, so it just ran off quickly. Some people only barely survived all this while their senator vacationed.
Texas flood damage shown through images
This intense rainfall caused the Guadalupe River and its many smaller streams to rise extremely fast. In Kerrville, for example, the river went from just 1 foot deep to 36 feet high between 2 AM and 7 AM. In Hunt, the water rose an unbelievable 26 feet in only 45 minutes, with the total rise in the area estimated at 29 feet. The speed and force of this flooding caught people off guard, especially in communities and campgrounds along the river.
Emergency flash flood warnings were sent out, stressing how dangerous the quickly rising water was. The results of this historic flooding were devastating. Kerr County was hit the hardest, with at least 95 confirmed deaths there. Most of the over 100 deaths reported across the state happened in this single county. As of July 9, more than 160 people were still missing in Kerr County, with others unaccounted for in different parts of Texas.
Search and rescue teams worked tirelessly, with over 20 state agencies, federal responders, and many resources involved, but the chances of finding more survivors grew slimmer as time passed.
Before pictures of Texas show green, peaceful landscapes with calm rivers and well-established towns. The after pictures show a ruined land, marked by erosion and deep channels where raging water had cut through. These side-by-side images highlight just how much the region has changed. This disaster is a harsh reminder of how powerful nature can be and how exposed human communities are to extreme weather. Rebuilding and recovering will take a long time and a lot of effort, proving just how much destruction the July 2025 Texas floods caused.
