KERRVILLE, Texas – As the sun rises over the Guadalupe River, divers with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Houston Police Department are already suiting up. Their mission: find the final two victims still missing after the catastrophic Texas Hill Country Flood on July 4th.
They’re not just helping—they’re leading the search.
“This isn’t a happy ending,” said Capt. David Jasper of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit. “More than 130 people lost their lives.”
The numbers are staggering. The flood affected roughly 127 river miles from Camp Mystic to Canyon Lake, sweeping through Kerrville, Center Point, Hunt, and beyond.
That’s the equivalent of driving from downtown Houston to Galveston two and a half times—except every mile here is water, often murky and dangerous.
“We’re literally looking for a needle in a haystack,” Jasper said.
The teams from Houston have been in the Texas Hill Country for over a week, called in to support overtaxed local crews in one of the most expansive and complex waterborne searches in recent state history.
When KPRC 2 documented their search effort, they were assigned to a portion of the Guadalupe River called Nimitz Lake.
“We’re here for the public. We’re here for the families,” Jasper said.
Among those still missing is 8-year-old Cile Steward, a camper at Camp Mystic who was swept away in the raging Guadalupe River.
Instead of combing every inch of the riverbed, a task that would take months, the Houston dive teams are using advanced sonar scanning to identify underwater anomalies.
Once marked with buoys, divers can then physically inspect the locations.
“A lot of it’s just debris piles,” said Sgt. Benjamin Luce of the Harris County dive team. “Because here, especially upriver, a lot of things are very shallow, so there’s not much really peaking oranges.”
But unlike standard teams, these divers are equipped with head-mounted sonar, allowing them to scan the riverbed in real time—underwater.
Only about 30 dive units in the world have this tech. Houston Police and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office are among them.
“He can avoid obstacles, he can avoid hazards and he’s going straight to that target,” added Sgt. Edward Godwin of the Houston Police Department’s dive team.
The physical work is punishing. But it’s the emotional toll that sticks with the divers.
Gage Goulding: “You have kids. I can only imagine, you know, you’re out here. This is probably something that is personal for you?”
Sgt. Godwin: “For sure. We met the family and I can’t even imagine.”
Gage Goulding: “Does that make the job even more important?”
Sgt. Godwin: “Oh, for sure. Every day, yeah. The one thing: we need to find her. That’s what’s driving us. The whole team.”
