{"id":361501,"date":"2026-07-05T01:46:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/361501\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T01:46:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:46:24","slug":"we-lost-27-little-girls-texas-lawmakers-commemorate-those-killed-in-hill-country-flood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/361501\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We lost 27 little girls’: Texas lawmakers commemorate those killed in Hill Country flood"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Fourth of July<\/a> marks one year since the tragic Hill Country floods<\/a> that left 139 people across Central Texas, including 119 in Kerr County alone, dead.<\/p>\n

The catastrophic event was Texas’ deadliest flooding disaster in more than 100 years.<\/p>\n

The lead-up and response to the floods, and victims’ stories – including the “Heaven’s 27” from Camp Mystic<\/a>, 25 campers and two counselors who died in the flood waters – continue to prompt questions and calls for legislation around safety laws.<\/p>\n

Texas lawmakers took to social media Saturday to commemorate the lives lost.<\/p>\n

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a> called the floods one of the “greatest tragedies in our state’s history” on X.<\/p>\n

U.S. Senator John Cornyn<\/a> recognized the first responders, volunteers and neighbors who helped before the floodwaters receded.<\/p>\n

State rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin)<\/a> said the memory of the tragedy served as a call for lawmakers to “learn from what happened” to ensure that every family trusts their leaders to put their safety first.<\/p>\n

“Their families have come to define this day as the worst day of their lives,” Hinojosa wrote of the family members, particularly of the children, who died in the floods, on X.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, whose congressional district includes Kerrville, described witnessing the “best of Texas and America” amid the “overwhelming tragedy.”<\/p>\n

Roy also took to the House floor earlier this week to talk about the anniversary of the tragedy.<\/p>\n

“I wake up on the morning of the fourth, I see the news reports, and all of a sudden it starts to sink in, what had happened in Kerrville,” Roy said. “Now, a year later, this coming Saturday on the fourth, it merits reflecting on what occurred and, importantly, what occurred after.<\/p>\n

“Remember that we lost 27 little girls from Camp Mystic; fortunately, we didn’t lose any from any of the other camps, but we lost over 100 other people, and a lot of people forget that part,” Roy added<\/a>. “People who were camping with their families, whole families that were swept down the river.”<\/p>\n

He once again commended the community in his home district for coming together following the disaster.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Wes Virdell (R-Kerrville) thanked Roy for his earlier remarks and Paxton for his Saturday statement.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Daily Briefing from the Austin American-Statesman. Start your day with the must-read headlines from Austin’s most trusted news source.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at ‘We lost 27 little girls’: Texas lawmakers commemorate those killed in Hill Country flood<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Fourth of July marks one year since the tragic Hill Country floods that left 139 people across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2330,2143,3496,34186,1967,9194,27,29,2165,28,32205],"class_list":["post-361501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-camp-mystic","tag-central-texas","tag-gina-hinojosa","tag-hunt","tag-ken-paxton","tag-senator-john-cornyn","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-hill-country","tag-texas-news","tag-washington-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}