The Guadalupe River has risen to catastrophic levels in the same area three times in the past century, impacting camps and campers each time.

The Guadalupe River has a history of deadly flooding. Here is a look over the decades. (AP video Marshall Ritzel/Albee Zhang)

As search and rescue efforts continue in response to the “catastrophic” and deadly flooding of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County on Friday morning,

Teens at the Pot O’ Gold Christian Camp near Comfort, Texas, were swamped by a wall of water as they tried to escape.

The Guadalupe River, winding through the scenic Texas Hill Country, has a hidden danger that struck with devastating force in July 2025. Heavy rains caused the river to surge, leading to one of the deadliest floods in recent history.

The record of frequent, often deadly floods in Central Texas goes back more than 200 years to July 1819, when floodwaters spilled into the major plazas of San Antonio. That city on the edge of the Hill Country was hit by major floods again in 1913, 1921, 1998 and 2025, to cite a few examples.

Hill Country residents and volunteers on Tuesday continued picking up the pieces that the deadly waterway left behind days earlier.

The Guadalupe River in Texas surged 26 feet in just 45 minutes. It caught everyone off guard - What began as a routine flood developed into a deadly disaster, with the death toll now in triple digits