STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Your public radio network is staying on the story of a disaster in Kerr County, Texas. Thousands of volunteers are still trying to find the 100 people at least who are still missing. James Hartley of our member station KERA, which is one of a network of stations across Texas, has been in Kerrville the past several days. He's on the line. Good morning.
JAMES HARTLEY, BYLINE: Morning.
INSKEEP: So what is happening there now?
HARTLEY: The weather hasn't given search crews much of a break. More rain and flood risks have really cost them days. The Central Texas region was under flood watches pretty much all day Sunday and Monday. Now those search teams are looking for different ways to find the missing. Sonar teams and divers have already been out searching the river. Rob Kelly is the Kerr County judge. That's the top elected official in a Texas county.
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ROB KELLY: They found a trailer home that's completely covered up with gravel and dirt in the river, 27 feet below the surface of the water. So we don't know what's down there.
HARTLEY: He fears some bodies might be buried under sediment at the bottom of the water.
INSKEEP: This has got to be hard for people there - not only to know who's dead, but to not know about so many of their friends and neighbors and relations.
HARTLEY: It's weighing heavily on people here. But I've seen the phrase, Hill Country strong, on yard signs, the front of businesses, the back windows of trucks. And you can't go many places here without seeing green ribbons that are meant to show solidarity with the flood victims. Search and recovery is obviously still the priority here, but the community is also grieving together. They've set up a memorial wall next to a flower shop in downtown Kerrville. People have been here - have been coming here to put flowers, photos, letters and toys on a fence there, so many you almost can't tell it's not a solid wall. Some rescue workers have brought things they've pulled from the debris. Geraldine Granado, one of the volunteers who is helping to organize and maintain the wall, says that a red chair pulled from the debris is especially impactful.
GERALDINE GRANADO: Our search-and-rescue guys have brought in items like a chair and other items that they have found that belonged to the camp girls. And so they wrote little notes on there for us to read. And it's just really even the coordinates of where they found their little red chair, you know?
HARTLEY: I saw one man there at the memorial crouch down, put his head in his hands. And others who were around gathered close to him, putting arms over his shoulders and hands on his back to comfort him.
INSKEEP: I don't think that I realized that so many thousands of people had volunteered to help with this recovery effort, in addition to the professionals. How's the recovery effort going?
HARTLEY: You know, everybody I've talked to here tells me that they know this is going to take a long time, and it's going to be a heartbreaking process. Governor Abbott held a news briefing on Monday. He said the priority is on saving and protecting lives, especially considering the ongoing dangers from those storms that just keep battering this area. It's also on finding people who are still unaccounted for.
Volunteers have come from dozens of states to aid in the recovery. There have been teams from Mexico. It's really hard to comprehend the number of people who have just collected in Central Texas to help the communities here. And local and state authorities say they're going to continue helping these counties along the Guadalupe, and volunteers are still coming from all over to lend a hand. They just need the weather to cooperate.
INSKEEP: James Hartley is in Kerrville, Texas. Thanks so much.
HARTLEY: Any time. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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