His optimism was fading. He paused along a Texas 39 grape orchard as friends searched across the highway in a massive field spanning half a mile. Trees once blocked the roadside view. Now, the still-swollen river, a mess of uprooted trees and scattering of volunteer searchers were visible from the road.

Watch live coverage as Texas officials hold a press conference on the deadly flooding in Kerr County after heavy rains caused the Guadalupe River to rise rapidly. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the flooding an “extraordinary catastrophe.

Hours before a massive wall of floodwater barreled down a river in the heart of Texas Hill Country before sunrise on Friday, forecasters with the National Weather Service warned people that dangerous conditions were brewing.