Global News Podcast - More bodies recovered in Texas after Friday's catastrophic flash floods

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

The authorities in Texas say dozens remain missing after recent flash floods, with search efforts continuing. Also: Qatar hosts Gaza ceasefire talks, and France's top TV game champion eliminated after 647 episodes.

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Julia McFarlane and in the early hours of Monday the 7th of July, these are our main stories. The number of people killed by Friday's flash floods in central Texas is continuing to rise. Nearly 80 deaths have been confirmed so far. Israel says it's carried out airstrikes against Houthi targets at three ports in Yemen. Officials in the Sudanese capital Khartoum say they found and buried the bodies of nearly 4,000 people since the army recaptured the city in May. Also in this podcast... France's most successful ever TV quiz show contestant has finally been defeated after a two-year winning streak.

We begin in the US state of Texas, where rescue operations are continuing for the 41 missing people after severe flooding. But the window for hope is fading four days in. Those living and camping along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County came under a month's worth of rainfall in just a few hours on Friday morning, sweeping cars, cabins and even houses underwater. As we record this podcast, the latest death toll stands at nearly 80. As we record this podcast the latest death toll stands at nearly 80. Further storms look to make the rescue operation even more difficult but the state governor Greg Abbott says the authorities will not give up. We continue 24-7 operations to search for anybody who was affected by that

deadly storm. I had the opportunity yesterday to visit Cat Mystic and get to see firsthand what happened there as well as all the way downstream after that and it was nothing short of horrific and we will remain 100% dedicated searching for every single one of the children as well as anybody else to make sure that they're going to be recovered. As the search continues for those who are missing, survivors of the floods are left to come to terms with destroyed homes and the loss of family members. Connie Salas, whose brother died in the floods,

says the government warning system did not give a true indication of the scale of the disaster to come. The flood started from the toilet. We just couldn't get out. We were trapped. My husband put me on top of the bed and said, just stay there. He was holding on to the side of it and letting me just sit on top of the bed so nothing happens to me or the animals. They never said that we needed to evacuate. They never said that this was going to happen. And we get flood warnings all the time and nothing ever like this ever happened to where we lived.

Well, as mentioned by the governor of the state, among those still being searched for are 10 girls from Camp Mystic, a summer holiday camp located on the banks of the river, as well as one of their members of staff. Michael McCown is the father of one of the girls. We're at Camp Mystic looking for our kids. We've been in Curvelle all night. We got here and started looking and the game warden showed up. We went as far as we could downstream but we don't have the equipment for that so we're letting them do that and then we're looking for places that they're going to potentially be alive. Aurelis R. Hernandez, a reporter for the Washington Post, met with Michael at the rescue mission

who was there with other desperate parents searching for their daughters. I asked Aurelis first for the latest on the search and rescue operations. There's hundreds of folks out here from different agencies across Texas and we're talking about a huge, huge area of the length of the Guadalupe with tons of bends and there's so much debris that it's easy to sort of miss if someone is trapped. So that's really what search and rescuers are doing right now. They're in boats, they're using helicopters and cadaver dogs as well, trying to see if anyone else is somehow still breathing and still trying to make a go of it after being swept. But again, there isn't a lot of hope left that after so many days that anyone could still be out there. And Aurelis, your piece in the Washington Post today follows the desperately upsetting search of one father of one of the missing girls who we just heard from. Is there any

hope left for Michael? I certainly hope so. I met Michael briefly while I was on the camp property and talking to a couple of longtime workers and he walked up and talked about how he had found the body of a little girl while he was searching for his own little girl right there on the camp property. His daughter's name is Lenny. She was in the bubble inn, which was one of the cabins that was most affected by water that seemed to have been rushing in

from two directions. I have not been in touch with him since. I have not heard any news that would make me hopeful that Lynnie was found or that she might have survived, but we can certainly keep on hoping that that might be an unexpected, if you will, miracle in all of this. And Aurelius, in your piece you paint such a picture of the desperation of these parents who have driven to this woodland and are walking around searching with their own hands. Is there growing anger at the authorities in Texas. And there are questions people are starting to ask now about those recent cuts to federal agencies.

Yes, absolutely. People are looking for answers about why the severity of this particular flash flood seemed not to have been communicated in any timely way to the residents here. And now we're still digging into what people knew at what time, what alerts specifically went out at different moments. The camp director's son told me that they're used to these types of alerts and simply weren't able to distinguish between the severity of something coming imminently or something coming directly towards them in a sort of catastrophic way versus sort of the normal alerts that go out. But they're certainly going to be growing anger. I certainly see it on social media and in the questions that local media are asking about what folks knew.

And I think today at the press conference, local officials sort of evaded some of those questions. Aurelis Hernandez, a reporter for The Washington Post. Houthi-run media in Yemen say Israeli airstrikes have hit the western port of Hodeida, controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi movement. Minutes earlier, the Israeli military warned of imminent strikes in the area and told civilians to evacuate. It issued similar warnings to people at the ports of Raas Issa and Saif. An Israeli spokesman said the strikes would target areas of military activity, including a power station. Earlier in the day, the crew of a commercial vessel in the Red Sea

were forced to abandon ship after coming under attack. The ship was about 100 kilometres southwest of Hudaydah. More from Electra Naismith. The Greek-owned carrier was targeted by gunfire and grenades from eight small boats before being hit with sea drones. No injuries were reported but fire broke out on board and the ships soon began to sink. A UK maritime agency said the attack bore all the hallmarks of Houthi fighters who control Hodeida and large swathes of Yemen.

Marine traffic has increased on the vital Red Sea route as huthy attacks have slowed and the group agreed a truce with Washington. But tensions remain high in the region, both over the war in Gaza and US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Eletra Naismith, Israel and Hamas are holding indirect talks in Qatar on a proposed 60-day ceasefire that would also see some hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. As we record this podcast, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to Washington for a meeting on Monday with the US President Donald Trump, who backs the deal. Mr. Trump had this to say on Sunday evening regarding

the situation in Gaza. I think there's a good chance we have a deal with Hamas during the week, during the coming week, pertaining to quite a few of the hostages. You know we've gotten a lot of the hostages out but pertaining to the remaining hostages quite a few of them will be coming out. We think we'll have that done this week. But an agreement remains uncertain with Mr Netanyahu rejecting modifications to the proposals by Hamas. Meanwhile, health authorities in Gaza say nearly 50 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Sunday. So what do we know exactly about Mr Netanyahu's position on the latest proposals for a Gaza ceasefire

and how Hamas has responded to the draft text? It's a question I put to our correspondent, Sebastian Asher, in Jerusalem. Well, we know that it's in some ways unclear. I mean, he responded, his office responded to the Hamas response with the amendment, but it wants to the current proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release. They're saying it was unacceptable, but he still gave a green light for the Israeli negotiating team to go to Qatar, where they now are and where those talks have already started. Just before he got on the plane to go to Washington, he said that he had sent that team with clear directives.

He also said that he hoped that the conversation with President Trump would help advance the outcome that we are all hoping for, presumably meaning his government and his supporters. And he reiterated, again, giving a sense that there may be less wriggle room in this than maybe people who are hoping for a ceasefire would like, saying that he's committed to three missions in Gaza. One is the release and return of all the hostages living and dead. The other is the destruction of Hamas's capabilities to kick it out of Gaza and to ensure that Gaza will no longer constitute a threat to Israel. Which sounds like Mr Netanyahu is still committed to continuing some form of hostilities against Hamas if he believes it necessary after the ceasefire.

Which Hamas has, as far as we know, pretty much said that that is unacceptable to them in the changes that it once made to this proposal. And Seb, Netanyahu has been recently riding quite high after taking out Hezbollah, the strikes on Iran. Is he under pressure to make a deal or to get some progress on this? He's always been under conflicting pressures. He has hard-right members of his coalition who've spoken out again against doing any deal. Ben Gavir, Smotraich, the finance minister, have made their views quite clear again. But they don't, I think, endanger his hold on power at the moment.

There is and continues to be a very, very strong under-swell of feeling in Israel, demanding, as they have for months, that Mr Netanyahu should prioritise the release and the saving of the lives of those hostages who are still living in Gaza. And if he needs to, even if it's something that is unpalatable to many Israelis, he must make the sacrifice of ending the war in order to achieve that. So he's certainly under some pressure here in Israel, and he's also under pressure internationally. I mean, there have been many outspoken declarations by some of Israel's closest allies in the past two or three months for UK, France, etc., saying that they believe

that the way that the war is continuing to be prosecuted in Gaza is essentially unacceptable. So that pressure is certainly there and we will see if added to that the pressure from President Trump can also tell or Mr Netanyahu I mean that will be key to seeing where this goes next. Sebastian Asha in Jerusalem. Officials in the Sudanese capital Khartou, say they have recovered and buried 3,800 bodies since Khartoum state was recaptured by the army in May. The BBC has not yet been able to independently verify the figures. This latest development gives an indication as

to just how unsafe the city has been for civilians since the civil war broke out two years ago, that even basic funerals or burials were not possible in that time. So is the situation improving now? Rebecca Kesby spoke to Lenny Kinsley, head of communications for the World Food Programme, who was in Sudan a couple of weeks ago. I was recently in Khartoum and there was a lot of destruction, a lot of damage. When you go into the city centre, it's like a ghost town, which is extremely surprising knowing how Khartoum was such a bustling city before.

It was a city that had a population of up to 10 million. Many people fled, but those that stayed really bore the brunt of the conflict, especially in terms of having enough food to eat and being in the middle of the war. So it was a really harrowing situation. But now there's a lot of hope that Khartoum can recover, that people can return, and that there's hope to rebuild the city. Well, that sounds positive because, you know, the implication that they've found this many bodies that they've had to rebury does kind of indicate that either people were in a hurry and couldn't give people proper burials,

or that they couldn't bury people at all over the course of the past two years, which really gives an indication as to how much fighting there has been going on, how unsafe the capital has been. Definitely. I mean, Khartoum was largely inaccessible for the first two years of the conflict. Parts of South Khartoum were at risk of famine. It's not only just the fighting itself, it's also the humanitarian situation and just the dire level of hunger that we had seen there. We've supported over one million people in recent months and really been able to expand and scale up and also overcome the harrowing stories that they lived through and to rebuild not just the infrastructure but hopes and dreams.

And in terms of elsewhere in Sudan, do you have an idea of what the aid situation is there? Because we've heard several stories of how difficult it's been to get aid into Sudan and we've heard the authorities themselves haven't been that helpful in getting aid through to civilians. Across the country half the population faces acute hunger. That's 25 million people, a population the size of Australia. We have famine confirmed in some places like in Al-Fasher, which has been the hardest place to get to. And we have received reports of people dying of hunger in some of these places. And in terms of access, it has improved. But of course, whenever you're in a conflict like this, going between areas of control,

between the Sudanese Armed Forces, the Rapid Support Forces, it takes a lot of negotiation, a lot of efforts, and then also safety guarantees in the middle of an area like Al-Fasher that is embattled. Lennie Kinsley from the World Food Programme talking to Rebecca Kesby. Now, an ethical dilemma facing a small island community off the northwest coast of British Columbia in Canada. There are about 1,200 residents of Tixada Island and they're struggling to come to a decision on what to do about a young grizzly bear who swam through icy currents to reach the island last month. Some locals say he's dangerous and should be put down, but wildlife campaigners are opposed. They've now named the young bear Tex. Nicholas Scappellati is in British Columbia.

He's from Canada's Grizzly Bear Foundation and is also the host of Grizzcast, a podcast about the relationship between people and grizzly bears. And he's been speaking to Krupa Patti. Grizzly bears are curious, wonderful animals that engage our imagination and our hearts, but they're also at the same time feared. And a lot of that is based on misconception and the way we approach even situations like Texas migration. He's a four-year-old young male. He's curious.

And he was pushed out of his home range by his mom. He's at that age where he's looking for a mate. So he's out exploring. He hasn't really been getting into too much trouble. He's young, so he's a bit bratty. So people are a bit concerned. He will follow people when they're walking their dog and things like that. And that's one of those areas where it can be misconstrued because some people think that he's stalking them.

But it's not the behaviour that he's exhibiting. He's actually just following and being curious. So there's a lot to learn about that and a community like Texada, it's new to them. When a bear arrives on the island as it has, does it come under anyone's care or is it just left to roam free? Yeah, so grizzly bears roam free all over the province of British Columbia, but they're on the coast, particularly on these small islands in Vancouver Island. They haven't been seen for many generations because settlers, you know, hunted them out or maybe even on Vancouver Island, for example, they never were historically there. So it's new for people, for settlers, but it's not new to First Nations. And so that's what's really interesting about the

welfare and conservation of this one bear is that there's a conversation happening between the province of British Columbia and the First Nations whose traditional territory this bear roams. This is fascinating. So how hard would his swim have been? The easiest way to tell a grizzly bear from a black bear is they have this big hump behind their shoulders. That's actually a muscle. It's good for digging and tearing things up. So for a swim like that and a young bear who's driven to find new food sources and a mate, that's pretty good swim form but we've got lots of evidence that

they've been doing that up and down the British Columbia coast. So this conversation has now started between the people of the First Nations and the local urban community. What is the thinking here? What are you going to do with TECS basically? Well, there's this amazing conversation happening in British Columbia. In 2019, the province signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People into law. And we're the first province in Canada to do that. And what that means is the province needs to build partnerships with First Nations

and sort of talk about co-management. So it's not the, in a way we're decolonizing conservation and it's a unique model because there's many countries around the world who've also signed that UN declaration. So what's happening right now and Texas fate is really in their hands is how quickly can they have that conversation and work out this new model of conservation through reconciliation. Poor Tex, I hope he finds his way home soon. Nicholas Scappellati, the host of Grizzcast. Still to come on this podcast.

This site is located north of Peru's capital Lima and includes the remains of temples and other stone and mud buildings. An ancient Peruvian city founded at least three and a half thousand years ago has been unveiled to the public. The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, has been celebrating his 90th birthday in the Indian town of Dharamshala. Thousands gathered to see him in his traditional golden and deep red robes, including the Hollywood actor Richard Gere. There have been prayers and celebrations in spite of heavy monsoon rains. The Dalai Lama was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor at the age of two. He's lived in exile since fleeing Tibet back in 1959 as Chinese authorities took control of Tibet.

He's announced there will be a successor to him, named, he said, after his own death. In Tibetan Buddhism, the philosophy is that the Dalai Lama is reincarnated after death. That chosen person then becomes the next spiritual leader. The Dalai Lama says the next one will come from the free world, meaning outside China. That is a direct challenge to the authorities in Beijing, which insists any Tibetan spiritual leader must be approved by the Chinese leadership. Our South Asia correspondent Samira Hussain is in Dharamshala in northern India. He calls himself a simple monk, not one to celebrate birthdays.

But when you're 90 years old and you're the Dalai Lama, you get a party. There's been a week of celebrations and it's culminating into this big main event. Thousands of people have come to be a part of his celebration. Festivities brimming with traditional music and merriment and a message from the Dalai Lama himself. It is my 90th birthday celebration and you have happily and with great excitement gathered here and with joy in your heart you have gathered here. I would like to thank you for that. But his age raised questions about his succession, which he assuaged earlier this week. His reincarnation would be found after his death, in line with centuries-old Tibetan tradition.

Samira Hussain in northern India It's 20 years to the day since London was left in shock and trauma by a terror attack carried out at the height of a weekday morning rush hour. Four suicide bombers set off explosives on central London's public transport network, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds more on the underground rail network and on a bus. The London bombings on July 7th 2005 became known as the Seven-Seven Attacks. This is a montage of some of the BBC reports from that day. Reports are just coming in of an explosion at Liverpool Street Station here in London.

On that old day I can confirm a bomb damage to train one carriage completely wiped out. At least nine people very seriously injured and trapped. Who confirmed the damages? and at least nine people very seriously injured and trapped, two confirmed fatalities. All of a sudden there was this explosion, a white, a big white appeared and then it was just smoke everywhere. In the tunnel, we were trying to close the doors because it was just smoke, we couldn't breathe. Everyone's just asking what's happened, what's happened. All we're being told is that it's a major inch and the whole of the London Underground is now shut. All of London's transport is currently disabled or stopped, whether that's buses or trains.

So the safest thing that everybody can do is to stay where they are. Jill Hicks was one of the survivors of the bombings. She was travelling to work when a suicide bomber entered her train carriage. She lost both of her legs in the explosion. To mark the 20th anniversary, Jill has taken to the stage with a one-woman play called Still Alive, Still Kicking. It's already been performed in Australia where she now lives but this week she's returned to London for a theatre performance. Krupa Padi spoke to Jill and asked her how she looks back on that day in July 2005 when she was in a train carriage on the underground Piccadilly Line service heading to work. I see it very much as 20

years of living very differently but of course very fortunate to have a life at all. So the way that I've been able to process and evolve, if you like, over 20 years, is to just think about the hierarchy of value of being alive is everything. And even though I'm in a different physical form, I absolutely celebrate the fact that I'm still Jill and even just listening to the intro of the communications of what was happening that morning, it's extraordinary just to think back of how really timeless for me that space is of 20 years. Tell us about your show. Well I see it as a love letter really to all of those incredible first responders, all of the incredible medics, nurses, doctors, everyone that gave so much that morning and not only that morning but every day since.

And I've always been searching, finding the way to say thank you and to celebrate them. So this show really is, I would say, a love letter to all of them and a beautiful reminder of how powerful our shared humanity really is. You sound like a ray of positivity considering all of what you've gone through and the extent to which your life changed. You're now back in London. I wonder, do you feel vulnerable at all? How are you feeling? I mean, it's just the second time that you're back in the city since the attacks. London was home for a very long time and I think with London it's a very special place isn't it? You know it can kind of get under your skin and I feel that

coming back that it's like again returning to home in a very different way, but there's a certain light, there's a certain energy and it's glorious to be back really. A lot of people when they're trying to recover from a trauma like you have might turn to counselling, might turn to other kinds of therapy. This creative outlet, was that your therapy? Oh gosh, that's so beautifully put. The greatest thing that I feel that I lost and was when I look at it in a bigger view than just limbs, just both legs, it's essentially what I lost was freedom and And freedom just to be,

freedom to do something impromptu, freedom to run or to, you know, to dance, to do anything. And coming back to the arts has been like a pathway and a moment and a sense of what that freedom is for me now. So the moment I'm with music, I'm just lost in the music. The moment I'm back painting on canvas, I'm just lost in the canvas. And that's the closest thing that I can find to be free. And so it is a therapy, but to me it's a sort of sense of just being able to lose myself in something that I just love and that it is a language that is universal and I can throw myself into it and speak through it, you like. It has been a saviour on many,

many levels. There will be some special guests in the audience as well, members of the medical and emergency teams who attended that day. What does it mean to you to have them there? Oh gosh, I'm already feeling rather anxious and nervous about it because you know essentially you know they are the people that held my life in the balance in their hands and then here I am 20 years on performing in a very very large tutu on stage in front of them. in a very, very large tutu on stage in front of them. Survivor Jill Hicks reflecting on the 7-7 terror attacks in London 20 years ago today.

An ancient Peruvian city founded at least 3 and 1 1,000 years ago has been unveiled to the public. The city of Penneco served as a trading hub for the oldest civilization in the Americas, the Corral. Leonardo Rosso reports. The site is located north of Peru's capital Lima and includes the remains of temples and other stone and mud buildings. Many objects that give an insight into the Corral culture were also found, including sculptures of people and animals and necklaces made from beads or seashells.

Penneco connected communities that lived on the Pacific coast to those settled to the East in the Andes Mountains and the Amazon rainforest. Researchers believe the Kerala civilization collapsed because of prolonged droughts caused by climate change nearly 4,000 years ago. Leonardo Roscha. The most successful contestant in the history of French television game shows has finally been defeated after an extraordinary run of nearly two years and close to 650 appearances. The competitor, Emilia, a 22 year old former student has won nearly three million dollars in cash and prizes. The show,

The 12 Strokes of Noon, involves four contestants going head-to-head on general knowledge with the winner returning the next day. Bernadette Keough reports. That was the moment in September 2023 that Emililia became the new midday master of the game show, the 12 strokes of noon. The quiz involves four contestants going head to head on general knowledge, with the winner returning the next day. For Emilia, it's been a whopping 647 return appearances, helped by spending up to 17 hours a day swatting

up on every topic under the sun. But today marked the end. Today, Sunday, July 6th, Romain dethrones Emelian! Emelian, who put his education on hold to focus on his winning streak, says he now intends to go back to studying, but not until he's had a year off to relax. Bernadette Keough. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or any of the topics covered in it,

you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Zabihullah Khorush. The producers were Liam McSheffrey and Charles Sanctuary. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Julia McFarlane. Until next time, goodbye.