ATLANTA — An Atlanta attorney has been killed in the massive floods that have caused devastation across parts of Texas.
The law firm of Huff Powell Bailey said in a statement on its website that Josephine Hardin and her mother were in Texas with family for the July 4 holiday when they were swept away in the flash floods early that morning.
Hardin was a graduate of Emory University’s School of Law and also was the Editor in Chief for the university’s International Law Review.
“Josephine was a strong believer in giving back to the community and served as a regular volunteer with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, becoming the firm’s AVLF liaison in 2024. Josephine also volunteered with the Atlanta Community Food Bank and with the Georgia Society of Healthcare Risk Managers. Josephine was a natural leader, and many deep and meaningful friendships were formed during her time here. She was smart and beautifully quirky. She made us laugh out loud, come together, and think deeply about the needs of others,” the firm said in its statement.
The floods have killed at least 120 people and left more than 170 missing. Those reported missing are in Kerr County, where most of the victims have been recovered so far, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Thursday.
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The county’s lowlands along the Guadalupe River are filled with youth camps and campgrounds, including Camp Mystic, the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp where at least 27 campers and counselors died. Officials said Tuesday that five campers and one counselor have still not been found.
Search-and-rescue teams are using heavy equipment to untangle and peel away layers of trees, unearth large rocks in riverbanks and move massive piles of debris that stretch for miles in the search for the missing people. Crews in airboats, helicopters and on horseback along with hundreds of volunteers are part of one of the largest search operations in Texas history.
The flash flood is the deadliest from inland flooding in the U.S. since Colorado’s Big Thompson Canyon flood on July 31, 1976, killed 144 people, said Bob Henson, a meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections. That flood surged through a narrow canyon packed with people on a holiday weekend, Colorado’s centennial celebration.
Public officials in charge of locating the victims are facing intensifying questions about who was in charge of monitoring the weather and warning that floodwaters were barreling toward camps and homes.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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