Missouri Flood Toll Holds at Zero Dead as Search for Crawford County Woman Faith Gregory Resumes

The search for Faith Gregory continues

Since flash floods tore through southeastern Missouri Friday, July 10, killing no one but leaving one person missing, authorities have now named her: Faith Gregory of Crawford County. Sgt. Eddie Young of the Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed Saturday that Gregory is the only person still unaccounted for in the county, according to CBS News. A wall of the house she was in gave way as floodwaters rose, sweeping her and her dogs away, family and friends said on social media.

Search teams suspended operations Friday night due to darkness and resumed Saturday morning, CBS News reported. The Crawford County Sheriff's Office said ground teams, watercraft and aerial drones were used in what it called "extremely dangerous" conditions, according to The Guardian.

The Camp Taum Sauk airlift, by the numbers

Gov. Mike Kehoe's office detailed the scale of the rescue at Camp Taum Sauk in Lesterville: eight UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, staffed by roughly 35 Missouri National Guard crew members, flew 202 campers and counselors, ages 8 to 16, to Arcadia Valley Elementary School, where they reunited with their families, according to a statement from the governor's office. The camp, operating since 1946, posted on Instagram thanking the National Guard, Reynolds County 911 responders and the Arcadia community.

The Black River itself is the reason the roads disappeared. Kehoe's office said the river is forecast to crest at more than 28 feet near Annapolis, which would be a record for the waterway. Meteorologist Matt Beitscher of the National Weather Service's St. Louis office told CBS News and The Guardian that the counties hit hardest are packed with campgrounds and float-trip outfitters, meaning "a lot of vulnerable populations that would be susceptible to flash flooding."

A campground collapse, and a discrepancy in the numbers

At Bearcat Getaway campground near the Black River, campers climbed onto a building to escape rising water before the structure collapsed under them, Young told CBS News and The Guardian. "Between the weight and the constant waters underneath it, it just gave away on them," he said. Breitbart reported the Reynolds County Sheriff's Office launched a search for as many as 17 people who "may have entered the floodwater" in the collapse. The Guardian, citing the same event, put the number rescued at about 20. Both outlets agree on the outcome: everyone from the collapse was either rescued or accounted for, with no fatalities reported.

Three additional people were pulled from trees along the Black River in Reynolds County Friday evening, per CBS News. Two rescue boats capsized during the operation, but crews recovered the responders safely, the Reynolds County Sheriff's Office said.

How many rescues, total?

Here the official count and Fox News's reporting don't quite line up. Kehoe's own office, in a statement posted to governor.mo, said the flooding "prompted over 200 water rescues throughout the region." Fox News, citing Kehoe's Facebook statement, put the figure at "at least 351 swift-water rescues." Both figures may reflect different counting windows or agencies, since the state has multiple response teams reporting in, but the discrepancy is real and unresolved in the available statements.

What's confirmed: Kehoe activated Missouri Task Force 1, the state's urban search-and-rescue unit, which alone participated in more than 100 rescues and has grown to 78 deployed personnel, according to the governor's office. Kehoe declared a state of emergency Friday and called the rainfall, which dumped 6 to 12 inches in hours across Crawford, Iron, Madison, Reynolds and Wayne counties, a "1-in-1,000-year rainfall event" in some spots.

What's still open

The State Emergency Operations Center remains active at Level 3, with the State Emergency Management Agency coordinating with the National Weather Service on additional rain risk, according to the governor's office. Fox News drew a comparison to the July 2025 Guadalupe River flooding in Texas that killed at least 135 people, including 28 at Camp Mystic, noting Missouri's operation avoided that outcome. Faith Gregory remains missing. The Missouri State Highway Patrol's Troop G is taking reports on any additional missing persons at 417-469-3121.