HOUSTON, Texas — NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston deployed two WB-57 high-altitude aircraft this week to assist local and state authorities in recovery efforts following deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country over the Fourth of July weekend.
The aircraft took off from Ellington Field on Wednesday to conduct aerial surveys of the Guadalupe River and surrounding areas in Central Texas, where over 120 people have died and at least the same number remain missing as of Thursday.
Equipped with advanced motion sensors, the WB-57s provide high-resolution imagery and enable real-time data collection and analysis.
NASA is sharing the collected data directly with emergency response teams to support search and rescue operations and aid decision-making and resource allocation.
The agency is coordinating its efforts with FEMA, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, and humanitarian organizations Save the Children and GiveDirectly. Many of the flood victims were children, including young attendees of Camp Mystic.
Additionally, from its California facility, NASA is dispatching its Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) to monitor the Guadalupe, Colorado, and San Gabriel river basins. UAVSAR can penetrate vegetation to detect water presence, assisting in assessing flood extent and damage to nearby communities.
NASA’s deployment forms part of the ongoing multi-agency response to the severe flooding impacting Central Texas.
