On Wednesday, hundreds prayed, wept, and held one another at a prayer service, among the first of many somber gatherings to come in the weeks ahead.

Conspiracy theories about weather modification programs are surging online amid a torrent of misinformation following tragic flash floods that struck the US state of Texas on July 4, 2025, with posts across platforms claiming a local cloud seeding operation triggered the rainstorms.

Maddow supposedly donated millions of dollars, hired rescue helicopters and offered up her Texas home for relief work.

Viral posts promoted false claims that cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, played a role in the devastation. Meteorologists explain it doesn't work that way.

The Hardins are not the only South Florida family who lost loved ones in the central Texas floods. The twin 8-year-old granddaughters of Miami childhood education advocate David Lawrence Jr. died in the floods. Hannah and Rebecca were among the girls staying at Camp Mystic.

A Sulphur Springs couple camping on the banks of the Guadalupe River are among the victims of the Hill Country floods that claimed over 100 lives on the Fourth of July.

Flash floods last week in Texas caused the Guadalupe River to rise dramatically, reaching three stories high in just two hours.

The agency took the unusual step of creating websites debunking the conspiracy theory that chemicals are being sprayed in the sky to control the weather or do other things.

The four friends are among the hundreds of victims. The bodies of three of them have been found. Their families have searched for their loved ones since Friday.