Desperate search continues as Texas flood kills 51, including 15 children
The flooding, triggered by torrential rainfall before dawn on Friday, caused the Guadalupe River in Kerr County to rise a staggering 26 feet (8 meters) in just 45 minutes.
The deluge inundated homes, tore through youth camps, and overturned vehicles, leaving behind a wreckage of twisted trees, waterlogged debris, and traumatized survivors.
At Camp Mystic, a century-old Christian girls' summer camp nestled along the riverbank, nearly all structures were destroyed. Rescuers using helicopters, drones, and boats continued combing the area for 27 girls still unaccounted for. Frantic families gathered at reunification centers, clinging to hope and sharing photos of their missing children.
'The camp was completely destroyed,' said 13-year-old camper Elinor Lester. 'A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.'
Most of the deaths were reported in Kerr County, where 43 bodies have been recovered. At least eight more fatalities were reported in neighboring counties. The overall number of missing remains unclear as officials grapple with the chaos and heavy tourist presence for the July Fourth holiday weekend.Governor Greg Abbott declared Sunday a day of prayer across Texas and vowed continuous search-and-rescue efforts. 'I urge every Texan to join me in prayer — for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines,' he said.Search teams faced grueling conditions, navigating submerged terrain and uprooted trees while rescuing over 850 people in 36 hours. Coast Guard helicopters, Homeland Security aircraft, and first responders from across the region assisted in the effort. Authorities confirmed heroic efforts at multiple camps helped save hundreds of children.Questions have begun to surface about whether sufficient warnings were issued. AccuWeather and the National Weather Service said they had alerted officials hours before the flooding, predicting flash flood potential.'These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,' AccuWeather said in a statement, pointing to the area's notorious vulnerability to sudden flooding due to its thin soil and hilly terrain — often referred to as 'flash flood alley.'At nearby Mo-Ranch Camp, staff moved hundreds of attendees to higher ground before the flooding began. But in many areas, including Mystic, the water arrived too quickly to fully evacuate.Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said officials had not even begun to estimate how many people were still missing. 'We're looking in every possible location,' he said.Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county's chief elected official, said the scale of the disaster was unimaginable. 'We know we get rains. We know the river rises. But nobody saw this coming.'The county previously considered installing a flood warning siren system but never moved forward due to cost concerns. 'It's getting time now for the recovery,' Kelly said. 'And that's going to be a long, toilsome task for us.'Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who arrived on Saturday, pledged federal support. 'The rescue has gone as well as can be expected,' she said. 'Now we must prepare for what comes next.'Erin Burgess of Ingram said she clung to a tree with her teenage son after their house was flooded within 20 minutes of the first rainfall. 'My boyfriend and my dog floated away,' she said tearfully. 'He was lost for a while, but we found them.'Barry Adelman described how water forced his entire family — including a 94-year-old grandmother and 9-year-old grandson — into the attic of their three-story home. 'I had to look at my grandson and tell him everything would be OK, but inside, I was scared to death.'The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country has begun collecting donations to support recovery efforts. 'When it rains here, it doesn't soak into the soil — it rushes down the hill,' said CEO Austin Dickson. 'That's why this is one of the most dangerous flood zones in the country.'As rains continue and flash flood warnings remain in effect, residents across the region are bracing for further devastation.'It's a once-in-a-century flood,' said U.S. Rep. Chip Roy. 'We'll ask questions and learn lessons, but for now, we grieve — and we search.'
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Searchers in helicopters and on horseback scour Texas flood debris for the missing
As the search in Texas continued Wednesday for more than 160 people believed to be missing days after a destructive wall of water killed over 100 people, the full extent of the catastrophe had yet to be revealed. Officials warned that unaccounted victims could still be found amid the massive piles of debris that stretch for miles. 'Know this: We will not stop until every missing person is accounted for. Know this also: There very likely could be more added to that list,' Gov. Greg Abbott said during a news conference Tuesday. Abbott said officials have been seeking more information about those who were in the state's Hill Country during the Fourth of July holiday but did not register at a camp or a hotel and may have been in the area without many people knowing. The lowlands of Kerr County along the Guadalupe River, where most of the victims of the flash flooding have been recovered so far, 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. 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 US 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. Abbott promised that the search for victims will not stop until everyone is found. He also said President Donald Trump has pledged to provide whatever relief Texas needs to recover. Trump plans to visit the state Friday. Outside the cabins at Camp Mystic where the girls had slept, mud-splattered blankets and pillows were scattered on a grassy hill that slopes toward the river. Also in the debris were pink, purple and blue luggage decorated with stickers. Among those who died at the camp were a second-grader who loved pink sparkles and bows, a 19-year-old counselor who enjoyed mentoring young girls and the camp's 75-year-old director. The flash floods erupted before daybreak Friday after massive rains sent water speeding down hills into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise 26 feet (8 meters) in less than an hour. Some campers had to swim out of cabin windows to safety while others held onto a rope as they made their way to higher ground. Just two days before the flooding, Texas inspectors had signed off on the camp's emergency planning. But five years of inspection reports released to The Associated Press don't provide any details about how the camp would instruct campers about evacuating and specific duties each staff member and counselor would be assigned. Although it's difficult to attribute a single weather event to climate change, experts say a warming atmosphere and oceans make catastrophic storms more likely. Questions mounted about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents who were in the scenic area long known to locals as 'flash flood alley.' Leaders in Kerr County, where searchers have found about 90 bodies, said their first priority is recovering victims, not reviewing what happened in the moments before the flash floods. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county's chief elected official, said the county does not have a warning system. Generations of families in the Hill Country have known the dangers. A 1987 flood forced the evacuation of a youth camp in the town of Comfort and swamped buses and vans. Ten teenagers were killed. Local leaders have talked for years about the need for a warning system. Kerr County sought a nearly $1 million grant eight years ago for such a system, but the request was turned down by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Local residents balked at footing the bill themselves, Kelly said. The bodies of 30 children were among those that have been recovered in the county, which is home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps, the sheriff said. The devastation spread across several hundred miles in central Texas all the way to just outside the capital of Austin. Aidan Duncan escaped just in time after hearing the muffled blare of a megaphone urging residents to evacuate Riverside RV Park in the Hill Country town of Ingram. All his belongings–a mattress, sports cards, his pet parakeets' bird cage–now sit caked in mud in front of his home. 'What's going on right now, it hurts,' the 17-year-old said. 'I literally cried so hard.'
Al Arabiya
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More than 160 people still missing days after deadly Texas floods
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Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
Hope of Finding Texas Flood Survivors Dims as Search Efforts Go On
Hope of finding survivors of the catastrophic flooding in Texas dimmed Tuesday, a day after the death toll surpassed 100 and crews kept up the search for people missing in the aftermath. The search efforts benefited from improving weather. The storms that battered the Hill Country for the past four days began to lighten up, although isolated pockets of heavy rain were still possible. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott planned to make another visit Tuesday to Camp Mystic, the century-old, all-girls Christian summer camp where at least 27 campers and counselors died during the flash floods. Officials said Monday that 10 campers and one counselor have still not been found. A wall of water slammed into camps and homes along the edge of the Guadalupe River before daybreak Friday, pulling people out of their cabins, tents, and trailers and dragging them for miles past floating tree trunks and cars. Some survivors were found clinging to trees. Questions are mounting about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents who were spending the July Fourth holiday weekend in the scenic area long known to locals as 'flash flood alley.' 'We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things,' Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said Monday. 'We're looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.' Some camps were aware of the dangers and monitoring the weather. At least one moved several hundred campers to higher ground before the floods. But many were caught by surprise. Searchers have found the bodies of 84 people, including 28 children, in Kerr County, home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps near the river, officials said. Nineteen deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green, and Williamson counties, local officials said. Among those confirmed dead were 8-year-old sisters from Dallas who were at Camp Mystic and a former soccer coach and his wife who were staying at a riverfront home. Their daughters were still missing. Elizabeth Lester, a mother of children who were at Camp Mystic and nearby Camp La Junta during the flood, said her young son had to swim out a cabin window to escape. Her daughter fled up the hillside as floodwaters whipped against her legs. Both survived. Search-and-rescue teams used heavy equipment to untangle trees and move large rocks as part of the massive search for missing people. Hundreds of volunteers have shown up to help with one of the largest rescue operations in Texas history. Piles of twisted trees sprinkled with mattresses, refrigerators, and coolers littered the riverbanks.
