'Code Red': Texas recovery effort halted amid new flash flood fears. Live updates

USA Today

3 days ago

Thunderstorms and the threat from rising waters in south central Texas on Sunday hampered the grim search for survivors and victims of the flooding that swept through the region more than a week ago, killing over 100 people and leaving devastation in its wake.
All search and recovery operations along the Guadalupe River were suspended. Rescue personnel, equipment and vehicles "should be removed from the river area immediately," Kerr County officials said in social media posts Sunday. It warned that up to 2 inches of rain could fall in an hour.
"Volunteer operations are currently suspended until further notice. All self-deployed volunteers need to heed this warning as well for their safety," the posts said. "Safety of lives is the highest priority."
The National Weather Service warned that locally heavy rainfall of 2-4 inches − isolated areas could possibly be overwhelmed with another 9-12 inches −could lead to flash flooding. The flood watch was in effect until 7 p.m. local time Sunday.
The confirmed death toll from the July 4 flooding had risen to 129 on Saturday, including 103 in Kerr County alone. Kerr was one of more than a dozen counties listed in the weather service advisory.
Developments:
∎ The Kerr County Sheriff's Office issued a "Code Red" message Sunday. "This is not an evacuation, but a preparation notification," the sheriff's office said in the social media post. "Be prepared to evacuate along the Guadalupe River due to bad weather and flooding."
∎ A candlelight vigil planned for Sunday in Ingram was postponed because of the flood threat. No new date was announced.
Texas flooding death toll rises: New flood watch in effect
Kerr County braces for more rain
The Kerr County death toll has risen 67 adults and 36 children, according to the county's Joint Information Center. That includes at least 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp.
Scores of residents remain missing, although it was not clear how many might have fled to safety ahead of the disaster. And officials were bracing for more flooding issues.
"There is an increasing confidence that rainfall totals of 1-3 inches could fall on what is already saturated ground," the county said in a statement on its website. The statement urged residents to watch for weather service alerts and to "stay safe out there."
'Mystic Girls' mourn camp kids, counselors who died
The deaths at the camp has stunned and saddened the world. The mourners include the "Mystic Girls," as former campers call themselves. They remember the innocence of a place and time where they say they found the best version of themselves, a place that made them who they are.
Allie Coates, now 25 and a social media manager in Los Angeles, still has a silver bracelet filled with charms from her time at camp, including an M for the most improved at canoeing.
'It was a safe space to be weird and awkward, where we could be silly and just be ourselves,' Coates told USA TODAY. 'Just to be girls.' Read more here.
− Laura Trujillo
Timeline a mystery for recovery of remains
Past disasters of similar scope have left families waiting for months, years and even decades to recover loved ones, said Chris Boyer, executive director of the National Association for Search and Rescue.
He pointed to Hurricane Helene, where at least five people, including Yevhenni and Novitnia, were never found. And two decades after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, killing more than 1,800 people, about 30 have yet to be identified, said Jason Melancon of the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office.
For authorities on the ground, deciding when to call off search parties or shift them into full recovery mode is 'a highly emotional decision,' especially in more rural areas, Boyer said.
'There's no describing how to tell a family that you're done searching for their loved one and that they may never get the remains back,' said Boyer, who has led recovery crews in aviation disasters. Read more here.
− Rick Jervis and Christopher Cann