The places where deadly Texas floodwaters have killed more than 80 people
At the center of the tragedy is the scenic Texas Hill Country, where volunteers and some families of the missing have searched the riverbanks despite being asked not to do so. Authorities in surrounding areas closer to Austin, the state capital, have also recovered victims from floodwaters.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ARN News Center
an hour ago
- ARN News Center
Search teams scour Texas flood zone for dozens missing; 78 confirmed dead
Search teams plodded through mud-laden riverbanks and flew aircraft over the flood-stricken landscape of central Texas for a fourth day on Monday, looking for dozens of people still missing from a disaster that has claimed at least 78 lives. The bulk of the death toll from Friday's flash floods was concentrated in the riverfront Hill Country Texas town of Kerrville, accounting for 68 of the dead, including 28 children, according to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha. The Guadalupe River, transformed by predawn torrential downpours into a raging, killer torrent in less than hour, runs directly through Kerrville. The loss of life there included an unspecified number of fatalities at the Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe where authorities reported two dozen children unaccounted for in the immediate aftermath of the flooding on Friday. On Sunday, Leitha said search teams were still looking for 10 girls and one camp counselor, but he did not specify the fate of others initially counted as missing. As of late Sunday afternoon, state officials said 10 other flood-related fatalities were confirmed across four neighbouring south-central Texas counties, and that 41 other people were still listed as unaccounted for in the disaster beyond Kerr County. Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, predicted the death toll would rise further as floodwaters receded and the search gained momentum. Authorities also warned that continued rainfall - even if lighter than Friday's deluge - could unleash additional flash floods because the landscape was so saturated. State emergency management officials had warned on Thursday, ahead of the July Fourth holiday, that parts of central Texas faced the possibility of heavy showers and flash floods based on National Weather Service Forecasts. CONFLUENCE OF DISASTER But twice as much rain as was predicted ended up falling over two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream of the fork where they converge, sending all of that water racing into the single river channel where it slices through Kerrville, according to City Manager Dalton Rice. Rice and other public officials, including Governor Greg Abbott, vowed that the circumstances of the flooding, and the adequacy for weather forecasts and warning systems would be scrutinized once the immediate situation was brought under control. In the meantime, search and rescue operations were continuing around the clock, with hundreds of emergency personnel on the ground contending with a myriad of challenges. "It's hot, there's mud, they're moving debris, there's snakes," Martin said during a news briefing on Sunday. Thomas Suelzar, adjutant general of the Texas Military Department, said airborne search assets included eight helicopters and a remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper aircraft equipped with advanced sensors for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 38 cm of rain across the region, about 140 km northwest of San Antonio. In addition to the 68 lives lost in Kerr County, three died in Burnet County, one in Tom Green County, five in Travis County and one in Williamson County, according to Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was activated on Sunday and was deploying resources to Texas after President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said. US Coast Guard helicopters and planes were aiding search and rescue efforts. SCALING BACK FEDERAL DISASTER RESPONSE Trump, who said on Sunday he would visit the disaster scene, probably this coming Friday, has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government's role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves. Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration, including to the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, led to a failure by officials to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings ahead of the storm. Trump's administration has overseen thousands of job cuts from the National Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said. Ahead of Friday's floods, the Weather Service office near San Antonio, which oversees warnings issued in Kerr County, had one key vacancy - a warning coordination meteorologist, who is responsible for working with emergency managers and the public to ensure people know what to do when a disaster strikes. The person who served in that role for decades was among hundreds of Weather Service employees who accepted early retirement offers and left the agency at the end of April, media reported. Trump pushed back when asked on Sunday if federal government cuts hobbled the disaster response or left key job vacancies at the Weather Service under Trump's oversight. "That water situation, that all is, and that was really the Biden setup," he said referencing his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. "But I wouldn't blame Biden for it, either. I would just say this is 100-year catastrophe."
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
Search teams scour Texas flood zone for dozens missing
Search teams are plodding through mud-laden riverbanks and flying aircraft over the flood-stricken landscape of central Texas for a fourth day, looking for dozens of people still missing from a disaster that has claimed at least 78 lives. The bulk of the death toll from Friday's flash floods was concentrated in the riverfront Hill Country Texas town of Kerrville, accounting for 68 of the dead, including 28 children, according to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha. The Guadalupe River, transformed by pre-dawn torrential downpours into a raging, killer torrent in less than hour, runs directly through Kerrville. The loss of life there included an unspecified number of fatalities at the Camp Mystic summer camp, a Christian girls retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe where authorities reported two dozen children unaccounted for in the immediate aftermath of the flooding on Friday. On Sunday, Leitha said search teams were still looking for 10 girls and one camp counsellor, but he did not specify the fate of others initially counted as missing. As of late Sunday afternoon, state officials said 10 other flood-related fatalities were confirmed across four neighbouring south-central Texas counties, and that 41 other people were still listed as unaccounted for in the disaster beyond Kerr County. Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, predicted the death toll would rise further as floodwaters receded and the search gained momentum. Authorities also warned that continued rainfall - even if lighter than Friday's deluge - could unleash additional flash floods because the landscape was so saturated. State emergency management officials had warned on Thursday, before the July Fourth holiday, that parts of central Texas faced possible heavy showers and flash floods based on National Weather Service Forecasts. But twice as much rain as predicted ended up falling over two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream from where they converge, sending all that water racing into the single river channel where it slices through Kerrville, according to City Manager Dalton Rice. Rice and other public officials, including Governor Greg Abbott, vowed that the circumstances of the flooding, and the adequacy for weather forecasts and warning systems would be scrutinised once the immediate situation was brought under control. In the meantime, the land and air search continues around the clock. Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 38cm of rain across the region. As well as the 68 lives lost in Kerr County, three died in Burnet County, one in Tom Green County, five in Travis County and one in Williamson County. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending resources to Texas after President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration. Trump, who is expected to visit the disaster area this week, has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government's role in responding to natural disasters, leaving more of the burden to the states. Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration, including to the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, led to a failure to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings. Trump pushed back when asked on Sunday if federal government cuts hobbled the disaster response or left key job vacancies at the Weather Service under Trump's oversight. "That water situation, that all is, and that was really the Biden set-up," he said referencing his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. "But I wouldn't blame Biden for it, either. I would just say this is 100-year catastrophe."
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
The Floods Have Devastated a Touchstone of Texas Culture: Summer Camp
For generations, the summer camps of the Texas Hill Country have been an oasis, a call to adventure, and a rite of passage for families from every corner of the state and beyond. They are so beloved that some parents reserve spots when their children are born. Roughly two dozen camps dot the landscape up and down the cooling Guadalupe River and its tributaries, where children have flocked each summer for more than a century to canoe and kayak, to swim and fish and learn archery, to reunite with old friends. 'Camp culture is something that people from all over the country come here for, because it's so beautiful, and it's so wonderful and unique,' Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Saturday. 'It's tough. You send them there, but when you do it, that's part of growing up. You let them be independent.' But that idyll was shattered over the weekend. Roy began to cry as he spoke about Jane Ragsdale, the director of Heart O' the Hills, a girls camp, who died along with nearly three dozen others in raging floodwaters that swept through the area in the early hours of July Fourth. At least 27 girls attending Camp Mystic, another in the area, were still missing as of Saturday evening. Grief and destruction had replaced the tranquility of another summer under the Texas sun. A tradition forged over a hundred summers was threatened as well. 'We need to figure out how to protect it,' Roy said. Camp Mystic, which has been attended by the daughters of Lyndon B. Johnson and several Texas governors, as well as former first lady Laura Bush, has given many their first taste of freedom and space to forge an identity, said Claudia Sullivan, who attended the camp and later worked there. Sullivan, who has written four books about the camp experience, said she was inspired to pen the latest after attending a reunion of Mystic alumni a couple of years ago. The women were between the ages of 40 and 82, but their memories of camp had endured. 'A lot of what we learned at camp sustained us throughout our lives,' she said. Sullivan recalled a time when a friend who had attended Mystic was having a baby. The woman was in one of two groups – the Kiowas – that compete against each other at the all-girls camp. The husband announced the child's sex by saying: 'We had another little Kiowa.' Those warm memories contrasted sharply with the scene Saturday. At a reunification center in downtown Kerrville, volunteers in bright orange caps directed parents waiting for their daughters from Camp Waldemar into lines based on their cabin names: 'Swiss Chalet I and II,' 'Happy Heaven I' and 'Ranch House II.' Meanwhile, teenagers helped unload brightly colored camp trunks and black duffel bags with Waldemar logos from flatbed trailers. John-Louis Barton, 21, came to help on his day off as a camp counselor at Laity Lodge, in nearby Leakey. After camping there as a child for eight years, Barton was in his last of four years as a counselor. They'd trained for emergencies during the staff week before campers arrived at the start of the summer, he said, and that training paid off as floodwaters rose on Independence Day. 'We still had power, so we just did head counts and got everyone into one place, and watched movies,' he said. 'Most of camp is back to normal today, so I came in to help. Knowing that it could have just as easily happened to us – I'm grateful to be here. I hugged my mom, and that was a good feeling.' The first Hill Country camp opened more than 100 years ago in 1921, and others soon joined. Camp Mystic is set to celebrate its centennial next year. Young people escape hot cities such as Houston and Dallas for the higher and cooler elevations around the Guadalupe River. In the early days, they arrived by train and some traveled to camps by wagon. 'Don't wait until you are a man to be great, be a great boy,' reads the longtime motto of Camp Stewart for Boys, which sits on 500 acres along both banks of one mile of the Guadalupe River. 'A community where girls come to grow, challenge themselves, and discover their true potential' is how Heart O' the Hills, which has sat along the river for more than 70 years, describes its mission. The camps have meant a lot to the campers but are also an engine of the economy in Kerr County. 'Over and again a new resident will tell me they first heard of our area when they were a child and attended summer camp here,' local newspaper columnist Joe Herring Jr. wrote in a history of the camps. ''I fell in love with the place then,' they'll often say. 'And I knew one day I had to live here.'' Floods have been a threat throughout the history of the camps. In 1932, many camps were swamped by floods during the summer session, according to Herring's history. Structures were rebuilt above the flood line, but a deluge hit again in 1935, raising questions about whether it was safe to locate camps in the area. Sullivan said she helped evacuate campers from Mystic while working there during a flood in 1978. 'In 1978, I think we had a sense that we were safe. We knew we could move to higher ground,' she said. 'It was sort of exciting in a way and it wasn't terrifying. This was terrifying.' As Barton and others waited at the reunification center, three yellow school buses and a few white vans arrived. Waiting parents cheered as girls began to stream off the vehicles, clutching pillows, backpacks and bags. Barton said it was a bittersweet way to end his time at camp, a place that was incredibly meaningful to him as a child, just as it is to so many others. 'Camp meant the world to me as a kid. The highlight of my year was getting to be with those like-minded boys and counselors,' Barton said. 'It's kind of magical, sort of – you get to separate yourself from school and work, and reality, and just be out there.'
