
Desperate search for missing girls as nearly 80 dead in Texas floods
US President Donald Trump said he would 'probably' visit the southern state on Friday.
The president brushed off concerns his administration's wide-ranging cuts to weather forecasting and related federal agencies had left local warning systems worse-off.
Instead, Trump described the flash floods as a '100-year catastrophe' that 'nobody expected.'
At least 40 adults and 28 children were killed in the worst-hit Kerr County in central Texas, Sheriff Larry Leitha said, while at least ten more people were killed by flooding in nearby areas.
'You will see the death toll rise today,' warned Texas public safety chief Freeman Martin at a press conference.
'Across the state, in all the areas affected by flooding, there are 41 known missing,' Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.
As questions grew about why warnings did not come sooner or people were not evacuated earlier in the area popular with campers, Trump said the situation was a 'Biden setup.'
'That was not our setup,' Trump told reporters on Sunday, adding that he would 'not' hire back meteorologists when probed about staff and budget cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS).
Asked about whether he would change his plans to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he responded: 'FEMA is something we can talk about later.'
Trump, who previously said disaster relief should be handled at the state-level, also signed a major disaster declaration that freed up resources for Texas.
In central Texas, some 17 helicopters joined the search for missing people, including ten girls and a counselor from a riverside Christian summer camp where about 750 people had been staying when disaster struck.
In a terrifying display of nature's power, the rain-swollen waters of the Guadalupe River reached treetops and the roofs of cabins in Camp Mystic as girls slept overnight Friday, washing away some of them and leaving a scene of devastation.
Blankets, teddy bears and other belongings at the camp were caked in mud. Windows in the cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned Sunday that slow-moving thunderstorms threatened more flash floods over the saturated ground of central Texas.
Governor Abbott warned that heavy rainfall could 'lead to potential flash flooding' in Kerrville and surrounding areas, as officials warned people against going near the swollen river and its creeks.
The flooding began at the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend as months' worth of rain fell in a matter of hours, much of it coming overnight as people slept.
The Guadalupe surged around 26 feet (eight meters) — more than a two-story building — in just 45 minutes.
Flash floods, which occur when the ground is unable to absorb torrential rainfall, are not unusual in this region of south and central Texas, known colloquially as 'Flash Flood Alley.'
Scientists say that in recent years human-driven climate change has made extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heat waves more frequent and more intense.
Officials said while rescue operations were ongoing, they were also starting the process of debris removal.
'There's debris all over the place that makes roads impassable, that makes reconstruction projects unachievable,' Abbott said.
People from elsewhere in Texas converged on Kerr County to help look for the missing.
Texans also started flying personal drones to help look but local officials urged them to stop, citing a danger for rescue aircraft.
One of the searches focused on four young women who were staying in a house that was washed away by the river. Adam Durda and his wife Amber, both 45, drove three hours to help.
'There was a group of 20-year-olds that were in a house that had gotten washed away,' Durda told AFP. 'That's who the family requested help for, but of course, we're looking for anybody.'
Justin Morales, 36, was part of a search team that found three bodies, including that of a Camp Mystic girl caught up in a tree.
'We're happy to give a family closure and hopefully we can keep looking and find some of the... you know, whoever,' he told AFP.
'Help give some of those families closure. That's why we're out here.'
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Al Arabiya
41 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
The Latest: Camp mourns loss of 27 in Texas flash floods that killed dozens
A July Fourth weekend deluge in Texas caused catastrophic flash flooding that has killed more than 80 people. Camp Mystic in Kerr County said Monday morning that it is grieving the loss of 27 campers and counselors as the search continues for victims of the disaster. The flooding sent a wall of water through the century-old summer camp Friday. The risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in central Texas with more rain on the way. The Texas Hill Country is home to several summer camps. Searchers there have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, and 10 other deaths have been reported in other parts of Texas. Here's the latest: Search and rescue teams are heading back out to look for flood victims. Organizers at a staging area in Center Point said more than 1,000 volunteers have been directed to the area about 8 miles (13 kilometers) south of Kerrville, and more are being sent.


Asharq Al-Awsat
42 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Risk of Further Floods in Texas during Desperate Search for Missing as Death Toll Tops 80
With more rain on the way, the risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in central Texas on Monday even as crews search urgently for the missing following a holiday weekend deluge that killed at least 82 people, including children at summer camps. Officials said the death toll was sure to rise. Residents of Kerr County began clearing mud and salvaging what they could from their demolished properties as they recounted harrowing escapes from rapidly rising floodwaters late Friday. Reagan Brown said his parents, in their 80s, managed to escape uphill as water inundated their home in the town of Hunt. When the couple learned that their 92-year-old neighbor was trapped in her attic, they went back and rescued her. 'Then they were able to reach their toolshed up higher ground, and neighbors throughout the early morning began to show up at their toolshed, and they all rode it out together,' The Associated Press quoted Brown as saying. A few miles away, rescuers maneuvering through challenging terrain filled with snakes continued their search for the missing, including 10 girls and a counselor from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp that sustained massive damage. Gov. Greg Abbott said 41 people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing. In the Hill Country area, home to several summer camps, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said. Ten other deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, according to local officials. The governor warned that additional rounds of heavy rains lasting into Tuesday could produce more dangerous flooding, especially in places already saturated. Families were allowed to look around the camp beginning Sunday morning. One girl walked out of a building carrying a large bell. A man whose daughter was rescued from a cabin on the highest point in the camp walked a riverbank, looking in clumps of trees and under big rocks. One family left with a blue footlocker. A teenage girl had tears running down her face as they slowly drove away and she gazed through the open window at the wreckage. Searching the disaster zone Nearby crews operating heavy equipment pulled tree trunks and tangled branches from the river. With each passing hour, the outlook of finding more survivors became even more bleak. Volunteers and some families of the missing came to the disaster zone and searched despite being asked not to do so. Authorities faced growing questions about whether enough warnings were issued in an area long vulnerable to flooding and whether enough preparations were made. President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County and said he would likely visit Friday: 'I would have done it today, but we'd just be in their way.' 'It's a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible,' he told reporters. Prayers in Texas — and from the Vatican Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state. In Rome, Pope Leo XIV offered special prayers for those touched by the disaster. The first American pope spoke in English at the end of his Sunday noon blessing, saying, 'I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.'


Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Camp Mystic says 27 campers, counselors dead in Texas flooding
Camp Mystic said on Monday that 27 campers and counselors died in catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe River in central Texas.