Death toll from Texas flooding rises to 43
The Guadalupe River overflowed after record-level downpours on Friday, triggering severe flooding.
Authorities said on Saturday that 43 people had been confirmed dead, including 15 children.
Media reports said girls who were attending a summer camp along the river remained unaccounted for.
Torrential rain overnight caused the river's water level to surge, and many people who were sleeping are believed to have failed to escape.
Authorities are expanding the areas of the search for the missing.
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NHK
13 hours ago
- NHK
Death toll from Texas flooding rises to 43
The death toll from flooding in the southern US state of Texas has risen to more than 40. Over 20 people, including children from a camp, are still missing. The Guadalupe River overflowed after record-level downpours on Friday, triggering severe flooding. Authorities said on Saturday that 43 people had been confirmed dead, including 15 children. Media reports said girls who were attending a summer camp along the river remained unaccounted for. Torrential rain overnight caused the river's water level to surge, and many people who were sleeping are believed to have failed to escape. Authorities are expanding the areas of the search for the missing.
Japan Times
17 hours ago
- Japan Times
Search for missing girls continues as Texas flood death toll rises to 43
Rescuers searched Saturday for 27 girls missing from a riverside summer camp in the U.S. state of Texas, after torrential rains caused devastating flooding that killed at least 43 people — with more rain pounding the region. "We have recovered 43 deceased individuals in Kerr County. Among these who are deceased we have 28 adults and 15 children," said Kerr Country Sheriff Larry Leitha. Leitha earlier put the number of evacuated people at 850, including eight reported injured. Addressing a news conference, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he was expanding a state disaster declaration and was requesting additional federal resources from U.S. President Donald Trump. Texas Department of Emergency Management chief Nim Kidd said air, ground and water-based crews were scouring the length of the Guadalupe River for survivors and the bodies of the dead. "We will continue the search until all those who are missing are found," he said. The flooding began Friday — the start of the fourth of July holiday weekend — as months' worth of rain fell in a matter of hours, causing the Guadalupe River to rise by 8 meters (26 feet) in 45 minutes. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned that more rain was forecast, and that "excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations." Multiple flash flood warnings remained in place over the weekend in central Texas. In Kerrville on Saturday, the usually calm Guadalupe was flowing fast, its murky waters filled with debris. "The water reached the top of the trees. About 10 meters or so," said local resident Gerardo Martinez, 61. "Cars, whole houses were going down the river." Flash floods, which occur when the ground is unable to absorb torrential rainfall, are not unusual. But scientists say that in recent years human-driven climate change has made extreme weather events like floods, droughts and heat waves more frequent and more intense. On Saturday, Sheriff Leitha said 27 children from the Camp Mystic Christian summer camp in the flooded Kerr County were still missing. Around 750 girls were enrolled at the camp. U.S. media reported that four of the missing girls were dead, citing their families. A view inside of a cabin at Camp Mystic on Saturday after flash flooding in Hunt, Texas | AFP-JIJI The camp, located along the banks of the Guadalupe, was a picture of disarray, with blankets, mattresses, teddy bears and other belongings caked in mud. The windows of camp cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water. Michael, who only gave his first name, was searching the camp for his 8-year-old daughter. "I was in Austin and drove down yesterday morning, once we heard about it," he said, adding that he was hoping for a "miracle." The Heart O' The Hills summer camp, located about a kilometer from Camp Mystic, confirmed on Saturday that its director Jane Ragsdale was among the dead. Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem told a news conference that Trump wanted to "upgrade the technologies" at the weather service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Trump's administration has faced criticism from scientists and disaster management agencies after cutting funding and hundreds of staff at the NOAA, in charge of weather forecasts and preparedness, and the NWS. "We need to renew this ancient system," Noem said. When asked about claims that residents were given insufficient warning of the floods, Noem said she would "carry your concerns back to the federal government." Officials have said the speed and level of flooding was shocking. "We didn't know this flood was coming," Kerr County official Rob Kelly said Friday. Kerrville city official Dalton Rice said rescuers were facing "very difficult" conditions, warning people against traveling to the site. Rice added it was not known how many people may have been visiting the popular camping area, and declined to give an overall figure for how many were missing. Soila Reyna, 55, a Kerrville resident who works at a local church helping people who lost their belongings, witnessed the devastation unfold. "It has been years since we had a flood, but nothing like this," Reyna said. "Nothing like as catastrophic as this, where it involved children, people and just the loss of people's houses. ... It's just crazy," she added. With rescuers fanning out across the region, Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring urged the community to come together. "People need to know today will be a hard day," he said.
Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
At least 24 dead in Texas flash flooding, with two dozen young campers missing
Torrential rains unleashed flash floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas on Friday, killing at least 24 people as rescue teams scrambled to save dozens of victims trapped by high water or reported missing in the disaster, local officials said. Among the missing were 23 to 25 people listed as unaccounted for at an all-girls Christian summer camp located on the banks of the rain-engorged Guadalupe, authorities said. At a news conference late Friday, almost 18 hours after the crisis began, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said search-and-rescue operations would press on through the night and into Saturday. Abbott said resources devoted to the effort would be "limitless." Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One at the end of a day of public events, U.S. President Donald Trump said "we'll take care of them," when asked about federal aid for the disaster. The U.S. National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency for parts of Kerr County in south-central Texas Hill Country, about 105 kilometers northwest of San Antonio, following thunderstorms that dumped as much as a 30 centimeters of rain. Dalton Rice, city manager for Kerrville, the county seat, told reporters the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, precluding authorities from issuing advance evacuation orders as the Guadalupe swiftly rose above major flood stage. "This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time that could not be predicted, even with radar," Rice said. "This happened within less than a two-hour span." State emergency management officials had warned as early as Thursday that west and central Texas faced heavy rains and flash flood threats "over the next couple days," citing National Weather Service forecasts ahead of the holiday weekend. But the weather forecasts in question "did not predict the amount of rain that we saw," W. Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told a news conference on Friday night. Fireworks displays for U.S. Independence Day ended up being canceled in flood-stricken communities throughout the region, including Kerrville, where the waterfront site for Friday night's planned celebration was submerged by the rain-swollen river. At Friday night's briefing, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 24 flood-related fatalities had been confirmed, up from 13 tallied earlier in the day. One more person found dead in neighboring Kendall County was not confirmed to be a flood-related casualty, Leitha said. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said on Friday afternoon that authorities were searching for 23 girls listed as missing from among more than 750 children at summer camp sites along the banks of the Guadalupe River when the area was inundated by floodwaters at around 4 a.m. local time. The missing campers had all been attending Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls. "We're praying for all those missing to be found alive," Patrick said. It was not clear whether anyone unaccounted for might have ended up among the deceased victims tallied countywide by the sheriff. Otherwise, all other campers were safe, authorities said, with campers being evacuated throughout the day. "Everybody is doing everything in their power to get these kids out," Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top local elected official, had said at a news briefing on the disaster hours earlier. Kelly said a number of scattered residential subdivisions, recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds were hit hard. Pressed by reporters why more precautions were not taken with stormy weather in the forecast, Kelly insisted a disaster of such magnitude was unforeseen. "We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States," Kelly said. "We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever." In an alert on Thursday, the Texas Division of Emergency Management said it had increased its readiness level and "activated additional state emergency response resources" as parts of west and central Texas braced "for continued heavy rainfall and flash flooding threats heading into the holiday weekend." Patrick said the Guadalupe River had risen 8 meters in 45 minutes as heavy showers soaked the region. As of Friday night, emergency personnel had rescued or evacuated 237 people, including 167 by helicopter. With additional rain forecast in the region, Patrick warned that an ongoing threat for possible flash flooding extended from San Antonio to Waco for the next 24 to 48 hours. On Friday night, Abbott signed a disaster declaration to hasten emergency assistance to Kerr and a cluster of additional counties hardest hit by the floods. Personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency also were activated to assist local authorities in confronting the crisis, officials said.
