Texas summer camp says 27 dead after catastrophic flooding
The big picture: Across the state, more than 80 people have been killed in the flash flooding that began early Friday on the Guadalupe River, where the water surged by more than two dozen feet in less than an hour.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a Sunday briefing that 41 people in areas throughout the state remain unaccounted for, though he noted there are more people not on the known missing list.
The latest: Camp Mystic, a private Christian camp for girls, confirmed on its website that 27 campers and counselors had died following the flooding.
"Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy," a statement read. "We are praying for them constantly."
The camp said it is "tirelessly deploying extensive resources" to search for the girls who remain missing.
As of Sunday, Abbott said there were still 11 people missing from the camp.
Dick Eastland, the director of the camp, was among those who died in the flood, as were girls as young as 8 and 9.
Abbott said Sunday that what he saw on his visit to the camp was "nothing short of horrific."
Zoom out: Of the 68 killed in Kerr County, 28 were children, according to Sheriff Larry Leitha.
While Kerr County has the largest death toll, deaths were reported across five other counties.
President Trump on Sunday announced he signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County, adding that federal officials were coordinating with state and local officials.
What we're watching: A flood watch remains in effect for areas throughout the state and is set to remain in place until 7pm CDT Monday as more rainfall is expected, according to the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio.
Slow-moving thunderstorms will lead to "another day of localized flash flooding threat in central Texas," the NWS said in a Monday morning forecast discussion.
"Thunderstorms that affected portions of central to north Texas yesterday have largely tapered off through the early hours this morning," the NWS public discussion read.
But "with a subtle low to mid-level disturbance remaining in place, scattered thunderstorms could once again develop" on Monday.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Texas flood toll passes 100 as more bodies recovered
The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas rose to more than 100 on Monday, as rescuers continued their grim search for people swept away by torrents of water. Among the dead were at least 27 girls and counselors who were staying at a youth summer camp on a river when disaster struck over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Forecasters have warned of more flooding as rain falls on saturated ground, complicating recovery efforts involving helicopters, boats and dogs, as the number of victims is expected to rise still. President Donald Trump is planning to visit Texas on Friday, the White House said, as it slammed critics claiming his cuts to weather agencies had weakened warning systems. "Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday. She said the National Weather Service, which The New York Times reported had several key roles in Texas unfilled before the floods, issued "timely and precise forecasts and warnings." Trump has described the floods that struck in the early hours of Friday as a "100-year catastrophe" that "nobody expected." The president, who previously said disaster relief should be handled at the state level, has signed a major disaster declaration, activating fresh federal funds and freeing up resources. - 'Tragedy' - Kerr County in central Texas has been hardest hit of the counties devastated by the floods, with 56 adults and 28 children killed, according to the local sheriff's office. They include the 27 who had been staying at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp that was housing about 750 people when the floodwaters struck. Camps are a beloved tradition in the long US summer holidays, with children often staying in woods, parks and other rural areas. Texas Senator Ted Cruz described them as a chance to make "lifetime friends -- and then suddenly it turns to tragedy." In a terrifying display of nature's power, the rain-swollen waters of the Guadalupe River reached treetops and the roofs of cabins as girls at the camp slept. Blankets, teddy bears and other belongings were caked in mud. Windows in the cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water. Volunteers were helping search through debris from the river, with some motivated by personal connections to the victims. "We're helping the parents of two of the missing children," Louis Deppe, 62, told AFP. "The last message they got was 'We're being washed away,' and the phone went dead." Months' worth of rain fell in a matter of hours on Thursday night into Friday, and rain has continued in bouts since then. 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." Human-driven climate change has made extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heat waves more frequent and more intense in recent years. bur/bgs/bjt/st
Politico
2 hours ago
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Death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas surpasses 100
Authorities vowed that one of the next steps would be investigating whether enough warnings were issued and why some camps did not evacuate or move to higher ground in a place long vulnerable to flooding that some local residents refer to as 'flash flood alley.' That will include a review of how weather warnings were sent out and received. One of the challenges is that many camps and cabins are in places with poor cellphone service, said Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice. 'We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things,' he said. 'We're looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.' Some camps, though, were aware of the dangers and monitoring the weather. At least one moved several hundred campers to higher ground before the floods. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said recent government spending cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service did not delay any warnings. 'There's a time to have political fights, there's a time to disagree. This is not that time,' Cruz said. 'There will be a time to find out what could been done differently. My hope is in time we learn some lessons to implement the next time there is a flood.' The weather service first advised of potential flooding on Thursday and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare step that alerts the public to imminent danger. Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expect such an intense downpour, the equivalent of months of rain. Some residents said they never received any warnings. President Donald Trump, who signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County and plans to visit the area, said Sunday that he does not plan to rehire any of the federal meteorologists who were fired this year. 'This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it,' the president said.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Survivor of 1987 Texas camp flood recalls eerily similar experience to Camp Mystic horror
A former camp counselor during the devastating 1987 Texas floods told The Post on Monday that the tragedy was eerily similar to what happened to the young campers on the same river last week. The Rev. Richard Koons was a youth pastor at a church camp in Comfort in July of that year when a sudden rainstorm dropped 12 inches of rain in just 45 minutes — flooding the Guadalupe River with 25 feet of water in less than an hour. Just like Camp Mystic — the girls' Christian camp which was swept away during torrential rains at the cost of nearly 30 lives Friday — Koons' camp was located on the banks of the Guadalupe and found itself inundated with water and scrambling to evacuate. 3 The flood levels at Richard Koons' church camp in 1987 were eerily similar to the levels at Camp Mystic on Friday. National Weather Service A caravan of buses raced for the gates, but one carrying Koons and over 40 campers and staff was cut off by a wall of water. 'That river for us went to about 35 feet deep really, really quick,' Koons told said, recalling how campers first climbed onto the bus roof before helping each other to the branches of nearby trees. Some people stripped off their pants and tied them together into a rope to help haul kids up to safety, he said. And all the while the river was raging away beneath them. 3 The 1987 flooding cut off an evacuating bus full of campers, leading to 10 being swept away and killed. National Weather Service 'The water that day was traveling 70 miles an hour,' Koons said. 'There was a guy, I remember, who jumped in the water trying to rescue somebody. And he had just got back from Colorado with Sweetwater Rescue. And he broke his ribs and had to be rescued. That's just how fast it was going.' Koons' wife was also with the group and struggling to hold on for safety — and wound up getting swept away but miraculously survived. 'One of our young men started crying and told me he had my wife but he couldn't hold on to her. She went a mile down the river. Nobody went that far and survived,' Koons said. 'She wasn't rescued by helicopter, but four guys in a boat got to her. She thought she went under the water. Everything went dark. She thought it was over. And the water just pushed her to a pile of debris.' 3 Camp Mystic was ravaged by flooding Friday, with at least 27 campers and staff now confirmed dead. AFP via Getty Images After nearly two hours, Koons and the survivors were rescued by helicopter — but 10 teens by then had been swept away and lost their lives. Similar chaos unfolded early Friday at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, not far from Koons' old camp. As the Guadalupe River rose during rains overnight, most campers were evacuated — but more than two dozen people including some staff were left behind and swept away as the river overtook the campus. At least 27 campers and staff have been confirmed dead as of Monday, with several more still missing. Friday's flooding slightly outdid the 1987 floods, with the Guadalupe River rising over 26 feet this time around. More than 100 people have been confirmed dead in the flooding, and that number is expected to rise as search and rescue crews continue scouring the ruined countryside.
