
1st LD: At least 13 dead, over 20 kids missing in central Texas flooding
There are currently "about 23" kids unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told a news conference Friday afternoon. The camp hosts about 750 children.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told a news conference that at least 13 people died in the county due to the severe flooding and several people remain unaccounted for.
Leitha said he expects more fatalities to be reported in the county.

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New Straits Times
7 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Desperate search for 11 missing girls as Texas flood death toll climbs to 68
HUNT, United States: Rescuers in Texas raced against time Sunday to find dozens of missing people, including children, swept away by flash floods that killed at least 68, as forecasters warned of new deluges. Local Texans joined forces with disaster officials on the ground and in helicopters to search for the missing, including 11 girls and a counselor from a riverside Christian summer camp where some 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 ended up caked in mud. Windows in the cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said heavy rain likely to cause more flooding was falling Sunday, as the death toll at the camp and elsewhere in Kerr County rose to at least 59. "We expect that to go higher, sadly," Patrick told Fox News Sunday. He told stories of heroics, such as a camp counselor smashing a window so girls in their pajamas could swim out and walk through neck-high water. "These little girls, they swam for about 10 or 15 minutes. Can you imagine, in the darkness and the rushing waters and trees coming by you and rocks come on you? And then they get to a spot on the land," Patrick said. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Camp Mystic had been "horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I've seen in any natural disaster." "We won't stop until we find every girl who was in those cabins," he said in a post on social media platform X after a visit to the site. Officials and US media say nine people died in other Texas counties, for a total of 68. Officials had earlier said 27 girls were missing from the camp. Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice told a news conference Sunday morning that the figure is now 11. He did not explain the sharp drop in the number. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned Sunday that slow-moving thunderstorms threatened more flash floods over the saturated ground of central Texas. 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 some 26 feet (eight meters) – more than a two-story building- in just 45 minutes. President Donald Trump, at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, signed a major disaster declaration that freed up resources for the state. Flash floods, which occur when the ground is unable to absorb torrential rainfall, are not unusual. The region of south and central Texas where the weekend's deluge occurred is known colloquially as "Flash Flood Alley." But 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. 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 Rice urged them to stop this, saying it is 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 chip in. "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 helped for, but of course, we're looking for anybody."--AFP


The Star
10 hours ago
- The Star
Search for Texas flood victims enters third day, with more rain forecast
A search dog operates at Camp Mystic after deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, U.S., July 5, 2025. REUTERS/Sergio Flores HUNT, Texas (Reuters) - The search for over two dozen children missing from a girls' summer camp hit by flash floods in Texas entered a third day on Sunday as rescuers faced the threat of more flooding and the death toll in the region reached at least 43. Local officials warned the number of dead will likely rise and were due to give an update on Sunday morning, as search and rescue teams raced to find 27 girls missing from a camp near the Guadalupe River, which broke its banks after torrential rain fell in central Texas on Friday, the U.S. Independence Day holiday. Officials said more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain across Texas Hill Country, about 85 miles (140 km) northwest of San Antonio. It was unclear exactly how many people in the area were still missing. 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. President Donald Trump and his administration have overseen thousands of job cuts from the National Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, said former NOAA director Rick Spinrad. He said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of advance warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but said they would inevitably degrade the agency's ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees NOAA, said a "moderate" flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system. More rain was expected in the area on Sunday. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Kerr County, the epicenter of the disaster, until 1 p.m. local time. The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as 29 feet (9 meters). Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, told a press conference on Saturday he had asked Trump to sign a disaster declaration, which would unlock federal aid for those affected. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Trump would honor that request. Trump 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. At least 15 of the confirmed dead are children, local officials said. The 27 missing girls were from the Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp, which had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood. A day after the disaster struck, the camp was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least six feet (1.83 meters) from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, one had a missing wall. (Reporting by Sergio Flores in Hunt, Texas and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Marco Bello and Sandra Stojanovic in Comfort, Texas; Deborah Gembara in Washington; and Ryan Jones and Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Writing by Tim Reid; Editing by Bill Berkrot)