Texas flood toll passes 100 as more bodies recovered
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, dogs and some 1,750 personnel.
'There is still a threat of heavy rain with the potential to cause flooding,' Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement Monday, with the number of victims expected to rise still.
President Donald Trump confirmed he planned to visit Texas on Friday, as the White House 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.
At least 104 flood-related deaths were reported across central Texas.
Kerr County, through which the Guadalupe River runs, was the hardest hit, with at least 84 people killed including 28 children, according to the local sheriff's office.
The toll includes 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.'
But some residents were questioning the absence of more robust flood-warning systems in this region of south and central Texas — where such deluges are so frequent that it is known colloquially as 'Flash Flood Alley.'
Experts stress the NWS sent out timely forecasts, and climate scientist Daniel Swain pinned the problem on a failure of 'warning dissemination.'
San Antonio mother Nicole Wilson — who almost sent her daughters to Camp Mystic — launched a petition on Change.org urging Governor Greg Abbott to approve a modern warning network.
'Five minutes of that siren going off could have saved every single one of those children,' she told AFP.
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 — more than a two-story building — in just 45 minutes.
Flash floods occur when the ground is unable to absorb torrential rainfall.
Human-driven climate change has made extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heat waves more frequent and more intense in recent years.
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Al Arabiya
14 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Could this hawaii community be the next lahaina? Some residents fear a similar wildfire fate
WAIANAE, Hawaii (AP) – When there's enough rain, the mountain-framed expanse of vacant land behind Calvin Endo's house looks like the lush and verdant landscape that makes tropical Hawaii famous. But in the summer, when the jungle of eyeball-high invasive grasses and spindly tree branches fade to brown, he fears it could become a fiery hellscape. This isn't Maui, where most of Lahaina burned down during a massive wildfire in August 2023. Endo's duplex is in Waianae, on the west side of Oahu. But Waianae and Lahaina have a lot in common. They're both situated on parched western island coasts with road access pinched by topography and are bastions of Native Hawaiian culture. Both have sections crisscrossed by overhead power lines atop aging wooden poles like those that fell in high winds and caused the Lahaina fire. There's even a Lahaina Street through the heart of Makaha, Endo's neighborhood along the Waianae coast. 'It can happen to us,' said Endo, who moved to the Makaha Meadows subdivision in 1980 soon after it was built. 'We can have a repeat of Lahaina if somebody doesn't do anything about the brush in the back.' In recent days, two wildfires a few miles away–including a July 6 blaze that left a 94-year-old woman dead–proved his worst fears could become reality. It's been nearly two years since Lahaina provided a worst-case scenario of the destruction from wind-whipped flames fueled by overgrown brush. With 102 deaths, it's the deadliest US wildfire in a century. In the months afterward, the number of Hawaii communities participating in the Firewise network–a nationally recognized program that helps communities with resources for safeguarding homes–more than doubled to 35–but none in western Oahu. Even though Waianae residents have long known about their wildfire risks, only now is one of its neighborhoods close to gaining Firewise status. Communities become Firewise by organizing a committee, creating a hazard assessment, developing an action plan, and volunteering hours toward reducing risk, such as removing overgrown brush. Firewise tracks a community's progress, connects residents with experts, and provides ideas and funding for mitigation workshops and training. The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service considers Lahaina and Waianae to be at much higher risk than other US communities for a wildland fire, noted Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Ito. 'The weather, the winds–they're pretty much identical,' he said. 'With all that being said, I think that the high-risk wildfire potential is a state-wide problem, not really specific to Waianae or Lahaina.' Nani Barretto, co-director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, struggles to understand why fire-prone communities like Waianae have yet to join the Firewise movement. There are also no Firewise communities on the island of Kauai. 'Just because we are proactive in getting the word out, it doesn't mean the right people are getting the information,' she said. 'For Maui, it took a very devastating event for them to join.' Organizing a community can be challenging because it requires residents to put in time and step up as leaders, she said. Endo, who is a longtime member of the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board, had never even heard of Firewise until recently. A development called Sea Country near the neighborhood that was recently ordered to evacuate during a wildfire is close to becoming the fist Firewise community in Waianae, said Andria Tupola, a resident who also represents the coast on the Honolulu City Council. The process got underway around 2018 but picked up momentum after Lahaina, she said. Sea Country recently completed a hazard assessment and has planned some mitigation events including a park cleanup in August, said Ashley Bare, the Firewise support specialist for Oahu. Lahaina also provided the spark for opening an emergency access route in Waianae, Tupola said. Farrington Highway, the main artery along the coast, can get clogged with just an accident. Military officials who control a mountain pass above Waianae started talking about letting civilians access the route after Lahaina, she said. During the July 6 fire, state and military officials were ready to open the road as a way out of the coast and into central Oahu, said state Rep. Darius Kila, who represents the area. A Hawaiian homestead community in Waianae's Nanakuli Valley is also trying to achieve Firewise status, said Diamond Badajos, spokesperson for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Home to the largest concentration of Native Hawaiians, Waianae is rich in Hawaiian culture and history. But much of the coast also struggles with poverty and homelessness. Residents have grown accustomed to wildfires in the dry summer months, said Republican state Rep. Chris Muraoka: 'It's almost like if it doesn't burn, something's not right.' However, Muraoka said he thinks communities along the coast would benefit more from fire-prevention and safety education in schools rather than organizing to be Firewise. Muraoka, who lives in Makaha, said communities in Waianae have unique needs that being Firewise might not address, including sections with neighborhoods that are more spread out than in Lahaina and blazes that are often started by arsonists or kids playing with fire. Some residents already do what they can, especially with the dry season underway. Endo often tries to clear brush on private property behind his home himself to create a firebreak. Some properties in Waianae Valley use sheep to eat the overgrown vegetation. Retired firefighter Shermaih Bulla Iaea recalls fighting blazes in the brush near Endo's home and Makaha Elementary School. In 2018, his farm burned down during high winds from a passing hurricane. He was using a herd of sheep on his property until wild dogs killed them in April. Neighborhoods banding together to become Firewise is another tool that will help, he said. 'There's a 100 percent chance that will happen here,' he said. 'I thought it would never happen to me. Now I'm trying to ring the bells. I'm trying to sound the alarm.' Being one of the poorest communities in the state is a major factor preventing Waianae from becoming Firewise, said Kila, who lives near where the July 6 fire happened. Before the summer, the Democratic lawmaker sent a letter to Hawaiian Electric and telecom companies urging immediate and coordinated action to address dangerous sagging utility lines on aging wooden poles along the coast. It's not clear why Makaha ended up with a long street named Lahaina, which can mean 'relentless sun' in Hawaiian. But like the west Maui town, it fits the sunny west Oahu neighborhood, which is home to the world-famous Makaha surfing beach. Some neighborhoods above Lahaina Street are newer and have underground utilities like Endo's. But toward the ocean, older neighborhoods are laced by overhead power lines. That worries Glen Kila, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner in Waianae who is not related to Darius Kila. Power lines are blamed for sparking the Lahaina blaze. 'If that happens to Waianae,' he said, 'we're done.'
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
Texas floodwaters damaged crops and endangered livestock. Now farmers and ranchers are cleaning up
Across a wide swath of Texas, the inundated rivers that ravaged communities also tore through farms and ranches. In the town of Bend, about two hours north of Austin, Boyd Clark waded into rising waters to help one of his stranded ostrich hens. Matthew Ketterman spent several agonizing hours trapped on top of his truck amid coursing rapids after driving out to check the fences on his exotic game ranch outside Burnet, about an hour south of Bend. And the overflowing San Gabriel River knocked Christmas trees sideways, and staff had to get petting zoo animals into a temporary pen at Sweet Eats Adventure Farm in Georgetown, about 65 miles east of Ketterman's ranch. As authorities work to understand the extent of the loss of human life–as of Friday, at least 120 people were killed, more than 160 missing–farmers and ranchers are working to assess damage to their properties, crops, and animals. Many are facing the task of caring for livestock while salvaging what crops they can and cleaning up the wreckage. While many farmers lean on a relentless optimism to get through the uncertainty of relying on the weather for a living, extreme weather disasters like catastrophic floods, droughts, and wildfires can take a toll. The weather events also pose unique challenges to those who rely on seasonal tourist rushes or who might not have crop insurance. It's a double-edged sword: as some farmers turn to agritourism or niche crops to weather unpredictable markets, climate change is also intensifying many of the natural disasters that can make it more difficult for those experiments to succeed. Even the larger operations are not immune; farmers who produce all kinds of crops must plan for emergencies. 'We expect it to happen again. It's never a question of if but when,' said Jon Meredith, co-owner of Sweet Eats, an agritourism outfit that mainly grows Christmas trees. 'And so we just continue to try to mitigate our losses and reduce our risk around events like this.' Still surveying the damage and starting repairs, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said there has been so much rain so quickly that some farmers are seeing complete loss or severe damage to their crops and infrastructure in several counties and beyond the banks of overflowing rivers. 'We've had farm equipment washed down the river. We've had tractors underwater, so they're totaled, won't be able to use those. Irrigation equipment wadded up like a bowl of spaghetti,' Miller told The Associated Press. 'We're finding cattle dead on top of trees downriver. So it's pretty devastating.' Miller said there are resources available for farmers. Those include the State of Texas Agriculture Relief Fund, which helps farmers access disaster funding; the Hay and Feed Hotline, which donates animal feed; and the AgriStress Helpline that provides 24/7 mental health support. Now comes the task of cleanup: repair miles of destroyed fence line, tally lost livestock, and move debris from foliage and mud to piled-up picnic tables. After a harrowing night waiting for hours to be rescued, Ketterman, who had gotten stuck on his vehicle, felt lucky to be alive. But he and his team were also grieving the loss of a member who died in the flooding on his way to work. They lost some animals to the churning water as well. 'We're in the hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage, but you know at the end of the day that's just monetary and we'll recover from that,' he said. Disasters like floods can be tough for specialty farmers. Small farms that offer experiences to visitors, don't sell to wholesalers, or don't have crop insurance are especially vulnerable, said Hannah Burrack, professor and chair of the entomology department at Michigan State University, who has worked with fruit farmers in the aftermath of floods. Clark said ostrich growers can access some US Department of Agriculture programs that cover the loss of grass that birds graze on, but otherwise there isn't much assistance. Ostriches also get too cold in heavy rain, and it cuts down egg production; the hens almost stop laying eggs, and mud and water can ruin what few they do. 'It does definitely affect our production this year and our profitability,' Clark said. Burrack said that other crops for consumption, like fruits and vegetables, that get submerged can no longer be sold. Unharvested plants in fields can build up, causing pest issues or creating an unpleasant experience for visitors. And once submerged, long-term echoes of these short-term stressors can make trees more vulnerable to disease. Meredith said Sweet Eats was lucky; the Christmas season is still months away, and they still had a chance to put the trees back up. They would've had a harder time if they were still doing peach trees like they used to. 'Because so much of our stuff is pick-your-own, so if we can't be open for customers, then it magnifies the challenges that we face because of cash flow issues,' he said. All farms need to plan for emergencies and climate change. It's not just floods: farms across the country have taken hits due to extreme weather in recent years. Wildfires have damped farm-based businesses in California, including pick-your-own apple orchards in the southern part of the state and wineries in the north. An unusually warm winter had Midwestern maple syrup producers scrambling in 2024, while pinching drought has hit pumpkins along with many other crops across the West. 'It's good business sense to observe how climate change might affect your operation and make adjustments accordingly,' said Rob Leeds, an extension educator at Ohio State University who works with farmers, especially those interested in agritourism. He described how, after watching a barrage of tornadoes and high winds in recent years, some cattle producers in Ohio have been building tougher barns that more typically would be seen in windswept areas of the West. Some fall-themed agritourism operators have started installing fans and misters, anticipating more hot days later into the fall. It will take a while for Texas farmers to fully recover, but some are already building back stronger. Ketterman said he thinks they're going to put up sturdier fence posts in the coming weeks as they secure the fence line. They'll lean on each other too. Many farmers described the tight-knit sense of community as they weathered the storm. 'We all started calling each other to make sure we could get our animals out and anything else that we needed to save,' said John Meredith, owner of Sweet Eats, 'just because this is a fact of life. When you live on a river, it's beautiful and enjoyable, but there are occasionally times where things can go south very quickly.'
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Pakistan rain death toll rises to 90 as authorities issue fresh flood warning
KARACHI: The death toll from monsoon downpours in Pakistan rose to 90 after three children died in rain-related incidents in the eastern Punjab province, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Friday, amid fresh alert about possible flooding between July 13 and July 17. Punjab has reported 32 deaths, including 18 children, while the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has recorded 30 deaths, 14 of them children, since the start of monsoon in late June. The southern province of Sindh has reported 16 deaths and the southwestern Balochistan province has logged 11 fatalities. One man lost his life in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. 'The total number of 90 deceased include 45 children, 29 men and 16 women,' the NDMA said in a report on Friday, adding that another 158 people were injured in incidents across the country. 'Minor flooding is ongoing at Tarbela, Taunsa and Guddu Barrages, while moderate flooding continues at Kalabagh and Chashma.' Heavy rains have also damaged at least 343 houses nationwide. Of them, 109 were destroyed and 234 incurred partial damages, according to the NDMA. Flood relief operations have been underway in affected areas, with authorities distributing tents, ration bags, blankets, sandbags, quilts, gas cylinders, mattresses, kitchen sets, mosquito nets, plastic mats, hygiene kits and food packets to affected families. A total of 24 relief camps have been set up in Punjab and two in Sindh, providing shelter to 176 people, whereas around 245 people have been rescued in 21 operations carried out across the country. FLOOD ALERT Taunsa Barrage located on Indus River in Punjab's Dera Ismail Khan district 'may experience moderate flooding,' the NDMA said in a fresh alert on Friday. There is a risk of minor flooding at Marala and Khanki along the Chenab River and at Nowshera along the Kabul River. Flooding is also expected in the Swat and Panjkora Rivers as well as their adjoining streams. The NDMA has advised people to exercise caution and avoid crossing streams, bridges and floodwaters. Pakistan has also rolled out a location-based SMS alert system to warn citizens living in flood-prone areas about imminent weather threats. Pakistan, home to over 240 million people, is consistently ranked among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. In 2022, record-breaking monsoon rains and glacier melt triggered catastrophic floods that affected 33 million people and killed more than 1,700.
