At Least 27 People are Dead in Texas Floods; Many Still Missing

AP

Texas floods.

Rescuers were searching Saturday for more than two dozen children from a girls’ camp and many others still missing after a wall of water rushed down a river in the Texas Hill Country during a powerful storm that killed at least 27 people, officials said. Among the dead were nine children.

The destructive fast-moving waters along the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet (8 meters) in just 45 minutes before dawn Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. The danger was not over as torrential rains continued pounding communities outside San Antonio on Saturday and flash flood warnings and watches remained in effect for parts of central Texas.

Some 27 people remained missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river, AP quoted Dalton Rice, Kerrville’s city manager, as saying. An unknown number of people at other locations were still unaccounted for, he said Saturday.

According to AP, searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue stranded people in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads. The total number of missing was not known, according to the city manager, who said he didn’t want to give an estimate.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a news conference that search and rescue teams would keep working through the night and into Saturday. Abbott said there would be "limitless" resources for the rescue efforts.

President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters, said, "we'll take care of them," when asked about federal help for the disaster.

The U.S. National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency for parts of Kerr County, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of San Antonio, after storms brought as much as a foot of rain.

Officials had warned as early as Thursday that heavy rain and flash floods could happen in west and central Texas over the holiday weekend. But W. Nim Kidd, head of Texas emergency management, said the forecasts "did not predict the amount of rain that we saw."

Fireworks for the Fourth of July were cancelled in many flooded towns, including Kerrville, because the river had flooded the celebration area.



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