Camp Mystic girls sob and sing campfire songs as they are evacuated from horrifying Texas flood zone: video
A Camp Mystic nurse captured these harrowing scenes as she and hundreds of other campers and staffers were evacuated from the devastated scene following Friday's catastrophic floods.
Devon Paige had been working at the girls' Christian summer camp when surging waters tore through the area, drowning at least 69 people and leaving 11 girls unaccounted for in Kerr County.
'I wish you could see 'before' shots to show how devastating it is,' she wrote under one video taken from the back of a law enforcement truck, showing cars scattered like toys and rural houses reduced to matchsticks.
In another video, a busload of young girls sing worship songs in between weeping as they ride through the devastation to a reunification center.
'The girls are singing to try and calm everyone,' Page wrote.
More than 850 people were rescued within 36 hours of the start of the flash flooding, which came after a sudden storm dumped more than a foot of rain on the region.
The waters tore through the old buildings at Camp Mystic, sweeping away scores of campers and counselors or trapping them in their bunks.
Thirty-eight adults and 21 children have been confirmed dead, but 18 adult victims and four children have not yet been identified.
Five girls from Camp Mystic, ages 8 and 9, are among the dead — along with the camp's owner.
Some 400 first responders from 20 city, state, and national agencies are frantically searching for 11 girls and a counselor who are still missing from the camp, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a Sunday press conference.
When asked why the camps weren't evacuated before the water level rose, and whether emergency alerts went out in time, Leitha and city manager Dalton Rice declined to comment, abruptly ending Sunday's 10 a.m. press conference.
Rescuers face toppled trees, overturned cars, large piles of mud-filled debris, and other obstacles as they continue their rescue efforts.
Originally published as Camp Mystic girls sob and sing campfire songs as they are evacuated from horrifying Texas flood zone: video

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7NEWS
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Search teams are sifting through mounds of debris in Texas Hill Country as hopes of finding more survivors dimmed five days after flash floods tore through the region, killing at least 119 people including many children. As of Tuesday evening (Wednesday AEST), there were more than 170 people still unaccounted for, according to figures provided by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Searchers have not found anyone alive since Friday. Most of the fatalities and missing people were in Kerr County. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today The county seat, Kerrville, was devastated when torrential rains lashed the area early on Friday, dropping more than 300mm of rain in less than an hour and swelling the Guadalupe River to a height of nearly nine metres. The death toll in Kerr County was 95 as of Wednesday morning, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters at a briefing, including three dozen children. That figure includes at least 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe. Authorities have warned the death toll will likely keep rising as floodwaters recede. Elsewhere on Tuesday, three people died in New Mexico, two of them young children, when a flash flood swept through the village of Ruidoso in mountains around 215km southeast of Albuquerque, the state's largest city. The flooding was sparked by heavy rain that fell on wildfire burn scars, causing a rapid runoff of water that saw the Rio Ruidoso River rise to a record 20 feet, five feet higher than its previous historical high, the village said in a statement. Public officials in Texas have faced days of questions about whether they could have warned people sooner, giving them time to move to higher ground ahead of the raging floodwaters. At Wednesday's briefing, the sheriff was again pressed to address questions about how long it took for officials to respond to 'Code Red' alerts about the flash flooding during the early hours of July 4. He declined to respond directly, saying his focus was on finding the missing victims and that a full analysis of what went wrong with the response would come later. 'We will answer those questions,' he said. 'I can't tell you when - a week or two, okay? We're going to get to them. We're not trying to deflect them.' Scientists say climate change has made extreme flood events more frequent and damaging by creating warmer, wetter weather patterns. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice has said the amount of rainfall exceeded predictions and fell so fast that there was not enough time to order evacuations without further endangering people. Abbott said on Tuesday that the Texas legislature would convene a special session later in July to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief.


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Crews comb flood-stricken Texas for 170 missing people
Search teams are sifting through mounds of debris in Texas Hill Country as hopes of finding more survivors dimmed five days after flash floods tore through the region, killing at least 119 people including many children. As of Tuesday evening, there were more than 170 people still unaccounted for, according to figures provided by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Searchers have not found anyone alive since Friday. Most of the fatalities and missing people were in Kerr County. The county seat, Kerrville, was devastated when torrential rains lashed the area early on Friday, dropping more than 300mm of rain in less than an hour and swelling the Guadalupe River to a height of nearly nine metres. The death toll in Kerr County was 95 as of Wednesday morning, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters at a briefing, including three dozen children. That figure includes at least 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe. Authorities have warned the death toll will likely keep rising as floodwaters recede. Elsewhere on Tuesday, three people died in New Mexico, two of them young children, when a flash flood swept through the village of Ruidoso in mountains around 215km southeast of Albuquerque, the state's largest city. The flooding was sparked by heavy rain that fell on wildfire burn scars, causing a rapid runoff of water that saw the Rio Ruidoso River rise to a record 20 feet, five feet higher than its previous historical high, the village said in a statement. Public officials in Texas have faced days of questions about whether they could have warned people sooner, giving them time to move to higher ground ahead of the raging floodwaters. At Wednesday's briefing, the sheriff was again pressed to address questions about how long it took for officials to respond to "Code Red" alerts about the flash flooding during the early hours of July 4. He declined to respond directly, saying his focus was on finding the missing victims and that a full analysis of what went wrong with the response would come later. "We will answer those questions," he said. "I can't tell you when - a week or two, okay? We're going to get to them. We're not trying to deflect them." Scientists say climate change has made extreme flood events more frequent and damaging by creating warmer, wetter weather patterns. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice has said the amount of rainfall exceeded predictions and fell so fast that there was not enough time to order evacuations without further endangering people. Abbott said on Tuesday that the Texas legislature would convene a special session later in July to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief. Search teams are sifting through mounds of debris in Texas Hill Country as hopes of finding more survivors dimmed five days after flash floods tore through the region, killing at least 119 people including many children. As of Tuesday evening, there were more than 170 people still unaccounted for, according to figures provided by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Searchers have not found anyone alive since Friday. Most of the fatalities and missing people were in Kerr County. The county seat, Kerrville, was devastated when torrential rains lashed the area early on Friday, dropping more than 300mm of rain in less than an hour and swelling the Guadalupe River to a height of nearly nine metres. The death toll in Kerr County was 95 as of Wednesday morning, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters at a briefing, including three dozen children. That figure includes at least 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe. Authorities have warned the death toll will likely keep rising as floodwaters recede. Elsewhere on Tuesday, three people died in New Mexico, two of them young children, when a flash flood swept through the village of Ruidoso in mountains around 215km southeast of Albuquerque, the state's largest city. The flooding was sparked by heavy rain that fell on wildfire burn scars, causing a rapid runoff of water that saw the Rio Ruidoso River rise to a record 20 feet, five feet higher than its previous historical high, the village said in a statement. Public officials in Texas have faced days of questions about whether they could have warned people sooner, giving them time to move to higher ground ahead of the raging floodwaters. At Wednesday's briefing, the sheriff was again pressed to address questions about how long it took for officials to respond to "Code Red" alerts about the flash flooding during the early hours of July 4. He declined to respond directly, saying his focus was on finding the missing victims and that a full analysis of what went wrong with the response would come later. "We will answer those questions," he said. "I can't tell you when - a week or two, okay? We're going to get to them. We're not trying to deflect them." Scientists say climate change has made extreme flood events more frequent and damaging by creating warmer, wetter weather patterns. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice has said the amount of rainfall exceeded predictions and fell so fast that there was not enough time to order evacuations without further endangering people. Abbott said on Tuesday that the Texas legislature would convene a special session later in July to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief. Search teams are sifting through mounds of debris in Texas Hill Country as hopes of finding more survivors dimmed five days after flash floods tore through the region, killing at least 119 people including many children. As of Tuesday evening, there were more than 170 people still unaccounted for, according to figures provided by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Searchers have not found anyone alive since Friday. Most of the fatalities and missing people were in Kerr County. The county seat, Kerrville, was devastated when torrential rains lashed the area early on Friday, dropping more than 300mm of rain in less than an hour and swelling the Guadalupe River to a height of nearly nine metres. The death toll in Kerr County was 95 as of Wednesday morning, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters at a briefing, including three dozen children. That figure includes at least 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe. Authorities have warned the death toll will likely keep rising as floodwaters recede. Elsewhere on Tuesday, three people died in New Mexico, two of them young children, when a flash flood swept through the village of Ruidoso in mountains around 215km southeast of Albuquerque, the state's largest city. The flooding was sparked by heavy rain that fell on wildfire burn scars, causing a rapid runoff of water that saw the Rio Ruidoso River rise to a record 20 feet, five feet higher than its previous historical high, the village said in a statement. Public officials in Texas have faced days of questions about whether they could have warned people sooner, giving them time to move to higher ground ahead of the raging floodwaters. At Wednesday's briefing, the sheriff was again pressed to address questions about how long it took for officials to respond to "Code Red" alerts about the flash flooding during the early hours of July 4. He declined to respond directly, saying his focus was on finding the missing victims and that a full analysis of what went wrong with the response would come later. "We will answer those questions," he said. "I can't tell you when - a week or two, okay? We're going to get to them. We're not trying to deflect them." Scientists say climate change has made extreme flood events more frequent and damaging by creating warmer, wetter weather patterns. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice has said the amount of rainfall exceeded predictions and fell so fast that there was not enough time to order evacuations without further endangering people. Abbott said on Tuesday that the Texas legislature would convene a special session later in July to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief. Search teams are sifting through mounds of debris in Texas Hill Country as hopes of finding more survivors dimmed five days after flash floods tore through the region, killing at least 119 people including many children. As of Tuesday evening, there were more than 170 people still unaccounted for, according to figures provided by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Searchers have not found anyone alive since Friday. Most of the fatalities and missing people were in Kerr County. The county seat, Kerrville, was devastated when torrential rains lashed the area early on Friday, dropping more than 300mm of rain in less than an hour and swelling the Guadalupe River to a height of nearly nine metres. The death toll in Kerr County was 95 as of Wednesday morning, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters at a briefing, including three dozen children. That figure includes at least 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe. Authorities have warned the death toll will likely keep rising as floodwaters recede. Elsewhere on Tuesday, three people died in New Mexico, two of them young children, when a flash flood swept through the village of Ruidoso in mountains around 215km southeast of Albuquerque, the state's largest city. The flooding was sparked by heavy rain that fell on wildfire burn scars, causing a rapid runoff of water that saw the Rio Ruidoso River rise to a record 20 feet, five feet higher than its previous historical high, the village said in a statement. Public officials in Texas have faced days of questions about whether they could have warned people sooner, giving them time to move to higher ground ahead of the raging floodwaters. At Wednesday's briefing, the sheriff was again pressed to address questions about how long it took for officials to respond to "Code Red" alerts about the flash flooding during the early hours of July 4. He declined to respond directly, saying his focus was on finding the missing victims and that a full analysis of what went wrong with the response would come later. "We will answer those questions," he said. "I can't tell you when - a week or two, okay? We're going to get to them. We're not trying to deflect them." Scientists say climate change has made extreme flood events more frequent and damaging by creating warmer, wetter weather patterns. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice has said the amount of rainfall exceeded predictions and fell so fast that there was not enough time to order evacuations without further endangering people. Abbott said on Tuesday that the Texas legislature would convene a special session later in July to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief.


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Crews comb flood-stricken Texas for 170 missing people
Search teams are sifting through mounds of debris in Texas Hill Country as hopes of finding more survivors dimmed five days after flash floods tore through the region, killing at least 119 people including many children. As of Tuesday evening, there were more than 170 people still unaccounted for, according to figures provided by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Searchers have not found anyone alive since Friday. Most of the fatalities and missing people were in Kerr County. The county seat, Kerrville, was devastated when torrential rains lashed the area early on Friday, dropping more than 300mm of rain in less than an hour and swelling the Guadalupe River to a height of nearly nine metres. The death toll in Kerr County was 95 as of Wednesday morning, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters at a briefing, including three dozen children. That figure includes at least 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe. Authorities have warned the death toll will likely keep rising as floodwaters recede. Elsewhere on Tuesday, three people died in New Mexico, two of them young children, when a flash flood swept through the village of Ruidoso in mountains around 215km southeast of Albuquerque, the state's largest city. The flooding was sparked by heavy rain that fell on wildfire burn scars, causing a rapid runoff of water that saw the Rio Ruidoso River rise to a record 20 feet, five feet higher than its previous historical high, the village said in a statement. Public officials in Texas have faced days of questions about whether they could have warned people sooner, giving them time to move to higher ground ahead of the raging floodwaters. At Wednesday's briefing, the sheriff was again pressed to address questions about how long it took for officials to respond to "Code Red" alerts about the flash flooding during the early hours of July 4. He declined to respond directly, saying his focus was on finding the missing victims and that a full analysis of what went wrong with the response would come later. "We will answer those questions," he said. "I can't tell you when - a week or two, okay? We're going to get to them. We're not trying to deflect them." Scientists say climate change has made extreme flood events more frequent and damaging by creating warmer, wetter weather patterns. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice has said the amount of rainfall exceeded predictions and fell so fast that there was not enough time to order evacuations without further endangering people. Abbott said on Tuesday that the Texas legislature would convene a special session later in July to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief.