Texas floods death toll rises to 82 as search continues for those still missing
The devastation along the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio, has drawn a massive search effort as officials face questions over their preparedness and the speed of their initial actions.
The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up.
The flash floods on Friday, local time, started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 30 centimetres of rain in the dark early morning hours.
After a flood watch notice midday on Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning around 4am that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life.
By at least 5:20 am, some in the Kerrville City area say water levels were getting alarmingly high.
The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise eight metres in just 45 minutes.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that there were 41 people confirmed to be unaccounted-for across the state and more could be missing.
In Kerr County, home to youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said on Sunday afternoon.
Fatalities in nearby counties brought the total number of deaths to 79 as of Sunday evening.
Ten girls and a counsellor were still unaccounted-for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.
Camp Mystic said it was "grieving the loss" the loss of 27 campers and counsellors as the search continued on Monday for victims of the catastrophic Texas flooding over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
The statement added another layer of heartbreak to the devastating flooding sent a wall of water through the century-old summer camp.
"We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls," the camp said in a statement posted on its website.
"We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from community, first responders, and officials at every level."
For past campers, the tragedy turned happy memories into grief.
Beyond the Camp Mystic participants unaccounted-for, the number of missing from other nearby campgrounds and across the region had not been released.
"We don't even want to begin to estimate at this time," Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice said Saturday, citing the likely influx of visitors during the holiday weekend.
Survivors have described the floods as a "pitch black wall of death" and said they received no emergency warnings.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, who lives along the Guadalupe River, said on Saturday that "nobody saw this coming."
Various officials have referred to it as a "100-year-flood," meaning that the water levels were highly unlikely based on the historical record.
Records behind those statistics don't always account for human-caused climate change. Though it's hard to connect specific storms to a warming planet so soon after they occur, meteorologists say that a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture and allow severe storms to dump even more rain.
Additionally, officials have come under scrutiny about why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner than 4am or told to evacuate.
Officials noted that the public can grow weary from too many flooding alerts or forecasts that turn out to be minor.
Kerr County officials said they had presented a proposal for a more robust flood warning system, similar to a tornado warning system, but that members of the public reeled at the cost.
On Sunday, officials walked out of a news briefing after reporters asked them again about delays in alerts and evacuations.
The flash floods have erased campgrounds and torn homes from their foundations.
"It's going to be a long time before we're ever able to clean it up, much less rebuild it," Judge Kelly said on Saturday after surveying the destruction from a helicopter.
Other massive flooding events have driven residents and business owners to give up, including in areas struck last year by Hurricane Helene.
The National Weather Service on Thursday advised of potential flooding and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies.
Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick said the potential for heavy rain and flooding covered a large area, and "everything was done to give them a heads-up that you could have heavy rain".
However, when asked about how people were notified in Kerr County so that they could get to safety, Judge Kelly said: "We do not have a warning system."
In a press conference on Sunday, local time, a journalist asked officials if six vacancies at the National Weather Service contributed to the surprise warning.
Officials said it was a "good question" and they would "look into it".
The Trump administration has overseen thousands of job cuts from the National Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), leaving many weather offices understaffed, former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said.
Mr Spinrad said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of advanced warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but that they would inevitably degrade the agency's ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts.
US President Donald Trump pushed back when asked on Sunday if federal government cuts hobbled the disaster response or left key job vacancies at the National Weather Service under Mr Trump's oversight.
"That water situation, that all is, and that was really the Biden set-up," he said referencing his Democratic predecessor. "But I wouldn't blame Biden for it, either. I would just say this is 100-year catastrophe."
He declined to answer a question about FEMA, saying only: "They're busy working, so we'll leave it at that."
Mr Trump said he would likely visit the flood zone on Friday.
AP
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