13 dead, over 20 kids missing in 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 on Friday. The camp hosts about 750 children, Xinhua news agency reported.
He said at least 14 helicopters, 12 drones and more than 500 people are searching around the camp, and multiple adults and children have been rescued from trees nearby.
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 will be reported in the county.
"We are still actively trying to find those that are out and those that are needing assistance," Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said.
At about 4 a.m. local time (0900 GMT), the National Weather Service upgraded its flash flood warning, which allows wireless emergency alerts to be sent to cell phones for residents and campers along the river, NBC News reported.
The service also warned that a "large and deadly flood wave" was moving down the Guadalupe River.
The Guadalupe River in Kerr County rose from 7.5 feet (about 2.3 metres) to nearly 30 feet overnight and is expected to crest at 34 feet in Spring Branch on Friday afternoon, said the service.
Cars, campers and mobile homes were swept away as the section of the Guadalupe River surged in the county, online videos showed.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on X that the state is "surging all available resources" to respond to the flooding. "The immediate priority is saving lives," the governor said.
Over half a million people in central Texas were under flash flood warnings as of Friday afternoon.
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Business Standard
2 hours ago
- Business Standard
Texas floods leave 51 dead, 27 girls missing as rescue efforts continue
Rescuers scoured a devastated central Texas landscape of mangled trees, overturned cars and muck-filled debris Saturday in an increasingly bleak mission to locate survivors, including 27 girls who have not been seen since their camp was slammed with a wall of water in a historic flash flood. The flooding in Kerr County killed at least 43 people, including 15 children, and several more people died in nearby counties. Authorities still have not said how many people were missing beyond the children from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along a river in Kerr County where most of the dead were recovered. The destructive, fast-moving waters rose 26 feet (8 meters) on the Guadalupe River in just 45 minutes before daybreak Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. The danger was not over as rains continued pounding communities outside San Antonio on Saturday and flash flood warnings and watches remained in effect. Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue people stranded in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads. Gov. Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state. "I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines, he said in a statement. Authorities were coming under scrutiny over whether the camps and residents in places long vulnerable to flooding received proper warning and whether enough preparations were made. The hills along the Guadalupe River in central Texas are dotted with century-old youth camps and campgrounds where generations of families have come to swim and enjoy the outdoors. The area is especially popular around the July Fourth holiday, making it more difficult to know how many are missing. We don't even want to begin to estimate at this time, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said earlier. Raging storm hit camp in middle of the night The camp was completely destroyed, said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers. A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary. The raging storm, fueled by incredible amounts of moisture, woke up her cabin just after midnight Friday. When rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs, she said. Frantic parents and families posted photos of missing loved ones and pleas for information. Among those confirmed dead were an 8-year-old girl from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was at Camp Mystic, and the director of another camp just up the road. The flooding in the middle of the night caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise. AccuWeather said the private forecasting company and the National Weather Service sent warnings about potential flash flooding hours beforehand. These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety, AccuWeather said in a statement. It called the Hill Country one of the most flash-flood-prone areas of the U.S. because of its terrain and many water crossings. At the Mo-Ranch Camp in the community of Hunt, officials had been monitoring the weather and opted to move several hundred campers and attendees at a church youth conference to higher ground. At nearby Camps Rio Vista and Sierra Vista, organizers also had mentioned on social media that they were watching the weather the day before wrapping up their second summer session Thursday. Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expected such an intense downpour, the equivalent of months' worth of rain for the area. US Rep Chip Roy, whose district includes the ravaged area, called it a once-in-a-century flood and acknowledged that there would be second-guessing and finger-pointing as people look for someone to blame. Helicopters and drones used in frantic search Search crews were facing harsh conditions while looking in every possible location, Rice said. Officials said more than 850 people had been rescued in the last 36 hours and there were heroic efforts at the camps to save children. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived and pledged that the Trump administration would use all available resources. Coast Guard helicopters and planes were assisting to ensure operations can continue even in darkness. One reunification center at an elementary school was mostly quiet after taking in hundreds of evacuees the day before. We still have people coming here looking for their loved ones. We've had a little success, but not much, said Bobby Templeton, superintendent of Ingram Independent School District. People clung to trees and fled to attics In Ingram, Erin Burgess woke to thunder and rain in the middle of the night. Just 20 minutes later, water was pouring into her home, she said. She described an agonizing hour clinging to a tree with her teen son. My son and I floated to a tree where we hung onto it, and my boyfriend and my dog floated away. He was lost for a while, but we found them, she said. Barry Adelman said water pushed everyone in his three-story house into the attic, including his 94-year-old grandmother and 9-year-old grandson. I was having to look at my grandson in the face and tell him everything was going to be OK, but inside I was scared to death, he said. Locals know the place as flash flood alley. When it rains, water doesn't soak into the soil, said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which was collecting donations. It rushes down the hill. Nobody saw this coming The weekend forecast had called for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a warning overnight Friday for at least 30,000 people. We know we get rains. We know the river rises. But nobody saw this coming, said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county's chief elected official. The county had considered a flood warning system on the river similar to a tornado warning siren about six or seven years ago, but Kelly said the idea never got off the ground and the cost would have been an issue. Kelly said he was heartbroken seeing body bags at the funeral home and the devastation on the ground during a helicopter tour.
Mint
3 hours ago
- Mint
Texas Flood Deaths Pass 50 With More Bad Weather Expected
(Bloomberg) -- More than 50 people have died and dozens of children are missing in Texas Hill Country after catastrophic flooding, leaving officials struggling to explain if they had done enough to warn people of the fast-rising waters. At least 27 campers from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, remain unaccounted for, officials said at a briefing. They said they are maintaining that number even as more bodies were discovered. Of the dead in Kerr County, 28 were adults and 15 were children. At least eight others have died in nearby counties. Authorities are warning the casualty count will climb as more rain is forecast, increasing the risk of further flash floods in the coming days. Officials declined to give a figure for the total number of people missing, in part because so many visitors came to the area to camp during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The flood took Texas officials by surprise. Thunderstorms, combined with the remnants of short-lived Tropical Storm Barry, produced much more rain than had been forecast. 'This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States. And we deal with floods on a regular basis,' Kerr County Judge Robert Kelly told reporters. 'We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever.' The Guadalupe River surged 26 feet in just 45 minutes, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said at a briefing Friday. The National Weather Service had predicted only three to six inches of rain in the area. Governor Greg Abbott expressed gratitude to the first responders who had poured into the area, and said the search for survivors continues. At a press conference earlier on Saturday, Abbott, flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, thanked the federal government for providing assistance. Abbott later said in a post on X that he visited Camp Mystic on Saturday. Mystic is one of several youth camps in the Hill Country that cater to middle- and upper-class families from Dallas, Houston and Austin who send kids for month-long getaways at places like Camp Longhorn and Camp Waldemar. Authorities were able to confirm that no other camps have missing children. When the unexpected deluge hit Friday, there were about 750 children at Camp Mystic, which is about 85 miles (137 kilometers) northwest of San Antonio. The Hill Country sprawls across all or part of more than 20 counties in central Texas, with booming Austin and San Antonio on the region's eastern fringe driving a transformation from ranchland to suburbia. The camp and 'the river running beside it, were horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I've seen in any natural disaster,' Abbott wrote. 'The height the rushing water reached to the top of cabins was shocking. We won't stop until we find every girl who was in those cabins.' President Donald Trump said in a social media post that federal officials are working with state and local counterparts. 'Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best,' Trump wrote. 'GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES, AND GOD BLESS TEXAS!' The National Weather Service warned of more extreme rainfall and life-threatening flash flooding in parts of the region, issuing flood watches and warnings in central Texas, including parts of Austin and San Antonio. The service also reported numerous water rescues. Climate change has driven more extreme rainfall around the world. A warmer atmosphere can hold more water, upping the odds of deluges like the one that struck Texas. Scientists haven't yet examined these floods for the fingerprints of climate change. A rapid analysis by Colorado State University climatologist Russ Schumacher shows the six-hour rainfall totals made this a 1,000-year event — that is, it had less than a 0.1% chance of occurring in any given year. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said weather predictions underestimated the severity of the storms. 'The amount of rain that fell in this specific location was never in any of the forecasts,' Kidd said. The weather service 'is heartbroken by the tragic loss of life in Kerr County,' according to an emailed statement late Saturday that included a timeline of its flood-hazard outlook and warnings. Noem said federal officials will look at whether more warning could have been provided. 'For decades, for years, everybody knows that the weather is extremely difficult to predict, but also that the National Weather Service, over the years, at times, has done well, and at times we have all wanted more time and more warning and more alerts and more notification,' she said. Officials have rescued around 850 people, and are using helicopters, boats and drones to search for others in need of assistance, Abbott said. Many roads were washed out, limiting access to some areas. At Camp Mystic, aging bunks with names of former campers carved in the rafters sat on a slope near the river. Some were washed away by the surging waters. Its website was overloaded with visitors Saturday, according to an error message. Photos said to be of missing children spread on social media, but officials declined to release names of any of the missing. President Lyndon Johnson's daughters spent several summers at Mystic among the live oak trees and cedar brush, and former first lady Laura Bush was a Mystic counselor in college, according to Texas Monthly. Posts on a Facebook page called Kerrville Breaking News were filled with photos of people and pets said to be missing. One woman said she was trying to locate a 19-year-old counselor at Mystic. 'People need to know today will be a hard day,' said Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring. --With assistance from Yi Wei Wong, Susanne Barton, Brian K. Sullivan and Adam Majendie. (Updates death toll from first paragraph.) More stories like this are available on
Economic Times
4 hours ago
- Economic Times
Texas Flood Death Toll: Families desperate as number reaches 52; 27 girls still unaccounted for as searches continue
Texas floods death toll by county: latest numbers Kerr County: 44 confirmed dead. Most victims were swept away along the Guadalupe River near Hunt and Ingram, where floodwaters rose over 25 feet in under an hour. Travis County: 5 dead. Several cars were caught on flooded roads west of Austin. Burnet County: 2 dead. A father and daughter were found in a trailer near Lake Buchanan. Kendall County: 1 confirmed dead. A woman's body was recovered near Comfort after her car was washed off a rural crossing. Live Events The missing and the waiting A region known for danger Frantic rescues, bitter questions Families swept away (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel When the rain came, it wasn't gentle. It battered central Texas in the early hours of Friday, turning the Guadalupe River into a raging force that rose 26 feet in just 45 minutes. By Saturday night, the floods had killed at least 52 people, 15 of them children, and left rescuers combing through debris and mud for the Kerr County alone, 43 lives were lost. Many were campers at Camp Mystic , a Christian summer retreat that had stood along the river for nearly a century. It's here that 27 girls are still unaccounted for.'The camp was completely destroyed,' said Elinor Lester, 13, one of the survivors. 'A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.'The death toll from the flash floods that ripped through Texas Hill Country has climbed to 52, including 15 children. Search teams are still combing through debris and swollen rivers, with 27 girls from Camp Mystic still missing. Here's what we know so far about where victims were found:Search teams have rescued more than 850 people so far — some from trees, others from rooftops. But there's a grim sense that time is slipping away. Dalton Rice, Kerrville City Manager, said, 'We're tracking the 'known missing' — the 27 — but there could be others. We simply don't know yet.'At an elementary school acting as a reunification centre, families wait for news. Some cling to hope. Others brace for the worst.'We still have people coming here looking for their loved ones. We've had a little success, but not much,' said Bobby Templeton, superintendent of Ingram Independent School part of Texas has a nickname: flash flood alley . It's earned. The Hill Country is all rugged slopes and shallow soils that shed rain like a tin roof.'When it rains, water doesn't soak into the soil,' said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. 'It rushes down the hill.'In the past, officials had considered setting up a flood siren system along the river — like the tornado sirens in the Midwest. 'We know we get rains. We know the river rises. But nobody saw this coming,' said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly. He admitted the plan for flood warnings never got off the ground, partly because of the Camp Mystic, the chaos came fast. Some campers crossed bridges roped together in knee-high water. Others were lifted out by helicopter. An 8-year-old girl from Alabama was among the confirmed dead. Jane Ragsdale, co-owner of Heart O' the Hills, another nearby camp, died in the flooding Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster and urged Texans to pray. 'I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday — for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines,' he there's anger too. AccuWeather claimed its warnings, along with alerts from the National Weather Service, should have given officials enough time to evacuate vulnerable camps. 'These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,' the company Security Secretary Kristi Noem admitted the forecast had fallen short. 'A moderate flood watch issued on Thursday… did not accurately predict the extreme rainfall,' she NOAA director Rick Spinrad put it more bluntly: 'People's ability to prepare for these storms will be compromised. It undoubtedly means that additional lives will be lost and probably more property damage.'There's no shortage of horror stories. Erin Burgess and her teenage son clung to a tree for an hour after water poured into their house. 'My son and I floated to a tree where we hung onto it, and my boyfriend and my dog floated away. He was lost for a while, but we found them,' she Adelman watched water drive his entire family — including his 94-year-old grandmother and his 9-year-old grandson — into the attic. 'I was having to look at my grandson in the face and tell him everything was going to be OK, but inside I was scared to death.'W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, promised that no one will give up. 'The process is going to keep going,' he said. 'We're not going to stop until we find everyone that's missing.'President Donald Trump offered prayers and federal aid. 'Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best,' he for many families in the Hill Country, the truth is harder than any headline. Tonia Fucci summed up the mood as she stood in Comfort, a town downstream from Camp Mystic. 'Complete shock. I'm still in shock today. And with the rescues going on and helicopters, you just know there's so many missing children and missing people. You just want them to be found for the sake of the families. But, you know, it's not going to be a good ending.'Here's the thing. In places like this, rain can turn deadly overnight. The question is whether this time, someone should have seen it coming.(With inputs from Agencies)
