Volunteers on horseback, with rescue dogs search for victims of deadly Texas floods
Rescuers in inflatable motorboats also searched Monday for bodies near Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp, where 27 campers and counselors died after being swept away by floodwaters.
Another team collected the children's belongings from flooded cabins marked by mud lines exceeding five feet (1.5 meters) high.
About 30 volunteers on horseback, many wearing cowboy hats, joined mounted police from Austin to support rescue efforts in four towns along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County.
Michael Duncan, 55, rode Ranger, his dark brown horse, along the river, supporting rescue efforts that have deployed hundreds of searchers along several miles of the waterway.
'Obviously (on horseback)... we can gain more ground. We can get to some areas where people can't get to as easy,' Duncan told AFP.
The horses easily navigate the hilly terrain, undergrowth and debris left behind after the rain-swollen floodwaters receded.
Perched atop Ranger, Duncan said that the 'height advantage' allowed him to scan across the mounds of debris.
Volunteers on foot also scoured the area, detecting foul odours from undergrowth that could indicate decomposing animals or human remains.
They dug through earth piled near trees, using pointed sticks to probe mounds for any signs of bodies.
During their search, they found children's swimming goggles and a football.
'Emotional debt'
Tom Olson, a rescue dog trainer, deployed his eight-year-old Belgian Malinois, Abby, to assist the search.
Olson, 55, compared the dog's search abilities to a useful tool, 'just like underwater sonar boats, drone, aircraft.'
'The dog will be able to rapidly find a potential victim... lowering the risk to the people that are out here actually trying to do the search and rescue,' he told AFP.
Olson said the work to recover victims' bodies involved 'a mental debt' and 'emotional debt' but was necessary to bring 'closure to the families that lost (people), as well as closure for the rescuers.'
Electric company crews also worked to restore power poles and cables destroyed by the floods as the Guadalupe River receded to its normal course.
Duncan, the mounted volunteer, said the searches filled him with 'a lot of sadness' but added: 'It's also great to see how many people come out... and most everybody is doing this for free.
'That's pretty inspiring to see.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
4 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Rescuers Find Mom and Son Lost in California Forest Thanks to Notes They Left on a Remote Road
A mother and her 9-year-old son who got lost in a remote California forest while on their way to a Boy Scouts camp were rescued after a search crew found notes the pair had left behind. The notes, weighed down by rocks with HELP written at the top, said they were stranded up the road with no phone service. A volunteer search-and-rescue team that was training in the Sierra Nevada foothills found the pair Saturday, a day after they had set out for the camp, according to the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office. The woman and her son got lost on Friday after they left the Sacramento area and their GPS had directed them onto old logging roads deep into the forest, said Lt. Greg Stark, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office. They eventually lost their GPS signal and then got stuck about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the nearest paved road, Stark said. They were reported missing the next day after not showing up at the camp. The county's volunteer search team initially narrowed down the pair's last known spot from a location-sharing app and then heard from campers who saw the woman's missing car a day earlier, the sheriff's office said. About four hours after being dispatched, the search team found the first note that read: 'HELP. Me and my son are stranded with no service and can't call 911. We are ahead up the road to the right. Please call 911 to get help for us. Thank you!' The team found a second note up the road and then, about a mile later, they found the woman and her son where their car had gotten stuck, the sheriff's office said. The pair had spent the night in the car with a cooler full of food and drinks they had packed for a few days at the camp, Stark said. Authorities credited the pair with alerting others where they were going and when they would arrive and staying where they were once they got lost. The boy also used his whistle to sound three short bursts–a signal for help that Scouts are taught. 'They did everything right,' Stark said. 'They put themselves in the best position to be found.'
Arab News
4 days ago
- Arab News
In Bangladeshi slums, women lead climate action to escape poverty
DHAKA: Growing up in a poor, densely populated neighborhood of a southern Bangladeshi city, Josna Begum has for most of her life lived in conditions where even access to clean water was rare. As climate change-related heatwaves and floods took an increasing toll in recent years, she joined a women's community project in 2018 and soon rose to lead it — helping make Hatkhola, the slum area where she lives in Barisal city, a safer and healthier place — and support other women in escaping poverty. 'My locality is one of the most underprivileged areas of Barisal city. Here, people are mostly unaware of their rights and responsibilities,' Josna told Arab News. 'Women didn't have a voice. We had no chance to share our opinions at home, in the community, or in any official space. We wanted to unite so we could solve our issues ourselves.' A mother of three, Josna, 44, has been volunteering with the Women's Squad — an all-women team established by the Bangladesh Red Crescent and British Red Cross in slum areas of Barisal. She currently serves as the team's leader in the Hatkhola locality. 'We build awareness about climate change impacts like untimely heavy rain, drought, heatwaves, repeated cyclones, floods. We encourage people to plant more trees to help reduce the effects of climate change. We also make people aware of the importance of keeping the canals clean so they can hold enough water during heavy rainfall,' she said. 'We work to keep the environment clean where we live. To motivate the community, all 23 members of our women's squad do the drainage cleaning tasks ourselves. We raise awareness about the effects of waterlogging, which causes diseases like dengue, malaria.' Josna initially faced objections from her husband, a daily-wage worker, but this changed when he saw the effects of her work. The Women's Squad has managed to obtain a submersible water pump from the Red Crescent, and convinced local authorities to repair five tube wells, securing clean water for over 700 families, who did not have access before. They have also persuaded local officials to repair a 106-meter-long drainage system, helping prevent waterlogging during the rain season, and are now focused on improving sanitation in the neighborhood that until recently had no proper bathrooms or toilets. 'Now, seeing my success, all family members are happy and encouraging me to keep going,' Josna said. 'With support from the Red Crescent Society, we secured two bathrooms, and just weeks ago, we coordinated the construction of another toilet with the help of a local NGO. This new facility is fully equipped, including features to accommodate people with disabilities.' To uplift the community, the women also help households plant trees and grow vegetables on whatever small plots of land they have. With support from NGOs, they organize vocational training for those interested in learning to drive, sew, perform basic electrical work, or service mobile phones. Moly Begum, another member of the Women's Squad, who leads the team in Barisal's Stadium Colony area, is proud of the effect their engagement has in changing not only the quality of life, but also the social standing of women. 'I didn't have any recognition in the family and society. Nobody listened to my words. I thought, if I could get engaged with some social work, people would know me in the community, and I would be able to serve them,' she said. 'My area is an underprivileged poor area. There are many distressed women in my community. Violence against women and children was very common here ... That's why I got involved with the Women's Squad.' Over the past seven years, much of what she hoped to achieve has materialized or borne fruit, as her team members went door-to-door with their advocacy and helped organize various forms of support from NGOs and local authorities. They have been intervening in incidents of domestic violence or child marriage, as they also tried to make sure more children in the marginalized community would get access to education, while women gain some financial independence. 'The members of the Women's Squad approached every house in the community. We encouraged the guardians to send their children to school. We convinced them that every child is equal, whether a boy or a girl,' Moly told Arab News. 'Women are now engaged in small-scale income-generating activities. Many in my community are now running tea stalls, clothing shops, selling pickles, cakes. All these things happened due to our Women's Squad's work.'
Al Arabiya
6 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Most of the missing 11 persons found after boat capsizes in Indonesia
Most of the 11 people reported missing after a boat capsized off Indonesia's western island of Sumatra were rescued Tuesday, local authorities said, with some surviving by clinging on to pieces of the boat. Authorities had reported earlier Tuesday that 11 people were still missing after a boat carrying 18 capsized a day before, but rescue officials said 10 more were found. The vessel reportedly capsized around 11:00 am Monday as it sailed around the Mentawai islands, an archipelago off the west coast of Sumatra, the Mentawai search and rescue agency said. Rescuers are still searching for one person, and checking unconfirmed information they may have been sighted. 'Seventeen (people) are confirmed safe,' Mentawai search and rescue agency head Rudi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP Tuesday. 'We are still confirming for the one person. The team is heading to the location.' Some of those rescued were wearing life jackets and some clung to pieces of the overturned boat, Rudi told reporters Tuesday. Big waves hit the boat before it capsized, Rudi added, citing testimony from one of the boat operators. 'From what we heard from the operator, it (the boat) was struck from the side and then flipped over,' he said. Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in the Southeast Asian archipelago of around 17,000 islands, in part due to lax safety standards or bad weather. On July 3, a ferry sank off the popular resort island of Bali, killing at least 18 people. In March, a boat carrying 16 people capsized in rough waters off Bali, killing an Australian woman and injuring at least one other person. In 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in one of the world's deepest lakes on Sumatra island.
