logo
Texas's Camp Mystic confirms 27 children and counsellors died in floods

Texas's Camp Mystic confirms 27 children and counsellors died in floods

The Guardian3 days ago
Camp Mystic, the girls summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas, has confirmed that 27 children and counsellors died in the flash floods that have wreaked devastation on the area since Friday.
'Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly,' a statement on the camp website read.
The search continued for missing people, it said, adding: 'We ask for your continued prayers, respect and privacy for each of our families affected.'
The tragic news will likely tip the death toll in Texas to more than 100 people since the flash flooding, a figure that is expected to rise as more rain threatens to deluge the region.
Officials said life-threatening flooding remained a threat as crews continued an urgent search for people still missing. The Guadalupe River rose 26ft (8 meters) in 45 minutes in Friday's pre-dawn hours, after a downpour north of San Antonio.
The sheriff of Kerr county, Larry Leitha, has said at least 68 people were found dead in an area known as the Hill Country. There are several summer camps there. At least 10 other deaths were reported in the counties of Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson, local officials have said.
Abbott warned that additional rounds of heavy rains lasting into Tuesday could produce more perilous flooding, especially in places where the ground is already saturated.
Kerr residents were clearing mud from their destroyed properties and saving what belongings they could. Some said the heroism of the neighbors was all that saved them, as authorities faced questions about whether enough warnings about the downpour were issued, how many actually received them and whether enough was done to prepare for the rain.
Reagan Brown told the Associated Press that his parents, in their 80s, managed to escape uphill as water inundated their home in the town of Hunt. When Brown's parents learned that their 92-year-old neighbor was trapped in her attic, they went back and rescued her.
'Then they were able to reach their toolshed up higher ground, and neighbors throughout the early morning began to show up at their toolshed, and they all rode it out together,' Brown said.
A video posted on X showed girls from Camp Mystic being evacuated and singing the hymns Pass It On and Amazing Grace as they crossed a bridge over the Guadalupe River, which was still flowing fiercely.
Donald Trump on Sunday signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr county, which is meant to unlock federal resources meant to help local officials. He said he would likely visit Friday, a week after the deadly flash flood, saying to go earlier might impede search and recovery efforts.
Associated Press contributed reporting
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Texas floods latest: 119 dead and over 170 missing as country singer reveals multiple family members killed
Texas floods latest: 119 dead and over 170 missing as country singer reveals multiple family members killed

The Independent

timean hour ago

  • The Independent

Texas floods latest: 119 dead and over 170 missing as country singer reveals multiple family members killed

At least 119 people have been killed and more than 170 are still missing after catastrophic flash flooding swept through Central Texas. Officials fear that the death toll could soar as search and rescue efforts entered their sixth day Wednesday, as hundreds of local, state and federal emergency responders sift through debris for survivors. Country singer Pat Green and his wife Kori Green revealed several of their relatives were swept away in the deadly Texas floods. The singer's 'little brother John, his wife, Julia, and two of their children were swept away in the Kerrville flood,' Kori wrote on social media. Questions also remain over whether officials could have done more to prepare residents for the disastrous floods. Texas Senator Ted Cruz has criticized state officials for their response, arguing 'something went wrong' at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp where at least 27 children and staff members died. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has also called for an investigation into whether potential vacancies at the nearby National Weather Service offices contributed to poor communication with local officials. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha says officials are 'in the process' of assembling a timeline of the actions local officials took ahead of the floods. Key Points Death toll rises to 119 Country singer Pat Green confirms 'multiple family members' died in Texas flooding With more than 170 still missing, hopes of finding survivors fade Camp Mystic's emergency plan was signed off two days before disaster In pictures: Search and rescue efforts continue in flood aftermath Search and rescue efforts in Central Texas continued Wednesday after flash flooding along the Guadalupe River devastated communities. A least 119 people have been killed and more than 170 are still missing. Here are some photos of the aftermath: Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 04:20 Governor Abbott shares how Texas workers can get unemployment assistance after devastating floods Governor Greg Abbott shared a resource for Texas workers struggling after flash floods devastated Central Texas on July 4. Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 04:00 A Texas firefighter pleaded for an alert amid rising flood waters. It took an hour to go out As floodwaters in Texas rose in the early morning of July 4, a local firefighter petitioned for an emergency alert to quickly be sent out, but local officials do not appear to have followed his request until about an hour later, according to leaked audio. The reported early-morning request raises questions about the timeline of events offered by local officials, who have said they had little advanced warning and no county system in place to alert residents about the floods, a disaster now responsible for at least 119 deaths, with even more still missing. According to audio obtained by KSAT, at 4:22am, a fireman with the Ingram Volunteer Fire Department reportedly called into emergency dispatch to warn that the Guadalupe River appeared to be rapidly overshooting its banks. Around that time, the river rose as much as 26 feet in 45 minutes, according to state officials. The firefighter urged officials to authorize a CodeRED alert, an emergency system that would send warning messages to the cellphones of people who had previously signed up for the service. Texas firefighter pleaded for alert amid rising flood. It took an hour to go out Leaked audio provides new alert timeline as officials face scrutiny over when residents first learned of rising flood waters Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 03:41 Ex-FEMA official responds to Kristi Noem's calls to eliminate agency Deanne Criswell, former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under former President Joe Biden, has responded to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's calls to eliminate FEMA. Noem said on Wednesday: 'Federal emergency management should be state and locally led rather than how it has operated for decades. It has been slow to respond. At the federal level, it has even been slower to get the resources to Americans in crisis, and that is why this entire agency needs to be eliminated as it exists and remade into a responsive agency.' Criswell told CNN's Kaitlan Collins Wednesday night in reaction to Noem's comments: 'A core principle of emergency management has always been locally executed, state managed, and federally supported. FEMA does not run these incidents; they never have, and they come in only at the request of the state in order to support them when it exceeds their capacity. When we look at a state like Texas, the most capable state probably in the country, that also needed to ask for assistance first through state-to-state mutual aid, and then FEMA, if they need that kind of assistance, what is that gonna say for every other state or small jurisdiction out there when they have a big event and they don't have the federal government that they're used to depending on.' Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 03:20 Texas floods mapped: Here are the affected areas as death toll rises Texas floods mapped: Here are the affected areas as death toll rises At least 173 people are still missing in Central Texas, with the governor warning that 'there could be more added to that list' Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 03:00 New Mexico resident said she was in 'absolute shock' when her best friend's home was washed away by floodwaters Kaitlyn Carpenter of Ruidoso, New Mexico, was in 'absolute shock' when she saw her best friend's family home being swept away in floodwaters. ' We had saved her house last year from the flood, so to see it just be taken up in the flood was just, it was horrific. I have no words. It was so surreal,' Carpenter told CNN's Erin Burnett Wednesday night. A flash flood in New Mexico on Tuesday killed three people, including two children, and damaged dozens of homes, the Associated Press reported. Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 02:40 Showers and storms weaken as they try to move across Hill Country The National Weather Service wrote on X Wednesday night: 'Showers and storms are continuing to weaken and decrease in coverage as they try to move across the Hill Country.' Hill Country was devastated by flash floods on July 4. Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 02:25 ICYMI: Texas officials provide death toll update in Kerr County after devastating floods Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 02:20 Ex-Camp Mystic counselor calls flash floods an 'act of God,' insists no one is to blame A former Camp Mystic counselor said the July 4 flash floods along the Guadalupe River were 'an act of God' and insists no one is to blame for the deaths of 27 young campers and staff. Dr. Holly Lacour told NBC News, 'That was an incredible act of nature, an act of God, and there's nothing anybody could have done.' Lacour has been involved with the camp for 15 years, but was not a counselor this summer. When she was a counselor, Lacour said she underwent emergency training before campers arrived for the summer. She called Camp Mystic her 'favorite place in the world.' 'I don't think there are any words to describe how terrible it feels and how hard you pray afterward.' Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 02:00 Texas forest service shares photos of crews clearing debris in flood aftermath Texas A&M Forest Service shared photos of crews clearing debris Wednesday after flash floods on July 4 devastated Central Texas. Rachel Dobkin10 July 2025 01:40

Back-to-back floods in New Mexico and Texas with very different outcomes
Back-to-back floods in New Mexico and Texas with very different outcomes

BBC News

time2 hours ago

  • BBC News

Back-to-back floods in New Mexico and Texas with very different outcomes

Eddie Gutierrez looked out the window of his brewery as the river turned into a raging torrent and swept away his neighbour's house. Three people, including two children, were killed in Tuesday afternoon's floods in Ruidoso, New Mexico, and numerous properties were destroyed. But the village was prepared, Mr Gutierrez said, with flood experts already on the ground and plans in place. By next morning the sun was shining, and the town was "almost business as usual". "It's a hard thing to see that and then the next day is almost completely normal, it's almost as if it didn't happen," he told the BBC. The neighbouring state of Texas also experienced a major flood just a few days earlier, but with a very different outcome. The ferocity of the inundation in Texas caught forecasters and state officials by surprise, killing at least 119 people. In Ruidoso on Tuesday, up to 3.5in (8.8cm) of rain fell, sending water hurtling down the surrounding mountainside and swelling the river to a record high before a swathe of the village was area surrounding Ruidoso was already vulnerable to flooding because of wildfires that hit New Mexico last summer. Two people were killed and hundreds of homes were destroyed as the South Fork and Salt fires swept through Ruidoso in June 2024. Residents were forced to evacuate as the conflagrations burned 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of land on either side of the later, residents faced the one-two punch of devastating flooding. Homes surrounding Mr Gutierrez's brewery were among properties still vacant after those wildfires last year. The house that he saw floating down the river on Tuesday afternoon was one of many that had been left empty after the officials are well aware that "burn scars" - areas of vegetation that no long absorb rainfall - are likely to cause more flooding in an area for years after fires. The National Weather Service (NWS) said two "burn scars" around Ruidoso would make the charred soil left behind from the wildfires "as water-repellent as a pavement". Tuesday's flooding was more of that side effect. "These floods were expected, we knew they would come and they did," Mr Gutierrez said. When a community is familiar with weather risks, they adapt, notes Upmanu Lall, director of the Water Institute at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University. "The way human nature works, is that if they've experienced a event recently that informs the response," he told the BBC. "If your experience is you got hit with a flood, you probably will evacuate, if you keep getting warnings and nothing happens, you're unlikely to evacuate." One state over, in Texas, the flooding caught many unawares. One reason was the sheer, staggering volume of rainfall - an estimated 100bn gallons, surpassing the daily flow over Niagara catastrophe unfolded before daybreak last Friday as the Guadalupe River rose 26ft (8m) in the span of just 45 minutes while young children and staff at summer camps were asleep as weather alerts were being sent. Search crews in Texas are still sifting through debris for scores of missing have said there were a number of factors that led to the tragic floods in Texas, including the pre-dawn timing, the location of some homes and the extreme weather. Questions have been raised about whether authorities provided adequate flood warnings before the disaster, and why people were not evacuated earlier."We didn't even have a warning," Joe Herring, the mayor of badly hit Kerrville, Texas, told CNN.

EXCLUSIVE Entire family swept away in Texas floods as search for victims takes grim new turn
EXCLUSIVE Entire family swept away in Texas floods as search for victims takes grim new turn

Daily Mail​

time2 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

EXCLUSIVE Entire family swept away in Texas floods as search for victims takes grim new turn

In an area nearly four times the size of Manhattan, the search continues for the dead and missing in Texas Hill Country. After catastrophic flooding July 4, at least 173 people are still missing while 119 others have already been confirmed dead. Among those yet to be located is an entire family; Leonardo Romero, his wife Natalia Venzor, and their one-year-old son Carlos. All that's left of their riverfront home is the cement slab after their mobile home was washed away with them in it. In a grim turn, Erica remained hopeful her daughter would be found alive because Natalia's 19-year-old step-son, Leo Jr., who was also in the house the morning the of the flooding, was found in debris in the Guadalupe River, not far from the house. However, there has been no sign of his step-mom, his dad or baby brother five days later. 'It's been torture, just pure torture,' Natalia Venzor's mom, Erica, told of waiting to learn of her daughter's fate. Leo Jr. was hospitalized due to his injures after spending nearly four hours waiting to be rescued. 'I went and gave DNA in case they find them deceased, even though I'm hoping they're not found that way. I'm hoping they're still alive,' Erica explained. The missing family's neighbor, Greg Atkins, told Daily Mail state and local search and rescue crews have not been to the property looking for them. 'Leo was a sweet, dear, precious man,' Atkins said of the missing father. 'The Hispanic community came together for Leo. They came down here the day it started and they had a Bobcat that had a scoop on it, and they were tearing into the remains of (Leo's) house that was wrapped around that tree, hoping to find him.' Natalia's believes not everyone who is missing has had the same resources as the missing children from Camp Mystic. 'No, not really. It's like they're mainly focusing on Camp Mystic,' Venzor added. Thursday morning, rescue teams moved into untouched areas of Kerrville. Teams searched the south bank of the Guadalupe River, across from various camp grounds and RV park where many of the missing were last seen. With heavy equipment, first responders moved giant trees and debris piles that dwarfed excavators and back hoes, looking for human remains. Areas that had been cleared were marked in green to signify attention could be paid elsewhere. Each team is quipped with body bags. The search reached this section of the river late Tuesday, and three bodies were discovered not long after. Cadaver canines raced into the bank with renewed pressure to find those were haven't been seen since Friday. Volunteer Joy Molina, who lives just 40 feet from the river, believes the number of missing will exceed even what the state has publicly said. 'This whole area was filled with campers and people,' she said pointing across the water to north side of the Guadalupe. 'Hardly any of them made it out.' No one has been found alive since Friday, officials confirmed Tuesday. But that's not the point for the volunteers who have driven from Austin, San Antonio, and Houston to give their time. 'We're here to give closure,' one veteran from Austin told Daily Mail. Another man took days from his real estate business in San Antonio. 'I just want to do what I can,' he said as he put on water boots. Like worker bees, they arrived by the dozen, following the direction of trained first responders. Activity came to a stop when a SWAT vehicle with blue and red lights flashing showed up. Uniformed members of the Kerr County Sheriff's Office jumped out and inspected an area where a glove in the water had become a focal point. 'They found a glove that looked like it had been worn recently,' one of the homeowners told Daily Mail. 'It had a nail imprint on it. Quite frankly it looked like a hand sticking out of the water.' A gully was going to be drained of water so whatever was attached to the glove could be inspected. However, not everyone is activity searching for bodies. Some of the volunteers are simply there to support each other. The train professionals are leading the way. Behind them are a wave of volunteers with special skills. Some might be using their personal chain saws to cut through fallen branches and clear trees out of the way. Others might be operating equipment like fork lifts. Volunteers are feeding the rescue teams and making sure they have what the need to find the missing. 'If all I can do is bring them water, then I've done what I can,' Molina, who loving organized hydration stations with water, cold drinks and snacks, explained. She hauled away their trash and set up canopies for shade and chairs for a few minutes rest so first responders could rest in what is sure to be sweltering and humid day. 'Another showed up yesterday, 'I'm here to flip burgers,'' he told her. 'Everyone does what they can. I've been trying to keep busy. Keep my mind of things.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store