Horrifying moment cabin is swept away in deadly Texas floods as horrified onlookers yell ‘there's so many people in it'
Screams could be heard as the floodwaters carried away the cabin packed with people as flash floods sweep through Kerr County.
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The harrowing scenes showed the structure moving rapidly across the Guadalupe River in Hill County in pitch black darkness.
One witness called out: "Oh my god, there's so many people in it."
A second bystander screamed "oh my god" as she watched the chaos unfold.
It is unclear if anyone suffered injuries or if they were able to reach safety.
There are now nearly 80 people confirmed dead due to the central Texas flood, according to state officials.
Heartbreaking photos from the wrecked site at Camp Mystic show sodden mattresses and teddies strewn across dormitories.
Meanwhile, outside, trucks and heavy machinery were swept away -evidence of the floods' deadly force.
Teams working tirelessly in harsh conditions to find victims have witnessed the atrocities first-hand, with dozens of bodies discovered.
Officials said more than 850 people had been rescued in the last 36 hours.
Bobby Templeton, superintendent of Ingram Independent School District, said: "We still have people coming here looking for their loved ones. We've had a little success, but not much."
Catastrophic scenes after freak deluge wipes out vast area & several still missing
Worst-hit was Kerr County, particularly areas around the Guadeloupe River where waters rose by 26ft in 45 minutes following a freak dump of rainfall.
The danger was not over as rains continued pounding communities outside San Antonio on Saturday and flash flood warnings and watches remained in effect.
About a third of a year's worth of rain fell in a few short hours, completely overwhelming the waterways and creating an "extraordinary catastrophe".
Dalton Rice, Kerville city manager, said on Saturday: "We've been rescuing people out of these camps by the hundreds. There's a lot of folks that are shelter in place, so we leave them in place to make sure that we get them food, water."
Multiple people lost their lives in other counties, bringing the current confirmed death toll to 59 - though this is sadly expected to rise.
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The parents of all the missing children have been notified - and many turned to social media to share desperate pleas for information about their girls.
Local reports suggest that up to five girls have been confirmed as dead, citing their families.
Janie Hunt, 9, was among the dead, her distraught mother told CNN.
A relative of nine-year-old Renee Smajstrla revealed on Facebook that the girls's body had been found.
Shawna Salta wrote: "We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life, as evidenced by this picture from yesterday."
Lila Bonner's family also released a statement confirming her death.
They wrote: "In the midst of our unimaginable grief, we ask for privacy and are unable to confirm any details at this time.
"We ache with all who loved her and are praying endlessly."
Lila shared a cabin with her best friend Eloise Peck, 8, who also lost her life.
Her mom, Missy Peck, told Fox4: 'Eloise was literally friends with everyone. She loved spaghetti but not more than she loved dogs and animals.
'She passed away with her cabinmate and best friend Lila Bonner who also died.
"Eloise had a family who loved her fiercely for the 8 years she was with us. Especially her Mommy.'
Camp Mystic's owner and director Dick Eastland is amongst those confirmed to have died.
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The Independent
34 minutes ago
- The Independent
Texas officials long feared for riverbank summer camps. A warning system was rejected as too expensive
Officials in Kerr County, Texas, had long been concerned about kids' summer camps along the banks of the Guadalupe River, an area known as 'flash flood alley.' The camps in the idyllic Texas Hill Country, where children from the surrounding big cities of San Antonio, Austin and Fredericksburg came to fish, horseback ride, and snorkel, relied on a word-of-mouth system from camps further up river when it came to flooding, according to The New York Times. But in 2015, a flood in Wimberley, 75 miles east of Kerrville, killed 13 people and hundreds of homes were destroyed and damaged when the Blanco River crested to nearly 30 feet in a matter of hours. It brought the dangers of flash flooding front of mind for officials in Kerr County who debated at local meetings whether to bolster their flood emergency system with weather sirens now used by other cities. Tom Moser, a former Kerr County commissioner, proposed that Kerrville establish a similar system to one that had been put in place in Wimberley. But it was deemed to expensive by fellow commissioners. 'It sort of evaporated,' Moser, who retired in 2021, told The Times. 'It just didn't happen.' On the Fourth of July, downpours and catastrophic flooding in hill country devastated Camp Mystic, the Christian girls' summer camp on the Guadalupe River. The river rapidly rose 20 feet in 95 minutes in the early hours of the morning. Camp Mystic confirmed Monday that 27 girls, some as young as eight, and staffers had been killed. Ten girls remain missing and one counselor, according to local officials. Moser wasn't the only one who had pushed for a better emergency warning system, according to The Wall Street Journal. Former Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer, who had responded to the 1987 floods that killed teens at a camp in Kendall County, was hoping to install outdoor warning sirens in Kerrville. The sirens in Kendall County, which is about 81 miles away from Kerr County, went off on Friday. Rob Kelly, the Kerr County judge and its most senior elected official, also said budget concerns waylaid any action. 'Taxpayers won't pay for it,' Kelly recently told The Times. He said he didn't know if people might reconsider in the wake of this tragedy. In 2018, Kerr County applied for a $1 million grant for a flood warning system. The application was not selected, according to KXAN. In 2020, a commissioner said the county had been 'trying to get a new flood warning system here.' As recently as a May budget meeting, commissioners were discussing a system being developed by a regional agency. Attempts to improve response on a state level were also met with resistance in the last few months. A bill that would have established a statewide plan to improve the state's disaster response did not pass at the statehouse. But, had it passed, it still would not have gone into effect until after the Hill Country flooding, The Texas Tribune noted. And it's not just smaller communities that lacked warning systems. The city of Austin, which also saw fatalities in the floods and is one of the state's largest cities and home to nearly a 1 million residents, doesn't have an emergency warning system. But, a spokesperso n for the city of Austin told KXAN the fastest way to get information out is with 'the technology we have today' and there was a concern that sirens could 'cause confusion.' Since the disaster, 446 people have signed a petition for an early warning siren system in Kerr County. Moser said Kerr County had previously taken some measures to mitigate potential danger, including installing flood gauges and barriers, according to The Washington Post. This weekend, Texas Governor Greg Abbott says a special session at the Capitol will focus on better warnings for floods. It's hard to know how much of a difference a flood warning system would have made last Friday, Moser said. But, he believes it could have had some benefit. As of Monday afternoon, the death toll stood at 91 people with dozens more still missing. 'I think it could have helped a lot of people,' said Moser.
Reuters
44 minutes ago
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