Texas flash floods kill at least 24 people, leaving 23 girl campers missing | Floods News
Local officials said rescuers scrambled to save dozens of victims reportedly trapped in high water or lacking in the disaster, causing heavy rain to fire flash floods along Texas’ Guadalupe River.
Among the missing were 23 to 25 people listed as not listed at the All Girls Christian Summer Camp on the banks of rainy Guadalupe, authorities said.
“At this point, we have about 24 deaths,” Carr County Sheriff Larry Leesa confirmed at a press conference Friday evening that 24 people were later killed.
The U.S. National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency in parts of Carr County, located in the southern Texas Hill Country, about 105 km (65 miles) northwest of San Antonio, following a heavy rainfall of up to 300 mm (12 inches).
Dalton Rice, mayor of the county seat, Kellville, told reporters that little or no warning before dawn caused extreme flooding, preventing authorities from issuing evacuation orders.
“This happened very quickly and over a very short period of time that even radar could not have been predicted,” Rice said. “This happened within two hours.”
Earlier in the day, Li, during Dan Patrick, said that six to ten bodies had been found so far in a desperate search of the victims. At a press conference held at the same time as Patrick’s update, Sheriff Reisa reported 13 deaths from the flood.
Patrick said 23 girls were listed as unrecorded among the more than 700 children in the summer camp that was flooded at 4am local time (09:00 GMT).
“That doesn’t mean they’re lost. They could be in the tree and they could be out of communication,” he said.
At least 250mm of rain fell overnight in Central Carr County, causing flash floods on the Guadalupe River, desperately pleading for missing information.
“Some are adults, some are children,” Patrick said at a press conference. “Again, I don’t know where those bodies came from.”
The team conducted dozens of rescues, and emergency responders continued to search for people who were not explained.
“I’ve been asking people in Texans, and I’ll be giving serious prayers this afternoon.
He said the Guadalupe River rose 8 meters (26 feet) in 45 minutes during the heated downpour that unfolds the area. The search team flew 14 helicopters and a dozen drones into the area, along with hundreds of emergency personnel on the ground to rescue trees and swift water.
“Additional rain is expected in these areas,” Patrick said. “Even if the rain is light, there is a possibility of more flooding in these areas. In addition to the risks in central and central Texas, there is a continuing threat to the potential flash flooding from San Antonio to Waco.”
Patrick read a message from the director of a summer camp, which had around 750 campers over the long weekend of July 4th, reporting that he “maintained a catastrophic level of flood levels.”
“We don’t have the power, water, or Wi-Fi,” the message said.
State and local officials warned residents traveling to the area, including campsites dotted along the river.
Social media videos showed that overnight flash floods caused by heavy rainfall of 300mm wiped out the house and trees. This is one-third of the average annual rainfall in Kerr County.
“It’s a terrible, it’s a flood,” US President Donald Trump told reporters Friday night. “It’s shocking.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Disaster Declaration to speed up emergency assistance to Kerr and rush the additional county clusters that have been hit hardest by floods.
Officials from the U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency have been stimulated to help local governments stand up to the crisis, officials said.
Freeman Martin, director of the state’s public safety division, said the flood was a “major casualty event.”
“It’s raining, but I know there’s another wave coming,” Martin warned, saying it’s raining in the areas around San Antonio and Austin.