KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — After a wall of water stormed down a river in the Texas Hill Country on Saturday, rescuers searched flooded riverbanks covered in twisted branches and flipped over rocks in an effort to find over two dozen youngsters from a girls camp and numerous others who were missing. Nine children were among the at least 27 persons killed in the storm.
Homes and cars were washed away by the catastrophic, swift-moving floods, which climbed 26 feet (8 meters) in just forty-five minutes before daylight on Friday. With flash flood warnings and watches still in force and torrential rains still pummeling towns west of San Antonio on Saturday, the threat was far from finished.
In order to find casualties and rescue individuals who were stranded in trees and in camps separated by washed-out highways, searchers deployed helicopters, boats, and drones.
Joe Herring, Jr., the mayor of Kerrville, stated that people must understand that today will be a difficult day. Please offer up prayers for our neighborhood.
Authorities were under increasing pressure on Saturday to determine whether adequate warning was given and whether adequate preparations were taken for the camps and inhabitants in areas that have historically been susceptible to floods.
Generations of families have come to swim and enjoy the outdoors at the century-old youth camps and campgrounds scattered over the hills along the Guadalupe River in central Texas. It is more challenging to determine the number of missing people because the location is very crowded around the July Fourth celebration.
On Saturday morning, City Manager Dalton Rice stated, “We don’t even want to begin to estimate at this time.”
Raging storm hit camp in middle of the night
According to him, some 27 kids went missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.
According to 13-year-old Elinor Lester, one of the hundreds of campers, the camp was totally destroyed. After landing, a chopper began removing passengers. It was quite frightening.
When rescuers arrived, they knotted a rope for the kids to grip as they crossed a bridge with water blowing around their legs after a fierce storm fuelled by extraordinary levels of precipitation woke up her cabin soon after midnight on Friday, she said.
Families and parents in a panic shared pictures of their missing loved ones along with information requests.
The camp was almost empty on Saturday. A few people were examining the damage, which included a pickup truck flipped onto its side and a structure without its whole front wall, while helicopters buzzed overhead.
The director of another camp nearby and an 8-year-old child from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was staying at Camp Mystic, were among the confirmed fatalities.
Many residents, campers, and officials in the Hill Country, which lies northwest of San Antonio, were taken aback by the overnight floods.
Hours before the destruction, the National Weather Service and a private forecasting firm sent warnings about possible flash floods, according to AccuWeather.
According to a statement from AccuWeather, which referred to the Hill Country as one of the most flash-flood-prone regions of the United States due to its topography and numerous water crossings, these warnings ought to have given authorities enough time to evacuate campgrounds like Camp Mystic and get people to safety.
Authorities justified their actions by claiming that they had not anticipated such a heavy precipitation, which was equivalent to months’ worth of rain for the region.
According to Nim Kidd, head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, one National Weather Service forecast from earlier in the week did not account for the quantity of rain that fell.
Helicopters, drones used in frantic search for missing
According to Rice, search teams had to deal with difficult circumstances as they searched every conceivable place.
Approximately 850 people were rescued, according to authorities. Helicopters from the U.S. Coast Guard were arriving to help.
After receiving hundreds of evacuees the day before, one primary school’s reunion center remained largely empty on Saturday.
People are still coming here in search of their loved ones. Bobby Templeton, the superintendent of the Ingram Independent School District, stated that there has been some success, but not much.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that his government was coordinating with local officials and that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was visiting Texas.
Trump posted a message on his social media network saying, “Melanie and I are praying for all of the families affected by this terrible tragedy.”
Residents clung to trees, fled to attics
Erin Burgess woke up in the middle of the night on Friday to the sound of thunder and rain in Ingram. She claimed that water started rushing into her house just twenty minutes later. She told of an excruciating hour spent with her teenage son clinging to a tree.
While my boyfriend and my dog drifted away, my son and I floated to a tree and grabbed onto it. We found them, she replied, but he was lost for a while.
Barry Adelman claimed that water forced his nine-year-old grandson and his 94-year-old grandmother into the attic of his three-story home.
“I was terrified on the inside, but I had to face my grandson and assure him that everything would be fine,” he added.
Residents in the area refer to it as “flash flood alley.”
According to Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which was gathering donations, water does not seep into the soil when it rains. Down the hill it rushes.
No one knew this kind of flood was coming
Rain was predicted over the weekend, and at least 30,000 people were under a flood watch that was raised to a warning overnight Friday. According to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a wide area was at risk of flooding and severe rain.
“We’re not exactly sure where it’s going to land, but everything was done to give them a heads up that you could have heavy rain,” Patrick said. Naturally, as night fell yesterday night, we entered the early morning hours, which is when the storm began to intensify.
The county’s top elected official, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, stated: We don’t have a warning system.
Kelly claimed that no one was aware that this type of flood was imminent when asked why greater safety measures hadn’t been implemented.
More pockets of heavy rains expected
According to Jason Runyen of the National Weather Service, the slow-moving storm is expected to deliver more rain on Saturday, with the possibility of extra floods and areas of heavy downpours.
He warned that the threat might last through the night and into Sunday morning.
By Associated Press’s Jim Vertuno, Julio Cortez, and John Seewer
