by KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — As the hunt for victims of catastrophic floods in Texas over the Fourth of July holiday weekend continues Monday, Camp Mystic says it is mourning the loss of 27 campers and counselors.
The terrible flooding that blasted a wall of water through the century-old summer camp is made even more heartbreaking by the statement.
The camp claimed in a statement on its website that it has been in contact with state and local authorities who are actively using a lot of resources to look for our missing ladies. We are incredibly appreciative of the community’s, first responders’, and officials’ overwhelming assistance.
Despite crews searching desperately for the missing after a holiday weekend deluge that killed over 80 people, the risk of life-threatening flooding remained high in central Texas Monday, with more rain on the horizon. According to officials, the death toll will undoubtedly increase.
Late Friday, Kerr County residents described terrifying escapes from fast rising floodwaters as they started to clean mud and salvage what they could from their destroyed properties.
According to Reagan Brown, his parents, who are in their 80s, were able to flee uphill as the water flooded their Hunt, Texas, house. The pair returned to save their 92-year-old neighbor after learning that she was stuck in her attic.
After they managed to get to their toolshed on higher ground, neighbors started to get there in the early morning, and they all rode out together, according to Brown.
Rescuers searching for the missing, including those from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp that suffered severe damage, were still navigating through difficult, snake-infested terrain a few miles distant. Authorities said that some of the girls and a counselor were remained missing on Sunday afternoon, over two days after the floods ravaged the camp.
Governor Greg Abbott reported on Sunday that 41 people were missing around the state and that more might be on the way.
According to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha, searchers have discovered the dead of 68 people, including 28 children, in the Hill Country region, which is home to multiple summer camps.
Local officials reported ten additional deaths in the counties of Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green, and Williamson.
The governor issued a warning that further severe floods could result from heavy rains that continue into Tuesday, particularly in areas that are already wet.
Starting Sunday morning, families were given the opportunity to tour the camp. One girl carried a big bell as she left a building. On a riverbank, a guy whose daughter had been saved from a cabin on the camp’s highest point peered beneath large rocks and in groups of trees.
A blue footlocker was taken by one family. As they slowly drove away, a teenage girl looked at the carnage through the open window, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Searching the disaster zone
Tree trunks and tangled branches were removed from the river by nearby teams using heavy machinery. The prospect of discovering more survivors seemed increasingly grim with every hour that went by.
Despite being told not to, volunteers and some missing persons’ families visited the disaster area and conducted searches.
In a region that has historically been prone to floods, authorities were increasingly questioned about whether adequate warnings had been given and whether adequate preparations had been done.
President Donald Trump stated that he would probably visit Kerr County on Friday and signed a major disaster designation for the county on Sunday: We would only be in their way, but I would have done it today.
He told reporters, “It’s a terrible thing that happened, absolutely terrible.”
Prayers in Texas and from the Vatican
Abbott stated that as the water receded, additional sites were being checked and promised that authorities would work around the clock. He declared Sunday to be the state’s day of prayer.
Pope Leo XIV of Rome said particular prayers for everyone affected by the tragedy. “I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States,” the first American pope said in English at the conclusion of his Sunday noon blessing. We offer up prayers for them.
Desperate refuge and trees and attics
As raging floodwaters dragged cars and trees past them, survivors told horrifying tales of being swept away and clinging to branches. Others hid in attics in the hopes that the water wouldn’t get to them.
Water whipped over the legs of a cabin full of girls at Camp Mystic as they crossed a bridge while clinging to a rope strung by rescuers.
The director of another camp up the road and an 8-year-old child from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was at Camp Mystic, were among those confirmed dead.
The cabin of two Dallas school-age girls was washed away, and they went missing. The girls’ grandparents were missing, but their parents were safe and staying in another cabin.
Warnings came before the disaster
Before issuing flash flood emergencies, a rare alert indicating impending danger, the National Weather Service issued a succession of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday after warning of possible flooding on Thursday.
According to elected leaders and authorities, they did not anticipate such a heavy downpour, which is equivalent to months’ worth of rain for the region.
Authorities are dedicated to a thorough evaluation of the emergency response, according to Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice.
In response to a question about whether he still intended to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Trump stated that while he was busy working at the time, he may discuss the matter later. He has harshly criticized FEMA’s performance and stated that he intends to restructure, if not abolish, the agency.
Trump was also questioned about his intentions to rehire federal meteorologists who were let go this year due to massive government spending cuts.
I doubt it. This occurred in a matter of seconds. No one anticipated it. It went unnoticed. The president added, “There were very talented people there, and they didn’t see it.”
By John Seewer and Jim Vertuno, Associated Press
