Search for 27 lacking women plows ahead after flash flood kills at the least 51 individuals in Texas | EUROtoday

The grueling seek for 27 lacking women stretched into a 3rd day on Sunday.

Texans have been requested to hope that any survivors could be discovered after raging waters surged right into a summer time camp on Friday.

At least 51 individuals, together with 15 kids, have been killed, with a lot of the deaths coming in Kerr County within the state’s Hill Country. Besides the 43 useless in Kerr County, 4 deaths have been reported in Travis, three in Burnet and 1 in Kendall.

Rescuers handled damaged timber, overturned automobiles and muck-filled particles in a troublesome job to seek out survivors. Authorities nonetheless haven’t stated how many individuals have been lacking past the kids from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer time camp alongside the Guadalupe River in Kerr County the place a lot of the useless have been recovered.

The harmful, fast-moving waters rose 26 toes (8 meters) on the river in solely 45 minutes earlier than dawn Friday, washing away houses and autos. The hazard was not over as at the least one flash flood warning remained in impact in central Texas on Sunday.

Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to search for victims and to rescue individuals stranded in timber and from camps remoted by washed-out roads.

Gov. Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work across the clock and stated new areas have been being searched because the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state.

“I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday — for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines,” he said in a statement.

Pope Leo XIV offered special prayers for those touched by the disaster. History’s first American pope spoke in English at the end of his Sunday noon blessing, “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. We pray for them.”

Authorities were coming under scrutiny over whether the camps and residents in places long vulnerable to flooding received proper warning and whether enough preparations were made.

The hills along the Guadalupe River are dotted with century-old youth camps and campgrounds where generations of families have come to swim and enjoy the outdoors. The area is especially popular around the Independence Day holiday, making it more difficult to know how many are missing.

“We don’t even want to begin to estimate at this time,” Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said earlier.

Raging storm hit the camp in the middle of the night

“The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.”

The raging storm, fueled by massive amounts of moisture, woke up her cabin just after midnight Friday. When rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs, she said.

Frantic parents and families posted photos of missing loved ones and pleas for information.

Among these confirmed useless have been an 8-year-old woman from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was at Camp Mystic, and the director of one other camp up the highway.

The flooding in the course of the evening caught many residents, campers and officers unexpectedly.

AccuWeather stated the personal forecasting firm and the National Weather Service despatched warnings about potential flash flooding hours beforehand.

“These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,” AccuWeather stated in an announcement. It referred to as the Hill Country one of the crucial flash-flood-prone areas of the U.S. due to its terrain and lots of water crossings.

At the Mo-Ranch Camp locally of Hunt, officers had been monitoring the climate and opted to maneuver a number of hundred campers and attendees at a church youth convention to greater floor. At close by Camps Rio Vista and Sierra Vista, organizers additionally had talked about on social media that they have been watching the climate the day earlier than ending their second summer time session Thursday.

Authorities and elected officers have stated they didn’t count on such an intense downpour, the equal of months’ value of rain for the world.

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, whose district contains the ravaged space, referred to as it a once-in-a-century flood and acknowledged that there could be second-guessing and finger-pointing as individuals search for somebody in charge.

Search crews confronted harsh circumstances whereas “looking in every possible location,” Rice stated.

Officials stated greater than 850 individuals have been rescued within the final 36 hours, with heroic efforts on the camps to save lots of kids.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived and pledged that the Trump administration would use all obtainable sources. Coast Guard helicopters and planes have been helping to make sure operations continued even in darkness.

One reunification heart at an elementary college was principally quiet after taking in a whole bunch of evacuees the day earlier than.

“We still have people coming here looking for their loved ones. We’ve had a little success, but not much,” stated Bobby Templeton, superintendent of Ingram Independent School District.

People clung to timber and fled to attics

In Ingram, Erin Burgess awoke to thunder and rain in the course of the evening. Only 20 minutes later, water poured into her dwelling, she stated, describing an agonizing hour clinging to a tree along with her teen son.

“My son and I floated to a tree where we hung onto it, and my boyfriend and my dog floated away. He was lost for a while, but we found them,” she stated.

Barry Adelman stated water pushed everybody in his three-story home into the attic, together with his 94-year-old grandmother and 9-year-old grandson.

“I was having to look at my grandson in the face and tell him everything was going to be OK, but inside I was scared to death,” he stated.

Locals know the world as “ flash flood alley.”

“When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” stated Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which was amassing donations. “It rushes down the hill.”

‘Nobody saw this coming’

The weekend forecast had referred to as for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a warning in a single day Friday for at the least 30,000 individuals.

“We know we get rains. We know the river rises. But nobody saw this coming,” stated Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s chief elected official.

The county had thought-about a flood warning system on the river just like a twister warning siren about six or seven years in the past, however Kelly stated the thought by no means acquired off the bottom and the fee would have been a problem.

Kelly stated he was heartbroken seeing physique baggage on the funeral dwelling and the devastation on the bottom throughout a helicopter tour.

“The rescue has gone as well as can be expected. It’s getting time now for the recovery,” he stated. “And that’s going to be a long, toilsome task for us.”