Flash floods along Texas’ Guadalupe River have killed at least 68 people.
Key Facts
Authorities in Kerr County confirmed at least 59 people, including 21 children, were killed in the floods there, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a press conference Sunday, with the death toll expected to rise.
Rescue teams are searching for a group of 11 campers who were attending Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River, as well as one counselor, Leitha said.
More than 850 people have been rescued across Kerr County, which saw some of the worst flooding, by the Coast Guard and at least 1,000 first responders from Texas state agencies, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said.
“We’re seeing bodies recovered all over, up and down,” Kerrville City Manager Rice Dalton said Sunday, as search-and-rescue operations focused on finding the remaining missing campers.
At least three more people were found dead in Burnet County, the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office reported after search-and-rescue operations rescued over 50 residents.
At least four more bodies were recovered in Travis County, according to multiple reports, while officials in Kendall County confirmed in a Sunday morning update two more residents died.
President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County on Sunday morning, while Abbott declared Sunday a “day of prayer.”
W. Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, faulted the National Weather Service for not predicting “the amount of rain we saw,” though alerts were issued beforehand and as it became clear the region was facing a flash flood emergency.
The NWS issued a flash flood watch Thursday afternoon that noted Kerr County, where much of the flooding began early Friday morning, was a particularly vulnerable area, along with more urgent flash flood emergency alerts in the overnight hours as the disaster unfolded.
The NWS was one of several federal agencies targeted by the controversial cost-cutting efforts of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, and has recently laid off nearly 600 employees—around the same amount of staffers it lost in the 15 previous years, the Texas Tribune reported.Why Weren’t Summer Camps Evacuated?
Although the NWS issued warnings about the incoming weather system and the potential for massive flooding as early as Friday morning, it remains unclear why Camp Mystic and other summer camps in the area were not evacuated sooner.
