KERRVILLE, Texas – Crews trudged through debris and waded into swollen riverbanks Monday in the search for victims of catastrophic flooding over the July Fourth weekend that has killed nearly 90 people in Texas, including more than two dozen campers and counselors from an all-girls Christian camp.
With additional rain on the way, the risk of more flooding was still high in saturated parts of central Texas. Authorities said the death toll was sure to rise as crews looked for the many people who were still missing.
Operators of Camp Mystic, a century-old summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, said Monday that they lost 27 campers and counselors, confirming their worst fears after a wall of water slammed into cabins built along the edge of the Guadalupe River.
“We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls,” the camp said in a statement.
Authorities said Monday that 10 girls and a counselor from the camp remain missing.
In the Hill Country area, home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps, searchers have found the bodies of 75 people, including 27 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said.
Twelve other deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, according to local officials.
The floods, among the nation’s worst in decades, swept away people sleeping in tents, cabins and homes along the river Friday in the middle of the night.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that 41 people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.
Source – AP
