Torrential rains unleashed flash floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas, killing at least 24 people as rescue teams scrambled to save dozens of victims trapped by high water or reported missing in the disaster, local officials said.
Among the missing were 23 to 25 people listed as unaccounted for at an all-girls Christian summer camp located on the banks of the rain-engorged Guadalupe, authorities said.
Texas parents frantically posted photos of their young daughters on social media with pleas for information.
“What I can confirm at this point, we’re at about 24 fatalities,” Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told an evening news conference on Friday, later confirming 24 people had died.
The US National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency for parts of Kerr County, located in south-central Texas Hill Country, about 105km (65 miles) northwest of San Antonio, following heavy downpours measuring up to 300mm (12 inches) of rain.
Dalton Rice, city manager for Kerville, the county seat, told reporters the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, precluding authorities from issuing any evacuation orders.
“This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time that could not be predicted, even with the radar,” Rice said. “This happened within less than a two-hour span.”
Earlier in the day, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said somewhere between six and 10 bodies had been found so far in the frantic search for victims. During a news conference conducted at the same time as Patrick’s update, Sheriff Leitha reported that there were 13 deaths from the flooding.
Patrick said 23 girls were listed as unaccounted for among more than 700 children who were at the summer camp when it was swept by floodwaters at about 4am local time (09:00 GMT).
“That does not mean they’ve been lost; they could be in a tree, they could be out of communication,” he said.
At least 250mm of rain poured down overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River and leading to desperate pleas for information about the missing.
“Some are adults, some are children,” Patrick said during a news conference. “Again, we don’t know where those bodies came from.”
Teams conducted dozens of rescues, and emergency responders continued to search for those who were unaccounted for.
“I’m asking the people of Texas, do some serious praying this afternoon. On-your-knees kind of praying, that we find these young girls,” Patrick said.
He said the Guadalupe River rose 8 metres (26ft) in 45 minutes in the midst of heavy downpours deluging the region. Search teams were flying 14 helicopters and a dozen drones over the area, in addition to hundreds of emergency personnel on the ground conducting rescues from trees and swift-flowing water.
“Additional rain is forecast in those areas,” Patrick said. “Even if the rain is light, more flooding can occur in those areas. There is an ongoing threat for possible flash flooding from San Antonio to Waco for the next 24 to 48 hours in addition to the continued risks in west and central Texas.”
Patrick read out a message from the director of the summer camp, which had some 750 campers over the long July 4 weekend, reporting that it had “sustained catastrophic level of flooding”.
“We have no power, water or Wi-Fi,” the message said.
State and local officials warned against residents travelling to the area, which includes campgrounds dotted along the river, with dozens of roads “impassable”.
Videos on social media showed houses and trees swept away by the overnight flash flood caused by heavy overnight rainfall of 300mm – one-third of Kerr County’s average annual rainfall.
“It’s terrible, the floods,” US President Donald Trump told reporters Friday night. “It’s shocking.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a disaster declaration to hasten emergency assistance to Kerr and a cluster of additional counties hardest hit by the floods.
Personnel from the US Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency were activated to assist local authorities in confronting the crisis, officials said.
Freeman Martin, director of the state’s public safety department, said the flood was a “mass casualty event”.
“The rain has let up, but we know there’s another wave coming,” Martin warned, saying more rain would be hitting areas around San Antonio and Austin. (Al Jazeera)
