At least 24 people are dead and more than 20 girls attending a summer camp are unaccounted for after months’ worth of heavy rain fell in a matter of hours in Texas on Friday.
Search teams conducted boat and helicopter rescues in the fast-moving flood waters as members of the public took to social media, desperate for information on loved ones in the area.
At a news conference late Friday Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 24 people had been killed. Authorities said 237 people had been recued so far, including 167 by helicopter.
The news follows at least 25cm of rain which poured down overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of a nearby river.
“Some are adult, some are children,” said Texan Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, “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. That includes more than 20 girls missing from summer camps.
The missing children were attending a Christian camp along the Guadalupe River.
Helicopters, nine rescue teams and people on the ground are conducting a massive search, according to Patrick. He says the search will continue overnight.
“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, who added that the number of confirmed dead is expected to change over the coming hours.
A local flood watch issued on Thursday estimated isolated amounts of up to 17cm of rising water, but that shifted to a flood warning for at least 30,000 people overnight.
Texas’ governor Greg Abbot said the state was providing resources to communities dealing with the flooding.
US President Donald Trump described the flash floods as “shocking” and “terrible” to reporters on Friday.
summer camp, Dan Patrick, summer camps, Kerr County, Texas, helicopter rescues, missing children, flood waters, Search teams, flash flooding
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