NewsNation) — After heavy rains quickly drove the Guadalupe River over its banks, the sheriff of Kerr County, Texas, reported Friday night that at least two dozen individuals had been murdered by flash floods and that a similar number of teenage campers were still missing.
Sheriff Larry Leitha told Texas Governor Greg Abbott at a press conference, “At this point, I can confirm that we’re at about 24 fatalities.” “At this point, we will not be revealing any names. We continue to notify the next of kin.
According to him, between 23 and 25 of the Camp Mystic females who had been staying close to the river were still unaccounted for. In only two hours, the Central Texas river absorbed months’ worth of precipitation, raising its level by more than 20 feet in a single night.
According to officials, 237 individuals have been rescued thus far, 167 of them were transported by helicopter. Abbott said a range of state staff and resources would continue to help local authorities locate the missing after declaring a disaster in 15 counties hit by the storm.
The governor declared, “At this time, we are still in a search-and-rescue posture.” Abbott went on to say that the operations “will continue in the darkness of night.” When the sun rises in the morning, they will be happening. They will never stop looking for everyone who has gone missing.
Although there are a lot of summer camps in the area, officials reported that they were able to identify kids at every other location. The relay of information has been difficult because campers did not have access to technology while they were there, according to Tracy Walder, a national security contributor for NewsNation whose daughter is acquainted with three of the missing girls from Camp Mystic. According to Walder, “technology is actually not allowed there.” “That is the reason that information and communication are a little bit hard to come by right now.”
According to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, President Donald Trump has reached out to him several times with offers of help.
The Guadalupe River in western Kerr County had risen to 29 feet by Friday morning, the second-highest level ever recorded. The river exceeded the levels of flooding that occurred in 1987, when ten adolescents were murdered by floods near Comfort, Texas.
Comfort officials ordered mandatory evacuations for residents in Kerrville and along the river on Friday while firefighters and police assisted in evacuating the area. Photographs of a flooded crossroads in San Angelo, Texas, where water was up to street signs, were deemed life-threatening by the local weather service office. In response to the flooding, Texas officials sent the state’s Department of Public Safety, the National Guard, and other resources to the region.
Judge Rob Kelly of Kerr County told media outlets that the county does not have a warning system and that there was no warning about the flood’s intensity. Around 1 a.m. on Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning, placing the county under a flood watch. However, a number of officials claimed that the event’s spectacular extent took them by surprise. This report was contributed to by the Associated Press.