At least 109 people died in flash floods that hit central Texas over the weekend, with at least 161 still missing, authorities said in an update on Tuesday afternoon.
Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters in a July 8 press briefing that those figures are likely to rise, due in part to the area’s popularity with campers.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said that hundreds of first responders are on the scene in flooded areas around the Guadalupe River, with local, federal, and state personnel working to recover bodies or locate missing people.
Five campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic are still missing, the sheriff also said. The camp, which is located in Hunt, confirmed Monday that at least 27 children and counselors died in the floods. Identification is pending for 19 adults and seven children who were found dead.
When asked about those who are missing, Leitha said, “It’s hard to know that number. I know the numbers that we have found, and that’s all I know.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott planned to make another visit on Tuesday to the century-old, Christian summer camp for girls. Officials said on Monday that 10 campers and one counselor were still missing.
“Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly,” the camp said in a statement. “We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls.
“We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from community, first responders, and officials at every level.”
On Sunday, President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County and directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to respond to the floods.
Trump said he is planning to visit Texas on Friday and told reporters that he would have gone sooner but he would have been “in their way” during the response.
Nineteen deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green, and Williamson counties, local officials said on Monday.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that it’s “a miracle more children didn’t lose their lives” in the flooding. “I’ve never seen anything as horrific. The cabins had eight feet of water in them,” Cruz told KPRC.
“The Hill Country is an incredible part of Texas, part of the country,“ he said during a Monday press conference. ”The natural beauty here is incredible. The camps that have raised generations of little girls and little boys and instilled character and love and faith are extraordinary institutions.”
Questions are mounting about what local officials did to warn campers and residents who were spending the July Fourth holiday weekend in the scenic area long known to locals as “flash flood alley.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday sent a letter to the Commerce Department, which oversees the National Weather Service (NWS), about whether staffing cuts impacted flood warnings being issued.
NWS issued a flood watch around 2 p.m. on July 3, more than 12 hours before the flood, for Kerr County, followed by a flash flood warning for the area about three hours before the river started surging rapidly.
Savannah Pointer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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