Texas floods leave at least 51 dead, while 27 girls remain missing as rescuers search the devastated landscape

Rescuers scoured a devastated central Texas landscape of mangled trees, overturned cars and muck-filled debris on Saturday, July 5, in an increasingly bleak mission to locate survivors, including 27 girls who have not been seen since their camp was slammed with a wall of water in a historic flash flood.

The flooding in Kerr County killed at least 43 people, including 15 children, and several more people died in nearby counties. Authorities still have not said how many people were missing beyond the children from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along a river in Kerr County where most of the dead were recovered.

Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue people stranded in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads. Governor Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state. “I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday − for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities and for the safety of those on the front lines,” he said in a statement.

Authorities were coming under scrutiny over whether the camps and residents in places long vulnerable to flooding received proper warning and whether enough preparations were made. The hills along the Guadalupe River in central Texas are dotted with century-old youth camps and campgrounds where generations of families have come to swim and enjoy the outdoors. The area is especially popular around the July Fourth holiday, making it more difficult to know how many are missing. “We don’t even want to begin to estimate at this time,” Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said earlier.

Officials said more than 850 people had been rescued in the last 36 hours and there were heroic efforts at the camps to save children. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived and pledged that the Trump administration would use all available resources. Coast Guard helicopters and planes were assisting to ensure operations can continue even in darkness.

The flooding began Friday as months’ worth of rain fell in a matter of hours, causing the Guadalupe River to rise by 26 feet in 45 minutes. The National Weather Service warned of more extremely heavy rain and “locally catastrophic” flash flooding to come in the region, located Northwest of San Antonio. In Kerrville on Saturday, the usually calm Guadalupe River was flowing fast, its murky waters filled with debris.

‘Nobody saw this coming’

The weekend forecast had called for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a warning overnight Friday for at least 30,000 people. “We know we get rains. We know the river rises. But nobody saw this coming,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s chief elected official.

The county had considered a flood warning system on the river similar to a tornado warning siren about six or seven years ago, but Kelly said the idea never got off the ground and the cost would have been an issue. Kelly said he was heartbroken seeing body bags at the funeral home and the devastation on the ground during a helicopter tour. “The rescue has gone as well as can be expected. It’s getting time now for the recovery,” he said. “And that’s going to be a long, toilsome task for us.”