A view inside of a cabin at Camp Mystic, which was essentially washed away after the flash flooding in central Texas on Saturday. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images.
Dear Commons Community,
Officials in Texas’ Hill Country said yesterday that the death toll from this weekend’s raging flash floods has risen to more than 80 people, as families and search teams continue to look for loved ones still missing in the region.
The new death toll includes 28 children from hardest-hit Kerr County, according to Sheriff Larry Leitha. With additional fatalities reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall and Tom Green counties, the overall number of those killed in central Texas is at least 82.
“We are seeing bodies recovered all over, up and down,” Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice told reporters, with officials warning the casualties will continue to climb. Of those deceased, 18 adults and 10 children are still pending identification.
Officials have so far found many of the dead at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp near the Guadalupe River that was essentially swept away after torrential rains overnight Friday resulted in fast-moving waters rising 26 feet. Photos and video showed a cabin of girls holding on to a rope amid powerful floodwaters, as well as the camp’s absolute devastation the next day.
As of Sunday afternoon, the sheriff said that 10 campers and one camp counselor remain missing. Search teams and families have both been seen sifting through the riverbanks and the camp’s destruction for survivors.
“We will continue our search efforts until everybody is found,” Leitha said, adding that 400 first responders from 20 agencies at the local, state and national levels are working to find missing people.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said that authorities have rescued about 850 people over the last 36 hours, including some clinging to trees. The governor confirmed that 41 people are still missing, though it’s unclear if that includes those from Camp Mystic.
“It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through,” Abbott said regarding his tour of the campgrounds.
Some Texas officials are facing scrutiny for the lack of preparedness, despite the National Weather Service (NWS) sending out several flash flood warnings overnight on Thursday that told people to “move immediately to higher ground” before issuing the rare flash flood emergencies. Former officials at the NWS told The New York Times that key emergency response roles were vacant, and like FEMA, the Trump administration’s major staffing cuts forced remaining employees to spend less time coordinating with local authorities on disaster preparedness.
“You have to have a response mechanism that involves local officials,” former NWS director Louis Uccellini told the Times on Saturday. “It involves a relationship with the emergency management community, at every level.”
Kerr County also does not appear to have a local flood warning system, likely contributing to the summer camps along the river not being ordered to evacuate in time. Despite the area being long vulnerable to flooding, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said that residents felt a warning system was too expensive to implement.
“What I do know is the flood hit the camp first, and it came in the middle of the night. I don’t know where the kids were,” he said, according to NBC. “I don’t know what kind of alarm systems they had. That will come out in time.”
What a tragedy!
Tony
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