At least 24 people were killed and a frantic search continued overnight for many others missing in the Texas Hill Country, including more than 20 from a girls’ camp, after a storm unleashed nearly a foot of rain and sent floodwaters spilling out of the Guadalupe River.
The destructive force of the fast-rising waters just before dawn on Friday washed out homes and swept away vehicles. There were hundreds of rescues around Kerr County, Texas, including at least 167 by helicopter, authorities said.
The total number of missing was not known, but the sheriff said between 23 and 25 of them were girls who had been attending Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.
Photo: The San Antonio Express-News via AP
On social media, parents and families posted desperate pleas for information about loved ones caught in the flood zone.
“The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers at Camp Mystic. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.”
She said a raging storm woke up her cabin around 1:30am on Friday, and when rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the girls to hold as the children in her cabin walked across bridge with floodwaters whipping around the calves and knees.
The flooding in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise. Officials defended their preparations for severe weather and their response, but said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was, in effect, the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.
One National Weather Service forecast this week had called for only 76mm to 152mm of rain, said Nim Kidd, the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
“It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told a news conference late on Friday that 24 people had been confirmed killed. Authorities said 237 people had been rescued so far.
A river gauge at Hunt recorded a 6.7m rise in about two hours, according to Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office. The gauge failed after recording a level of 9m.
“The water’s moving so fast, you’re not going to recognize how bad it is until it’s on top of you,” Fogarty said.
On the Kerr County sheriff’s office Facebook page, people posted pictures of loved ones and begged for help finding them.
At least 400 people were on the ground helping in the response, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said.
Nine rescue teams, 14 helicopters and 12 drones were being used, with some people being rescued from trees.
In Ingram, Texas, Erin Burgess woke to thunder and rain at 3:30am. Just 20 minutes later, water was pouring into her home directly across from the river, she said.
She described an agonizing hour clinging to a tree and waiting for the water to recede enough so they could walk up the hill to a neighbor’s home.
“My son and I floated to a tree where we hung onto it, and my boyfriend and my dog floated away. He was lost for a while, but we found them,” she said.
Of her 19-year-old son, Burgess said: “Thankfully he’s over 6 feet [183cm] tall. That’s the only thing that saved me, was hanging on to him.”
Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, said police came knocking on doors at 5:30am, but that he had received no warning on his phone.
“We got no emergency alert. There was nothing,” Stone said. Then “a pitch black wall of death.”
The area is known as “flash flood alley” because of the hills’ thin layer of soil, said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which was collecting donations to help nonprofits responding to the disaster.
“When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” Dickson said. “It rushes down the hill.”
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