The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas’ Hill Country rose to 67 on Sunday, as emergency personnel continued a relentless search in the area in hopes of finding survivors.
Eleven girls who attended the massive Christian sleepaway event, Camp Mystic, remained missing Sunday. Of the 59 people found dead in Kerr County, 21 were children, authorities said.
Elsewhere, four people were killed by the storm in Travis County, three in Burnet County and one in Kendall County, officials said. More people remained missing in those counties as well.
Previously authorities said they were unsure of how many people were in the flooded area, as the Guadalupe River draws many visitors as an Independence Day destination. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice on Saturday said he didn’t “even want to begin to estimate” the scope of the disaster.
The Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes in the early morning hours of July 4, with rain falling as fast as 12 inches per hour, according to meteorologists. Camp Mystic, one of several large sleepover camps in the region, had more than 750 girls in attendance.
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
Officials search on the grounds of Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on Sunday after a flash flood swept through the area. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In the first 36 hours after the storm, more than 850 people were rescued from floodwaters in the region. The search grew increasingly desperate on Sunday as the chance of finding survivors dwindled.
“If it was my babies, I would want somebody looking, so that’s why I’m here,” local rancher Joseph Eisenbach, who brought a couple horses to join the search, told CNN.
Crews were using heavy machinery to move tree trunks, cars and piles of mud-coated debris to clear paths for searchers Sunday afternoon. While the Guadalupe River had receded from its incomprehensible highs, still more wet weather was forecast for Sunday and Monday.
Texas’ Hill Country is well-known as a flash-flood danger zone, and the National Weather Service issued advisories on Thursday before alerting residents to the flooding Friday morning. However, many of the most crucial emergency alerts were issued before dawn, when many visitors, campers, counselors and residents may have been asleep.
Unlike a couple other camps in the area, Camp Mystic did not move its personnel to higher ground before Thursday night.
With News Wire Services
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