Authorities called it a “mass casualty event” when dozens of people died in central Texas after flash floods destroyed Hill Country and forced people to swim to safety along the Guadalupe River. Authorities couldn’t say for sure how many people were still missing, but they said that 23 to 25 people were still missing from Camp Mystic, a summer camp for kids.
At least 24 deaths have been reported so far, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news gathering on Friday evening. He was joined by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and other officials. The adjutant general for the state of Texas, Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer, said that as of Friday night, 237 people had been evacuated, with 167 going by chopper.
In the morning, Patrick said, “it didn’t rain a drop until the tragedy struck.” In 45 minutes, the Guadalupe River had risen about 26 feet. He said the warning went out between 4 and 5 a.m. local time.
When President Trump talked to reporters late Friday night on Air Force One, he said that the storms were a “terrible thing.”
“It looks like some young people have died,” Mr. Trump said, adding that he would work with Abbott to get federal help for Texas from the government.
How did the Guadalupe River flood so fast?
Kerrville’s city manager, Dalton Rice, talked about how the Guadalupe River filled so quickly.
“There is a north fork and a south fork when you look at the headwaters of the Guadalupe,” Rice said Friday night. “Since 1987, under normal conditions, if you can call it that, you’ll hit water in one of those areas, and those two forks will converge into the Guadalupe, which comes through the city of Kerrville.”
“This rain event sat on top of that and dumped more rain than what was forecasted on both of those forks,” Rice said. “When we got the report, it was about 7 feet or so on the south fork, and within a matter of minutes it was up to 29 feet, and all of that converged at Guadalupe.”
The city said that the National Weather Service showed that the Guadalupe River at Hunt hit its second-highest level ever. It was higher than the famous flood of 1987.
The National Weather Service “did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” according to officials. The original estimate was for up to 8 inches of rain. The Texas Division of Emergency Management had several meetings since Thursday to get ready.
There were still worries about the weather, and officials said, “If you don’t live in the area, do not come.”
On Friday, Texas declared flash flood emergencies in five counties in West Texas. This was because the Hill Country was still getting hit hard with heavy rain and flooding. The National Weather Service says that 5.8 to 11.0 inches of rain have fallen in north-west Bandera County, central Kerr County, northeastern Tom Green County, east central Kerr County, and west central Kendall County.
Search and rescue efforts are still going on.
Officials say that hundreds of people from different units are on the ground helping with search and rescue operations. Drones and planes are also being used.
“We brought in over 100 troopers this morning,” Col. Freeman Martin, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a news briefing on Friday night. “And they’ve worked all day, rescues, high water vehicles, boats, rescue divers, seven rescue helicopters with hoist capabilities.”
During the news conference Friday night, the governor signed a disaster declaration for several counties. He said that this “ensures all the counties will have access to every tool, strategy, and person that the state of Texas can provide to them, which will be limitless.”
“We will stop at nothing to ensure that every asset and person and plane, whatever is needed, is going to be involved in the process of rescuing every last person and ensure everybody involved in this is going to be fully accounted for,” he said.
There are still “between 23 and 25” people missing from Camp Mystic.
Sheriff Leitha said Friday night, “We don’t have an estimate” of how many people are missing. He also said that “between 23 and 25” campers were still thought to be lost from Camp Mystic.
Early Friday morning, Patrick spoke to the parents of kids at Camp Mystic. There were about 750 kids at the summer camp when the floods happened. While Abbott was on vacation, the lieutenant governor was in charge. He said that they are hoping for all the people who are missing to “be found alive.”
“If they are alive and safe, we will find them and bring them home to you,” Patrick told reporters in the afternoon.
Patrick read from a statement from the camp that there has been a “catastrophic level” of flooding.
Patrick said that Camp Mystic is a local summer camp for girls only. It has several places that thousands of kids go to every summer. They said they don’t have power, water, or Wi-Fi, and that “the highway has washed away, so we are struggling to get more help.”
In a social media post, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz asked people to “please pray right now for everyone in the Hill Country, especially Camp Mystic.” He said that search and rescue is being done by several planes and that he had talked to President Trump, Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, and the head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
“President Trump committed ANYTHING Texas needs,” he said.
Abbott said that the state has put together tools to help people who are dealing with the floods.
Abbott said earlier Friday in a statement, “Texas is giving Kerrville, Ingram, Hunt, and the whole Texas Hill Country all the help they need to deal with these terrible floods.” “The State of Texas has today sent more resources in addition to the ones that were sent to get ready for the storms.” Texans should listen to what state and local officials say and check local forecasts to make sure they don’t drive into flooded areas.
