As the Guadalupe River surged to near-record levels in the midst of torrential downpour, several accounts indicate that floods in central Texas had resulted in the deaths of at least thirteen persons and the disappearance of approximately twenty young women who were attending a summer camp.
As hundreds of people search for survivors, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced on Friday that around twenty young women have gone missing from Camp Mystic, which is located along the Guadalupe River.
According to statements made by Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly to several local publications, there have been at least thirteen fatalities, and authorities predict that the number of fatalities will increase as rescue efforts continue on Friday afternoon.
A flash flood emergency was declared in Kerr County until 5 p.m. Central Time, despite the fact that rain continued to fall in the region, despite the fact that it had slightly eased off. Multiple flash flood warnings were issued in various counties, with some of the most severe conditions occurring in Kerr County.
The Guadalupe River reached its second-highest level on record after seeing a surge of over 30 feet and climbing 26 feet in only forty-five minutes as a result of heavy rainfall that resulted in many spots receiving more than ten inches of precipitation from Thursday evening to Friday afternoon.
According to statements made by Governor Phil Murphy late on Thursday, severe thunderstorms and powerful winds in Central New Jersey on Thursday evening also resulted in many fatalities inside the region.
As a result of prolonged droughts, which cause the soil to become dry and hinder it from absorbing rainfall, the central region of Texas is prone to flooding. In the early hours of Friday, multiple locations received rainfall that would normally be equivalent to a month’s worth of precipitation. One of these locations was Hunt, which received six inches of rain in only three hours, which is an event that occurs only once every one hundred years.
