The number of fatalities from Texas flash floods has increased to 27 from 24, officials reported on Saturday. Nine of the victims are children, as per a Reuters report.
Search Continues for Dozens of Missing Girls in Texas
The increase in death toll comes at a time when rescue efforts are ongoing for dozens of girls who vanished from the Mystic summer camp. Between 23 to 25 people, the majority being young girls, remain missing, the report continued.
Kerr County authorities have evacuated approximately 800 residents as a precautionary measure, the sheriff’s office confirmed, following the rapid rise of floodwaters across several communities in the region.
Flash Flood Emergency Eases but Flood Watch Remains
The US National Weather Service reported that the flash flood emergency has abated to a great extent for Kerr County, the center of the flooding, after thunderstorms brought up to a foot of rain early on Friday.
A flood watch, however, remains in effect until 7 p.m. on Saturday from the San Antonio-Austin, Texas, region, with scattered showers expected throughout the day, said Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
President Trump Responds to Texas Flood Crisis
US President Donald Trump said the federal government is working with state and local officials to respond to the flooding. “Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy. Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best,” he said on social media.
Dalton Rice, Kerrville city manager and county seat, informed journalists on Friday that the record flooding hit during pre-dawn hours with little or no notice, excluding authorities from issuing early evacuation alerts as the Guadalupe River quickly overshot major flood stage.
“This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time that could not be predicted, even with radar,” Rice said. “This happened within less than a two-hour span.”
Officials Acknowledge Forecast Limitations
State emergency management officials issued a warning as early as Thursday that west and central Texas were at risk for heavy rains and flash flooding “over the next couple days” based on National Weather Service predictions in advance of the holiday weekend.
The weather predictions, however, “didn’t forecast the amount of rain that we experienced,” said W. Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, during a Friday night news conference.
The weekend tragedy reminds one of a devastating flood nearly 40 years ago on the Guadalupe River when a bus and a van departing a church camp ran into flood waters and 10 teens drowned attempting to flee, according to a National Weather Service account summary of the 1987 storm. Hundreds of individuals were evacuated, it reported.
