The death toll from the devastating floods inundating Texas climbed to 67, including 21 children on Sunday, while the search for a group of girls missing from a summer camp has stretched into its third day, as communities grapple with the aftermath of torrential rains.
Kerr County, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country and the epicentre of the catastrophic flooding, has reported the highest number of fatalities. Sheriff Larry Leitha said that the death toll in his county alone has reached 59, including 21 young victims.
The most urgent search effort remains focused on a summer camp situated near the Guadalupe River. Eleven girls and a counsellor are still unaccounted for after the river burst its banks on Friday, the US Independence Day holiday, following relentless rainfall across central Texas.
A Travis County official reported four deaths and 13 individuals still missing. Kendall County has also confirmed one fatality, while the Burnet County Sheriff’s office has reported two deaths.
A woman was found dead in her submerged car in the city of San Angelo in Tom Green County, the police chief said.
Leitha said there were 18 adults and four children still pending identification in Kerr County. He did not say if those 22 individuals were included in the death count of 59.
_updates.jpg)
Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches (38 centimetres) of rain across the region, about 85 miles (140 kilometres) northwest of San Antonio. It was unclear exactly how many people in the area were still missing.
“Everyone in the community is hurting,” Leitha told reporters.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was activated on Sunday and is deploying resources to first responders in Texas after President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
United States Coast Guard helicopters and planes are helping the search and rescue efforts, DHS said.
Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration, including to the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, led to a failure by officials to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings ahead of the storm.
Trump’s administration has overseen thousands of job cuts from the National Weather Service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, said former NOAA director Rick Spinrad.
He said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of advance warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but that they would inevitably degrade the agency’s ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees NOAA, said a “moderate” flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from Texas, told CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ that fewer personnel at the weather service could be dangerous.
“When you have flash flooding, there’s a risk that if you don’t have the personnel… to do that analysis, do the predictions in the best way, it could lead to tragedy,” Castro said.
More rain
More rain was expected in the area on Sunday. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Kerr County until 1pm local time.
The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as 29 feet (9 meters).
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, told a press conference on Saturday he had asked Trump to sign a disaster declaration, which would unlock federal aid for those affected. Noem said Trump would honour that request.
Trump has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government’s role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves.
The 11 missing girls and the counselor were from the Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp, which had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood.
A day after the disaster struck, the camp was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least six feet (1.83 m) from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside.
Some buildings had broken windows, one had a missing wall.
