Rescuers armed with helicopters, boats and drones scoured a shredded landscape of toppled trees and mud‑filled debris on Saturday, racing to find survivors of the flash floods that tore through central Texas before daybreak on Friday. At least 51 people have been confirmed dead across several counties, 15 of them children, and 27 girls from Camp Mystic remain unaccounted for
The Guadalupe River surged 26 feet (8 metres) in just 45 minutes, sweeping away homes, roads and entire summer camps. “The camp was completely destroyed,” said 13‑year‑old Elinor Lester, one of hundreds of children evacuated. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.” Rescuers escorted the girls across a bridge, tying a rope for them to grip as water whipped round their legs.
Missing still uncounted
Authorities have not provided a definitive tally of the missing beyond the Camp Mystic girls, and Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said, “We don’t even want to begin to estimate at this time.” Frantic families have plastered social media with photographs and pleas for news of loved ones.
The deluge struck without mercy in the early hours of Friday, catching residents, campers and officials off guard. AccuWeather and the US National Weather Service had issued flash‑flood warnings hours earlier, but the volume of rain outstripped expectations. “These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic,” AccuWeather said in a statement, calling the Hill Country one of America’s most flood‑prone regions.
Search crews have rescued more than 850 people in the last 36 hours, many plucked from treetops or attic rafters. “We still have people coming here looking for their loved ones,” said Bobby Templeton, superintendent of the Ingram Independent School District, which is housing evacuees. “We’ve had a little success, but not much.”
Erin Burgess described clinging to a tree with her teenage son as flood‑water engulfed their home within 20 minutes. Barry Adelman said torrents forced his three‑storey house occupants—his 94‑year‑old grandmother among them- into the attic. “I was having to look at my grandson in the face and tell him everything was going to be OK, but inside I was scared to death,” he said.
State response and scrutiny
Governor Greg Abbott declared Sunday a day of prayer and vowed round‑the‑clock search operations. “I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday, for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines,” he said.
Questions are mounting over whether long‑vulnerable camps and communities received adequate warning or made sufficient preparations. Local officials insist the storm delivered a once‑in‑a‑century deluge. US Representative Chip Roy, whose district includes Kerr County, conceded there would be “second‑guessing and finger‑pointing”.
Other youth venues took pre‑emptive measures. Mo‑Ranch Camp moved several hundred attendees to higher ground, while Camps Rio Vista and Sierra Vista had announced on social media they were monitoring conditions before closing their session on Thursday.
With rains persisting and fresh flash‑flood warnings in force, the operation remains fluid. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said federal assets, including Coast Guard aircraft, were on scene to maintain night‑time searches. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, who surveyed the devastation from a helicopter, warned: “The rescue has gone as well as can be expected. It’s getting time now for the recovery, and that’s going to be a long, toilsome task for us.”
