HUNT, Texas: The death toll from catastrophic floods in Texas reached at least 78 on Sunday (Jul 6), including at least 28 children, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp entered a third day and fears of more flash flooding as rain fell on saturated ground prompted fresh evacuations.
Larry Leitha, the Kerr County Sheriff in Texas Hill Country, said 68 people had died in flooding in his county, the epicentre of the flooding, among them 28 children. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, speaking at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, said another 10 had died elsewhere in Texas and 41 were confirmed missing. The governor did not say how many of the dead outside Kerr were children.
Among the most devastating impacts of the flooding occurred at Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls’ camp. Sheriff Leitha said on Sunday that 10 Camp Mystic campers and one counsellor were still missing.
“It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through,” said Abbott, who said he toured the area on Saturday and pledged to continue efforts to locate the missing.
The flooding occurred after the nearby Guadalupe River broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the US Independence Day holiday.
Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said at the press conference on Sunday afternoon the destruction killed three people in Burnet County, one in Tom Green County, five in Travis County and one in Williamson County.
“You will see the death toll rise today and tomorrow,” said Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, also speaking on Sunday.
Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 38cm of rain across the region, about 140km northwest of San Antonio.
“Everyone in the community is hurting,” Leitha told reporters.
A WALL OF WATER
Kidd said he was receiving unconfirmed reports of “an additional wall of water” flowing down some of the creeks in the Guadalupe Rivershed, as rain continued to fall on soil in the region already saturated from Friday’s rains.
He said aircraft were sent aloft to scout for additional floodwaters, while search-and-rescue personnel who might be in harm’s way were alerted to pull back from the river in the meantime.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings and advisories for central Texas that were to last until 4.15pm local time as rains fell, potentially complicating rescue efforts.
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.
US Coast Guard helicopters and planes are helping the search and rescue efforts, the department said.
SCALING BACK FEDERAL DISASTER RESPONSE
Trump, who said on Sunday he would visit the disaster scene, probably on Friday, 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.
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, former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said.
Spinrad 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.
