A Fourth of July rainstorm led to a deadly natural disaster in Texas Friday, a flash flood that overwhelmed places including Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp near the banks of the Guadalupe River. As of publication time, 27 people have been confirmed as deceased in the flood; 27 more children from Camp Mystic alone remain unaccounted for. It’s at least the second such disaster in the area, following an overflow, that killed 10 teen campers nearly 38 years ago to the day.
At a Saturday news conference, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said that the bodies of 18 adults and nine children have been retrieved from the waters thus far, with many more still unaccounted for. The flood zone is a “a very harsh environment,” Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said at the media event, but also offered some hope, saying survivors have been rescued from trees and other high points in the area. Identities of the dead have yet to be released, but according to the New York Times “most” of those killed have been officially identified.
The flood zone is in Central Texas, about 60 miles northwest of San Antonio. It’s an area known as a vacation destination, and it’s also home to several summer camps, including Camp Mystic. That vacation popularity makes it challenging to determine how many people are actually missing. “We do not have an accurate count, and we don’t even want to begin to estimate at this time,” Rice says. “The information is going to be changing by the minute.”
Though the National Weather Service had predicted stormy weather for the holiday weekend, Friday’s rain exceeded the agency’s earlier expectations. The Guadalupe River, which runs to the San Antonio Bay, was swiftly overfilling by 4 a.m. local time, with rainfall at about 12 inches an hour, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said at a Friday press conference. By 5 a.m., Rice says, the river rose by 25 feet, and continued rising.
The circumstances are chillingly similar to another storm and flood that struck the area on July 16, 1987. As the New York Times reported at the time, church camp attendees at the Pot O’ Gold Ranch were swept away in a flood as they attempted to evacuate the area during another quickly rising flood of the Guadalupe. Ten teens were killed as ta bus and van fleeing the camp was consumed by the waters, 33 others were rescued by helicopter as they clung to the treetops.
Helicopters are on the scene again today. According to the Texas National Guard, they’ve rescued or evacuated 237 people, and 850 others have safely escaped the region. But rescue efforts have also been hampered by amateurs heading to the scene to either gawk or “assist.”
“We don’t need any more drones or helicopters. We don’t need people just showing up,” Leitha says. “Stay at home with your families, that’s the right thing to do, to stay out of this area.”
And the flood isn’t over. Heavy rain continues to fall in the area, and other Texas rivers are also rising as a result. About 30 miles from Austin, the San Gabriel River at Georgetown South Fork is expected to reach “major flood stage” by this afternoon, CNN reports. Flash flood warnings have been released for numerous other Texas counties. But the rescue effort will continue, Leitha says.
“One thing I want to tell you and assure y’all is, that we will not stop until every single person is found,” he says. “We’ve got all the resources we need.”
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