Twenty dozen missing girls desperately searching for summer camp after floods in Texas kill at least 24 people – National

Earlier Saturday, crew members searched for a twelve children from a girl’s camp in the dark, while a wall rushed at least 24 people along a river in rural Texas Hills, still missing in a powerful storm.

Within 45 minutes before dawn on Friday, destructive fast-moving water along the Guadalupe River rose to 26 feet (8 meters), washing homes and vehicles. The danger has not been resolved as heavy rains are expected to increase on Saturday and a portion of the flood warning and flood watches remain in effect in the central Texas area.

Searchers use helicopters and drones to find victims and rescue those in trouble. The total number of missing persons is unclear, but one sheriff said about 24 of them were girls attending Christian summer camps along the river.

Crazy parents and family posted photos of missing relatives and begged for information.

“The camp was destroyed,” said 13-year-old Elinor Lester, one of the hundreds of campers at the mysterious camp. “The helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really horrible.”

She said a violent storm woke after midnight on Friday and when rescuers arrived they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge and the flood whipped in their legs.

During a press conference late Friday, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 24 people were confirmed dead.

Authorities say about 240 people were rescued.

The flooding in the middle of the night during the Fourth of July surprised many residents, campers and officials.

Officials prepare for their bad weather and reactions, but they say they did not expect such a strong downpour, which is actually a few months worth of rain in the area.

Nim Kidd, head of Texas Emergency Management, said a National Weather Service forecast this week only requires three to six inches (76 to 152 mm) of rain this week.

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“It doesn’t predict the amount of rain we’re seeing,” he said.

Helicopters for crazy searches for missing drones

Bob Fogarty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio office, said a meter of river flows near the mysterious camp recorded 22 feet (6.7 meters) in about two hours. The instrument failed after recording 29 and a half feet (9 meters).

“The water moves so fast that you don’t realize how bad it is until it’s on you,” Fogarty said.

On the Facebook page of the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office, people posted photos of loved ones and begged for help to find them.

Texas Governor Dan Patrick said at least 400 people were helping. Rescue teams, helicopters and drones are being used, and some are being rescued from trees.

“Pumbing the Black Death Wall”

In Ingram, Erin Burgess woke up late Friday night. She said that in just 20 minutes, the water poured directly into the home across the river. She described a painful hour clinging to the tree, waiting for the water to recede enough to walk along the hill to the neighbor’s home.

“My son and I floated in a tree, our boyfriend and my dog ​​floated for a while. He got lost for a while, but we found them,” she said.

“Thankfully, he is 6 feet tall. That’s the only thing that saved me is to hang on him,” Burgess said in her 19-year-old son.

Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, said officers crashed into the door but he received no warning on the phone.

“We don’t have an emergency alarm. Then there’s the black wall of death. ”

“I was scared to death”

In a reunion center established in Ingram, families cried and cheered as their loved ones got out of vehicles equipped with evacuees. Two soldiers carried an old woman who could not fall down the ladder. Behind her, a woman was holding a little white dog.

Later, a girl in a white “Camp Mystic” T-shirt and white socks stood in a puddle and cried in her mother’s arms.

Barry Adelman, 54, said Water pushed everyone in his three-story home to the attic, including his 94-year-old grandmother and 9-year-old grandson. Before finally retreating, the water begins to pass through the attic floor.

“I’m scared,” he said. “I had to look at my grandson’s face and tell him that everything would be fine, but I was afraid of death inside.”

“No one knows that this flood is coming”

The forecast requires rain and flood surveillance escalated to overnight with at least 30,000 people.

The Lieutenant Governor pointed out that the potential of heavy rain and floods covers a large area.

“It’s all about getting them to raise a heavy rain, and we’re not sure where it’s going to land,” Patrick said. “Obviously it was dark last night and we entered a few hours of early morning, and that was when the storm started to zero.”

When asked how to inform people in Kerr County so they can be safe, the county’s chief officer, Judge Rob Kelly, said: “We don’t have a warning system.”

When reporters pushed for why no more precautions were taken, Kelly said: “Don’t worry, no one knows this flood is coming.”

After the initial disaster, a new Flashflood warning was issued early Saturday morning urging residents to seek higher ground. Austin/San Antonio’s National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings to Burnett County in South Central Texas, Northwest Dravis County and Williamson County in South Central Texas.

The alarm warns residents of dangerous conditions from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.

“The expected rainfall rate is 3 to 6 inches in 1 hour. In the warning area, there may be an additional rainfall of 2 to 5 inches. The overflow of mountain floods may be expected to begin soon.”

– Files with Prisha Dev