Search continues for about 2 dozen girls at Texas summer camp after flooding kills at least 27

The hunt for survivors continued Saturday aft a rainstorm sent water spilling retired of the Guadalupe River successful Texas, sweeping distant a girls' summertime camp, killing astatine slightest 27 people, including 9 children, and leaving different 2 twelve missing. 

The destructive fast-moving stream waters rose eight metres in conscionable 45 minutes earlier dawn Friday, washing distant homes and vehicles. More dense rains were expected Saturday, and flash flood warnings and watches remained successful effect for parts of cardinal Texas.

Some 27 radical were missing from Camp Mystic, metropolis manager Dalton Rice said astatine a quality conference. An chartless fig of radical astatine different locations were inactive unaccounted for.

"People request to cognize contiguous volition beryllium a hard day," said Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. 

Searchers utilized helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and rescue stranded people. 

On societal media, parents and families posted hopeless pleas for accusation astir loved ones caught successful the flood zone.

"The campy was wholly destroyed," said Elinor Lester, 13, 1 of hundreds of campers astatine Camp Mystic. "A chopper landed and started taking radical away. It was truly scary."

She said a raging tempest woke up her compartment astir 1:30 a.m. section clip Friday. Rescuers tied a enactment for the girls to clasp arsenic the children successful her compartment walked crossed a span with floodwaters whipping astir the calves and knees. 

The flooding successful the mediate of the nighttime connected the Fourth of July vacation caught galore residents, campers and officials by surprise. The Texas Hill Country, northwest of San Antonio, is simply a fashionable destination for camping and swimming, particularly astir the summer holiday. 

AccuWeather said the backstage forecasting institution and the National Weather Service sent warnings astir imaginable flash flooding hours earlier the devastation. 

"These warnings should person provided officials with ample clip to evacuate camps specified arsenic Camp Mystic and get radical to safety," AccuWeather said successful a statement, adding the Texas Hill County is 1 of the astir flash-flood-prone areas of the U.S. due to the fact that of its terrain and galore h2o crossings.

Officials defended their actions Friday, saying they had not expected specified an aggravated downpour that was the equivalent to months' worthy of rainfall for the area.

Helicopters, drones utilized successful hunt for missing

A stream gauge astatine Hunt recorded 6.7 metres in astir 2 hours, according to Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Austin/San Antonio office. The gauge failed aft signaling a level of 9 metres.

"The water's moving truthful fast, you're not going to admit however atrocious it is until it's connected apical of you," Fogarty said.

On the Facebook leafage of the Kerr County sheriff's office, radical posted pictures of loved ones and begged for assistance uncovering them.

At slightest 400 radical were connected the crushed helping successful the response, Texas Lt.-Gov. Dan Patrick said. Nine rescue teams, 14 helicopters and 12 drones were being used; some radical being rescued from trees. 

In Ingram, Erin Burgess woke to thunder and rainfall astatine 3:30 a.m. Just 20 minutes later, h2o was pouring into her location straight crossed from the river, she said. She described an agonizing hr clinging to a histrion and waiting for the h2o to recede capable truthful they could locomotion up the elevation to a neighbour's home.

"My lad and I floated to a histrion wherever we hung onto it, and my fellow and my canine floated away. He was mislaid for a while, but we recovered them."

Of her 19-year-old son, Burgess said: "Thankfully he's implicit 6 feet tall. That's the lone happening that saved me, was hanging connected to him."

Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, said constabulary came knocking connected doors astatine 5:30 a.m. but helium had received nary informing connected his phone.

"We got nary exigency alert. There was nothing," Stone said. Then, "a transportation achromatic partition of death." 

'I was frightened to death'

At a reunification centre set up successful Ingram, families cried and cheered arsenic loved ones got disconnected vehicles loaded with evacuees. Two soldiers carried an older pistillate who could not get down a ladder. Behind her, a pistillate successful a soiled T-shirt and shorts clutched a tiny achromatic dog. 

Later, a miss successful a achromatic "Camp Mystic" T-shirt and achromatic socks stood successful a puddle, sobbing successful her mother's arms.

Barry Adelman, 54, said h2o pushed everyone successful his three-story location into the attic, including his 94-year-old grandma and nine-year-old grandson. The h2o started coming done the attic level earlier yet receding. 

"I was horrified," helium said. "I was having to look astatine my grandson successful the look and archer him everything was going to beryllium OK, but wrong I was frightened to death." 

The forecast had called for rain, with a flood ticker upgraded to a informing overnight for astatine slightest 30,000 people. But totals successful immoderate places exceeded expectations, Fogarty said. 

Patrick noted the imaginable for dense rainfall and flooding covered a ample area.

"Everything was done to springiness them a heads-up that you could person dense rain, and we're not precisely definite wherever it's going to land," Patrick said. "Obviously arsenic it got acheronian past night, we got into the wee greeting of the hours — that's erstwhile the tempest started to zero in."

Asked astir however radical were notified successful Kerr County truthful that they could get to safety, Judge Rob Kelly, the county's main elected official, said: "We bash not person a informing system." 

When reporters pushed connected wherefore much precautions weren't taken, Kelly said: "Rest assured, nary 1 knew this benignant of flood was coming." 

Popular tourism country prone to flooding

The country is known arsenic "flash flood alley" due to the fact that of the hills' bladed furniture of soil, said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which was collecting donations to assistance non-profits responding to the disaster.

"When it rains, h2o doesn't soak into the soil," Dickson said. "It rushes down the hill."

River tourism manufacture is simply a cardinal portion of the Hill Country economy. Well-known, century-old summertime camps bring successful kids from each implicit the country, Dickson said.

"It's mostly a precise tranquil stream with truly beauteous wide bluish h2o that radical person been attracted to for generations."