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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared disasters in 15 central Texas counties Friday night, pledging that he had the resources needed to search and recover. Some of the girls came from North Texas. Gov. Dan Patrick vowed to the parents of the missing camper van that rescuers would find their daughter. State officials have confirmed 24 deaths so far. The identity has not been confirmed. Other undecided numbers are also believed to have gone missing in the flood. Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring has declared a disaster in the town. The flood waves reach comfort and are expected to climb to the summit at 34 feet on Friday afternoon at the spring branch.
Multiple people have died and 23 girls have gone missing from summer camp after massive tropical rain flooded the Guadalupe River in Texas Hill Country early Friday. NBC 5 confirmed that some of the missing children are from North Texas.
During a briefing Friday afternoon, Lt. Col. Dan Patrick confirmed that more than 20 girls had gone missing from Camp Mystic, with hundreds of people searching for the girls on the ground and in the air. Patrick said he prays that all of his missing children are alive.
“I hope that parents are there looking there…but those parents who receive a call from Camp Mystic that your daughter said that it has not been explained at this point should know that we do everything possible for humans, look at every tree, look at every rock, look at every rock, and look at your child, not only find your daughter, but look at every rock,” Patrick said.
NBC 5 confirmed Friday afternoon that some of the missing girls were from North Texas. Officials have not made any public information about the Camp Mystic girl, including their names and age.
At the time of this writing, Kerr County officials have confirmed that 13 people have died in the flood, and it is believed that the number of others is underdeveloped.
“Some are adults, some are children,” Patrick said Friday. “I don’t know where those bodies came from.”
Meteorologists say the Guadalupe River rose overnight as it rained 14 inches in the area. Between 1am and 4:30am on Friday, the river rose from about 7.5 feet to nearly 30 feet. This rose 22 feet in about three hours. The NWS said it believes the river is even higher, but the gauge is underwater and no longer reports data.
The area has several riverside summer camps, including Camp Mystic, a camp for girls that can accommodate around 750 campers on multiple sites. The camp issued a statement Friday morning that said parents of missing children were notified and that if the parents were not contacted, the child had been described.
Camp Mystic officials said they are working with the search and rescue team to find the missing girl.
Patrick said the state has nine rescue teams, with as many as 500 people searching the area on the ground. Additionally, 14 helicopters and a dozen drones are searched for each air. Patrick said they had plenty of resources in the area and didn’t need volunteers to self-deploy on the ground or in the air to assist in the search.
Several other camps along the river issued a statement on Friday about the flooding and status of their campers. Patrick said that no other camps reported missing children, but they could never say for sure that no other campers were missing. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said parents should call camp directly with questions about the child’s condition.
“We have a lot of camps… we don’t know much about any of the individual camps,” Kelly said. “What I know is that everyone is doing their best to try and identify as much as possible.”
The intense storm in southern Texas killed several people and caused widespread damage.
During a briefing Friday morning, Judge Kelly said the county does not have a warning system to warn residents and camps of threatening weather. At about 4am, the NWS was able to upgrade flash flood warnings to flash flood emergency situations and send radio emergency alerts to mobile phones for residents and campers along the river.
The night before the Texas Department of Emergency Management predicted flash flooding and stimulated additional emergency response resources, when asked why the camper van had not evacuated, Judge Kelly said he didn’t know.
“We didn’t know that this flood was coming. No one knew that this kind of flood would come. We’ve always had floods. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States and we deal with floods regularly. “There was no reason to believe this would be something like what happened here.”
The Carr County Sheriff’s Office confirmed multiple deaths related to the early morning flood Friday, but they were hesitant to share the figures. Woai-TV reported that Judge Kelly confirmed that at least six people had been killed in the flood in the morning. During the briefing, Kelly later said he has not yet confirmed the identity of the victim and would like to release more information on the number of people who went missing or were killed Friday afternoon.
“I recommend not using numbers. There are a few numbers, but I’m not going to use them at this point,” Kelly said.
A video shared online showed the car was played and the swelling Guadalupe River was in rage. People near rivers, streams and streams are instructed to move to the highlands. The Sheriff’s Office said everything in Kerr County was “a very active scene” and residents were encouraged to evacuate and avoid travel.
The NWS said the river had fallen crested on a hunt on Friday morning, but they could see more rainfall again. The height of the roses in the river is unknown. The NWS said the gauge was underwater when the river reached nearly 30 feet and failed. Flood waves on the Guadalupe River downstream reached comfortable around 10am, and the river rose 26 feet in 45 minutes, in a major flood stage. A flood warning has been issued for the River River on the Spring Branch, north of San Antonio. There, the river was expected to rise to 37 feet Friday night.
“This flood wave continues downstream through carville and comfort. This is a very dangerous and life-threatening flood event along the Guadalupe River!” NWS said in a Facebook post.
At 11am, Comfort VFD said the situation had not improved and it was sounding flood sirens, urging all lowland residents to evacuate immediately.
Due to the flood, Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. issued a disaster declaration Friday morning. The city has reported widespread power outages.
The U.S. National Weather Service office in Austin San Antonio said the water rose to the second highest height, higher than the 1987 flood. Judge Kelly said he thought the flood was more devastating than the 1987 flood.
“It’s enough to say that this was a very devastating and fatal flood. It’s well beyond 87 floods,” Judge Kelly said. “When you look outside the main entrance and see the Guadalupe River running, it awakens you, please tell me.”
The Guadalupe River runs to Lake Canyon, a Damned Sythe Reservoir in Comal County, designed to catch and store floodwaters.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott declares disasters in 15 central Texas counties
Texas Governor Greg Abbott returned to Texas Friday night and met with state leaders before making an update at about 9:15pm.
Abbott said the resources provided to the county for search and recovery efforts were endless, and county leaders have whatever they need.
“We won’t stop anything to ensure that we ensure that all assets and people, planes and everything that needs to be involved in the process of rescue of every last person, and that everyone involved in this is fully explained,” Abbott said.
Abbott then signed the declaration, declaring disasters in several counties affected by the flood: Bandera, Coke, Comer, Concho, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Lano, Mason, McCulloch, Menard, Reeves, San Sava, Tom Green
The governor said more counties need to be added to the disaster list.
State resources to respond to floods in central Texas
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state “provides all the resources it needs for Kerrville, Ingram, Hunt and the entire Texas Hill country to deal with these devastating floods.”
“Today, Texas has mobilized additional resources in addition to those sent to prepare for the storm. I encourage Texans to be aware of guidance from state and local officials, monitor local forecasts and avoid driving to flooded areas.”
Prior to the storm, Abbott said Texas has revitalized emergency response resources in central Texas to prepare for the continued threat of heavy rainfall and flash flooding.
The following state emergency response resources are available to support local flood response operations:
Texas A&M Engineering Extension Services (Texas A&M Task Force 1 and Texas A&M Task Force 3): Swift Water Rescue Boats to Assist in Flood Rescue Texas Parks and Wildlife Division: Game Warden, Rescue Boat Team and Hacopter are equipped with hoist capabilities to help Texas safety in support of public safety in the Flood Rescue Division. Marine Unit Texas National Guard: Strand Drivers, Strand Drivers with Hoist Capability to assist in flood rescue, Famous Vehicles to assist in Black Hawk Helicopters Texas Department of Transportation: Road Monitoring Texas A&M Forest Service: Sawkrew Texas Commission: Power Outage Monitoring and Power Outage Monitoring and Coordination with Texas Railway Commission: Oil and Gas Industry on Environmental Quality Monitoring of State Natural Gas Supply and Communications with Texas Commission: Aviation/Water/Washwater Monitoring Texas Health Services (Texas Emergency Medical Issues)
“I am working with the state emergency response team on important floods that occurred in the Hill Country and Concho Valley areas early this morning. The Kerr County Sheriff’s Office has reported catastrophic floods in the area, confirming the loss of life, with some people lost and the loss of life. In addition to continuing risks in central and central Texas, Waco for the next 24-48 hours.
“I urge Texans in affected areas to keep in mind the guidance of local officials. The Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) and other state emergency response assets support the Texas community with response operations and unmet needs.
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