24 Dead, Several Children Missing After Catastrophic Flooding In Texas

At least 24 people are dead and several others are missing, including several children from a summer camp, are missing after catastrophic flooding overwhelmed the Guadalupe River in Central Texas on Friday.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has dispatched thousands of state emergency workers to the affected communities as frantic search and rescue efforts raged throughout the night Friday and into Saturday morning.

Parents are desperately awaiting updates about campers who remain missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls camp located not far from the river’s edge. As of Friday evening, about two dozen campers remain missing.

The camp is located in central Texas’ Kerr County, about 60 miles northwest of San Antonio. “Rescue teams worked throughout the night and will continue until we find all our citizens,” the Kerrville Police Department said Saturday morning.

A few miles down the river, another girls’ camp said its director died in the flooding. The Heart O’ the Hills Camp said it was not in session and most people who were at the location when flooding hit have been accounted for, but camp officials received word that Director Jane Ragsdale had been killed. “We are mourning the loss of a woman who influenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful,” the camp said on its website.

Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice told reporters that the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, which prevented city authorities from being able to issue evacuation warnings. “This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time that could not be predicted, even with radar,” Rice said. “This happened within less than a two-hour span.”

Five of the confirmed fatalities occurred in Harris County, which encompasses Houston, according to a statement from Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo. “All of Texas is impacted by this tragic event.”

Officials have warned that the death toll is expected to rise as the full scope of devastation is understood over the course of the weekend. The total number of missing persons remains unknown as of this report.

While speaking at a news conference Friday night, Governor Abbott said that “24/7” rescue operations were underway in affected areas. Crews could be seen airlifting victims from areas that are totally inaccessible by land vehicles. Abbott further stated that resources devoted to the effort would be “limitless.”

While speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One, President Donald Trump said that any required recourses will provided immediately. “Oh, that’s terrible. The floods. It’s shocking. They don’t know the answer as to how many people, but it looks like some young people have died,” he said.

“We’ll take care of it. We’re working with the governor. It’s a terrible thing,” the president added when asked about federal aid.