Bloomberg News
(TNS)
More than 100 people have been confirmed dead in floods that tore through central Texas over the weekend, marking a grim milestone as searchers used boats, dogs and drones to locate victims and authorities debated whether anything more could have been done to prevent the disaster.
Confirmed fatalities reached 104, according to the Associated Press, and included 27 children and counselors who had been missing from the Mystic girls’ summer camp that sat alongside the Guadalupe River in the heart of the Hill Country, a popular recreation area that’s about a two-hour drive west of Austin.
“Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy,” the camp said in a statement. “We are praying for them constantly.” Ten children and one counselor remain missing.
Authorities refused to say at a news conference Monday how many people were still unnacounted for, but warned that more heartache was sure to come even as they held out hope of finding survivors.
“We remain hopeful every foot, every mile, every bend of the river,” said Joe Herring Jr., mayor of Kerrville, one of the hardest hit areas. “Our work continues.”
The torrential rain that poured down Friday unleashed a flash flood that swept away cabins, campsites, bridges and roads, filling the area’s rivers and streams with tons of debris and making it difficult to access some areas. While the heaviest destruction was concentrated in the area around Kerrville, flooding extended as far west as San Angelo — where one person died and local officials said 12,000 structures had been affected — and as far east as Austin, where rain on Saturday caused streams to overflow. At least 13 people died and more are missing in the capital region, KUT reported.
The Hill Country is a largely rural area with limited mobile-phone reception. It had been packed over the Fourth of July holiday weekend with vacationers, many of them families who flock to the region’s campgrounds and RV parks year after year to enjoy spring-fed rivers that provide respite from the summer heat in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The area sprawls across more than 20 counties in central Texas.
Officials said 84 bodies had been recovered in Kerr County, including 28 children. More than 30 of the victims had yet to be identified.
There could still be scattered showers across central Texas on Tuesday, but the bulk of the rain should be moving further north into Arkansas. Most flood warnings and watches across central Texas were set to expire by Monday evening, the National Weather Service said.
Local, state and federal officials have faced criticism in the aftermath of the tragedy, including questions about why the flood-prone county lacked warning sirens, whether forecasts accurately conveyed the risk of a catastrophic deluge and whether local officials could have better notified people overnight to move to higher ground.
Statewide, the flooding may have caused $18 billion to $22 billion in total damage and economic loss, according to a preliminary estimate from AccuWeather.
Some politicians and local officials pushed back against efforts to assign blame for the losses of life, saying a rush to judgment risked politicizing a human tragedy.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, downplayed concerns that President Donald Trump’s cuts to the National Weather Service played a role in the failure to evacuate people before the floods. He said an examination of what went wrong would be forthcoming, but that for now the best focus was on recovery efforts. Trump has approved a disaster declaration for the area and may visit Texas on Friday.
“Most normal Americans know that’s ridiculous, and I think this is not a time for partisan attacks,” Cruz said. “My hope is in time we will learn some lessons to implement.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed criticism of the weather service. “Those comments are depraved and despicable,” she told reporters in Washington.
Governor Greg Abbott, who will tour the area on Tuesday, said the state legislature will take up the issue of warning systems at a special session at the Capitol.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said some people may have been saved by a loud lightning strike at 1:30 a.m. on Friday morning that alerted them to the situation. He said that the state needed to find a way to pay for natural-disaster alarm systems for the area.
“Had we had sirens along this area,” Patrick told Fox News in an interview, “it’s possible that would’ve saved some of these lives.”
“The state will step up.”
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—With assistance from Brian K. Sullivan and Julie Fine.
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