The July Fourth weekend deluge in Texas caused catastrophic flash flooding that has taken the lives of at least 104 people.
Camp Mystic in Kerr County says it is “grieving the loss” of 27 campers and counselors as the search continues for victims of the disaster. The flooding sent a wall of water through the century-old summer camp Friday.
Sadly, the risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in central Texas with more rain on the way.
The Texas Hill Country is home to several summer camps. Searchers there have found the bodies of 84 people, including 28 children. Twenty other deaths have been reported in other parts of Texas.
In hard-hit Kerr County, home to the Christian Camp Mystic and several other summer camps, searchers have found the remains of 84 people, including 28 children, according to Kerr County officials.
Kendall County Emergency Management Coordinator Brady Constantine confirmed on Monday that six bodies had been recovered after floods ravaged the community of just over 50,000 people. None of the dead have been identified, Constantine said.
Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarczyk said that despite the devastation, the floods demonstrated the community’s resilience.
“Kendall County came together. Neighbors helped neighbors, strangers became rescuers,” Stolarczyk said at the press conference.
A firefighting crew from Mexico is helping first responders
Jesús Gomez said his team recovered the body of one victim killed in the floods.
“It’s hard, but first responders, we’re a different breed, pretty much,” Gomez said. “It’s a lot of mental health things we need to do, but it’s not the first time we see a dead body.”
Gomez said the search process is difficult, with much of the searching done by hand.
The team is from Acuña, a Mexican border town about 120 miles (193 kilometers) southwest of Kerrville, Texas.
Leavitt blasts criticism that Trump’s budget and staffing cuts contributed to the high death toll
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the local and federal weather services provided sufficient warnings to the Kerr County community before the floods.
“That was an act of God. It’s not the administration’s fault that the flood hit when it did, but there were early and consistent warnings and, again, the National Weather Service did its job,” Leavitt said.
She outlined that on July 3, the NWS office in Austin-San Antonio conducted briefings for local officials and issued a flood watch in the early afternoon.
That was followed by numerous flood warnings on the night of July 3 and in the pre-dawn hours of July 4, giving a lead time of three hours before the flash flood.
In response to a subsequent question about the warnings and why they were issued when people were likely asleep, Leavitt repeated that the offices were fully staffed.
More volunteers arrive at an impromptu recovery site in Center Point
A table with snacks and water sat at the bottom of a hill where cracked dirt and depressed grass marked the landscape toward the Guadalupe River.
It was a bright and sunny 80 degrees shortly before 2 p.m. as private citizens from across the state hacked away at mangled trees not yet traversed by official rescue operations.
“I had guys show up at that other site,” said volunteer Terrance Ogden, referring to authorities cutting off entry from private individuals in Kerrville. “They got told ‘Go to Center Point.’”
Nebraska is sending a 45-member search and rescue team to help
The group, which includes two canine teams as well as boats and vehicles, was expected to arrive in San Antonio on Tuesday morning and remain in Texas for up to 14 days.
“The team we are sending has the training necessary for dealing with these kinds of disaster environments and will be able to expedite the search efforts that continue to take place,” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said in a statement.
Florida’s governor is sending water rescue crews to Texas
“Texas has helped us when we’ve had different issues throughout the years,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a news conference. “And we’re happy to step up.”
DeSantis said it’s unfair to politicize the initial response to the unpredictably destructive storm and flooding.
“Mother Nature, especially the water, we see that in Florida with storm surge, it can be really, really nasty,” DeSantis said. “And this was a biblical flood. It was much more than what I think they anticipated.”
White House won’t say if Texas flooding will delay Trump’s plans to scrap FEMA
Asked if Trump may delay his promise to close FEMA and leave disaster response up to the states, Leavitt said, “The president has always said he wants states to do as much as they can.”
She added that Texas officials are doing a “tremendous job” in response to the flooding.