by (AP) KERRVILLE, TX Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, flash floods in Texas killed at least 82 people and left others, including girls at a summer camp, missing. Massive search efforts have been prompted by the destruction along the Guadalupe River outside of San Antonio, while officials are being questioned about their readiness and the haste of their early response.
Here are some details regarding the devastating flooding, the massive weather system that caused it to occur in and around Kerr County, Texas, and the ongoing search for victims.
At the middle of a lengthy holiday weekend, when most people were asleep, the floods reached their worst point.
Because of the dry, dirt-packed terrain in the Texas Hill Country in the state’s center, where the soil allows rain to slide over the ground rather than soak it up, the region is inherently vulnerable to flash flooding. A especially strong storm that dumped the majority of its 12 inches (30 cm) of rain in the dark early morning hours on Friday was the precursor to Friday’s flash floods.
Around 4 a.m. on Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning that raised the possibility of catastrophic damage and a serious threat to human life, after a flood watch alert issued at noon. Some in the Kerrville City vicinity claim that water levels were becoming dangerously high by at least 5:20 a.m. The Guadalupe River rose 26 feet (8 meters) in just forty-five minutes as a result of the torrential rain that poured over the hills.
Governor Greg Abbott announced on Sunday that 41 people were officially missing around the state and that more might be missing.
Sheriff Larry Leitha reported Sunday afternoon that searchers had discovered the dead of 68 individuals, including 28 children, in Kerr County, which is home to summer camps in the Texas Hill Country. As of Sunday night, 79 people had died, including fatalities in neighboring counties.
At Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river, ten girls and a counselor remained missing.
The incident transformed joyful memories into sorrow for former campers.
The amount of missing people from other neighboring campgrounds and the surrounding area had not been made public, in addition to the Camp Mystic campers who were still unaccounted for.
Citing the anticipated surge of tourists for the July Fourth holiday, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice stated on Saturday that “we don’t even want to begin to estimate at this time.”
Survivors claim they were not given any emergency warnings and have referred to the floods as a “black wall of death.”
Rob Kelly, a Kerr County Judge who resides near the Guadalupe River, stated on Saturday that no one anticipated this. According to the historical record, the water levels were extremely unusual, and several officials have referred to it as a 100-year flood.
Furthermore, records supporting those figures don’t always take climate change brought on by humans into consideration. Meteorologists argue that a warmer atmosphere can contain more moisture and allow severe storms to drop significantly more rain, but it’s difficult to link individual storms to global warming so soon after they happen.
Officials have also come under fire for failing to notify or advise residents and kids summer camps along the river to evacuate before 4 a.m.
Officials pointed out that too frequent flooding advisories or forecasts that prove to be small can wear people out.
According to Kerr County officials, the public was shocked by the price of the proposal they made for a more powerful flood warning system, akin to a tornado warning system.
After being questioned again by reporters about the delays in alerts and evacuations, officials left a news briefing on Sunday.
Campsites have been destroyed by the flash floods, and houses have been torn off their foundations.
After examining the damage from a helicopter on Saturday, Kelly stated, “It will be a long time before we are able to clean it up, much less rebuild it.”
Residents and business owners have given up due to other severe flooding incidents, such as those that occurred in areas hit by Hurricane Helene last year.
On Friday, President Donald Trump is expected to visit the flood area.
The extent of the damage and one of Texas’ biggest rescue and recovery operations have been documented by AP photographers.
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