At least 24 people have been killed in central Texas after a storm unleashed nearly a foot of rain and caused flash flooding.
Many more remain missing after floodwaters spilled from the Guadalupe River just before dawn on Friday, including more than 20 people from a girls\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ summer camp.
Hundreds of rescue workers were despatched to the scene in Kerr County, where homes and vehicles were washed away by the fast-rising waters.
The total number of missing is not yet clear, but Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said between 23 and 25 of them were girls who had been attending Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.
Debris is left behind by a raging Guadalupe River.Credit: AP
On social media, parents and families posted desperate pleas for information about loved ones caught in the flood zone.“The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers at Camp Mystic. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.”She said a raging storm woke up her cabin around 1:30am on Friday, and when rescuers arrived – tying a rope for the girls to hold as the children walked across bridge with floodwaters whipping around the calves and knees.The flooding in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise.
A flood gauge marks the height of water flowing over a farm-to-market road near Kerrville, Texas.Credit: AP
Officials defended their preparations for severe weather and their response but said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was, in effect, the equivalent of months\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ worth of rain for the area.One National Weather Service forecast this week had called for only between three to six inches of rain, said Nim Kidd, the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.“It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.
The Guadalupe River gauge at the unincorporated community of Hunt, where the river forks, recorded a 22-foot rise (6.7 metres) in just about two hours, according to Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office.
He said the gauge failed after recording a level of 29 and a half feet (9 metres).
Onlookers survey the damage along the Guadalupe River.Credit: AP
“This is the kind of thing that will catch you unaware,” Mr Fogarty said. “The water’s moving so fast, you’re not going to recognise how bad it is until it’s on top of you.”
Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, said police came knocking on doors at 5:30am but that he had received no warning on his phone.“We got no emergency alert. There was nothing,” Stone said. Then “a pitch-black wall of death.”