Crews picked through mountains of debris and waded into swollen rivers on Monday in the search for victims of catastrophic flooding that killed more than 100 people over the long weekend in Texas, including more than two dozen campers and counsellors from an all-girls Christian camp.
With additional rain on the way, more flooding still threatened in saturated parts of central Texas. Authorities said the death toll was sure to rise as crews looked for many people who were missing.
Operators of Camp Mystic, a century-old summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, said they lost 27 campers and counsellors, confirming their worst fears after a wall of water slammed into cabins built along the edge of the Guadalupe River.
Authorities said 10 girls and a counsellor from the camp remain missing.
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Search and recovery workers dig through debris looking for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding at Camp Mystic on Sunday in Hunt, Texas. AFP -
A home covered in debris sits near the town centre. AFP -
A search and recovery worker shines his flashlight through through murky waters near Camp Mystic, looking for remains of victims. AFP -
Search and recovery workers dig through debris looking for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding at Camp Mystic. AFP -
Workers fix electrical lines on a motorway in Texas. AFP -
Food for those in need on tables at the Hunt Baptist Church. AFP -
Search and recovery workers leave the area around Camp Mystic in military transport vehicles. AFP -
A Chinook helicopter flies over Camp Mystic after picking up troops that aided in search and recovery efforts. AFP
The raging flash floods – among the nation’s worst in decades – slammed into riverside camps and homes before dawn on Friday, pulling sleeping people out of their cabins, tents and trailers and dragging them past floating tree trunks and cars. Some survivors were found clinging to trees.
In the Hill Country area, home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps, rescuers have found the bodies of 75 people, including 27 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said. Deaths reported in other counties has brought the total over 100, according to local officials.
Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that 41 people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.
Slow-moving thunderstorms were expected to bring rain and the risk of more flooding today to already saturated parts of central Texas, the National Weather Service said. A flood watch has been put in effect in several areas until the evening.
Search-and-rescue operations were continuing around the clock, with hundreds of emergency personnel on the ground contending with debris, mud and other challenges.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was activated on Sunday and sent resources to Texas after US President Donald Trump declared it a major disaster, the Department of Homeland Security said. US Coast Guard helicopters and planes were aiding search-and-rescue efforts.
Mr Trump said he may visit Texas on Friday.
Authorities vowed that one of the next steps will be investigating whether enough warnings were issued and why some camps did not evacuate or move to higher ground in areas known to be vulnerable to flooding.
Local, state and federal officials face have faced criticism in the aftermath of the tragedy, including questions about why the flood-prone county lacked warning sirens and whether forecasts accurately conveyed the risk of a catastrophic deluge.
Mr Trump has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government's role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden.
Some experts have questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration – including thousands of positions at the National Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – made it harder for officials to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings ahead of the storm.
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Rescuers search for survivors in an inflatable boat on the flooded Guadalupe river in Comfort, Texas. Getty Images -
First responders deliver people to an evacuation centre after flash flooding in Ingram, Texas. AP -
Employees at a caravan park look over the area where dozens of trailers were swept away by rising flood water in Ingram. AP -
Families are reunited at an evacuation centre in Ingram. AP -
Rescuers on the banks of the raging Guadalupe river. AP -
Trees submerged after the Guadalupe river burst its banks in Kerrville, Texas. AFP -
A Kerrville resident watches the rising water. AFP -
Rescuers navigate along the Guadalupe river, in Kerrville. AP
