Search for missing camp girls after Texas floods kill at least 32

Rescuers scoured flooded riverbanks littered with mangled trees Saturday and turned over rocks in the search for more than two dozen children from a girls’ camp and many others missing after a wall of water blasted down a river in the Texas Hill Country. The storm killed at least 32 people, including 14 children.Video above: Texas Lt. Gov. shares update on missing camp kidsThe destructive fast-moving waters along the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet (8 meters) in just 45 minutes before dawn Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. The danger was not over as more heavy rains were expected Saturday and flash flood warnings and watches remained in effect for parts of central Texas.Some 27 people were missing from Camp Mystic, Dalton Rice, city manager, said at a press conference Saturday. An unknown number of people at other locations were still unaccounted for.“People need to know today will be a hard day,” said Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring, Jr.Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue stranded people. The total number of missing was not known, but one sheriff said about 24 of them were girls who had been attending Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.Frantic parents and families posted photos of missing loved ones and pleas for information.“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.”A raging storm woke up her cabin just after midnight Friday, and when rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge with floodwaters whipping around their legs, she said.Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 27 were confirmed dead, including nine children. Authorities said about 850 people had been rescued.The flooding in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise. The Texas Hill Country, which sits northwest of San Antonio, is a popular destination for camping and swimming, especially around the summertime holiday.AccuWeather said the private forecasting company and the National Weather Service sent warnings about potential flash flooding hours before the devastation.“These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,” AccuWeather said in a statement that called the Texas Hill County one of the most flash-flood-prone areas of the U.S. because of its terrain and many water crossings.Officials defended their actions Friday while saying they had not expected such an intense downpour that was the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.One National Weather Service forecast earlier in the week had called for up to six inches (152 millimeters) of rain, said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management. “It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said. Video below: Flood damage to Jellystone Campground in Kerrville, TexasHelicopters, drones used in frantic search for missingA river gauge near Camp Mystic recorded a 22 foot rise (6.7 meters) in about two hours, said Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office. The gauge failed after recording a level of 29 and a half feet (9 meters).“The water’s moving so fast, you’re not going to recognize how bad it is until it’s on top of you,” Fogarty said.More than 1,000 rescuers were on the ground. Rescue teams, helicopters and drones were being used, with some people being plucked from trees. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters were flying in to assist.‘Pitch black wall of death’ In Ingram, Erin Burgess woke to thunder and rain in the middle of the night Friday. Just 20 minutes later, water was pouring into her home from the river, she said. She described an agonizing hour clinging to a tree with her teenage son and waiting for the water to recede enough to walk up the hill to safety.“Thankfully, he’s over 6 feet tall. That’s the only thing that saved me, was hanging on to him,” she said.“My son and I floated to a tree where we hung onto it, and my boyfriend and my dog floated away. He was lost for a while, but we found them,” she said.Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, said police came knocking on doors 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.”Video below: Kerrville, Texas, officials give update on flooding situation‘I was scared to death’At a reunification center in Ingram, families cried and cheered as loved ones got off rescue vehicles. Two soldiers carried an older woman who could not get down a ladder. Behind her, a woman clutched a small white dog.Later, a girl in a white “Camp Mystic” T-shirt and white socks stood in a puddle, sobbing in her mother’s arms.Barry Adelman said water pushed everyone in his three-story house into the attic, including his 94-year-old grandmother and 9-year-old grandson. Water started coming through the attic floor before receding.“I was horrified,” he said. “I was having to look at my grandson in the face and tell him everything was going to be OK, but inside I was scared to death.”‘No one knew this kind of flood was coming’The forecast for the weekend had called for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a warning overnight Friday for at least 30,000 people.Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the potential for heavy rain and flooding covered a large area.“Everything was done to give them a heads up that you could have heavy rain, and we’re not exactly sure where it’s going to land,” Patrick said. “Obviously as it got dark last night, we got into the wee morning of the hours, that’s when the storm started to zero in.”Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s chief elected official, said: “We do not have a warning system.”When pushed on why more precautions weren’t taken, Kelly said no one knew this kind of flood was coming.More pockets of heavy rains expectedThe slow-moving storm stuck over central Texas is expected to bring more rain Saturday, with the potential for pockets of heavy downpours and more flooding, said Jason Runyen, of the National Weather Service.The threat could linger overnight and into Sunday morning, he said.Popular tourism area prone to floodingThe area is known as “flash flood alley” because of the hills’ thin layer of soil, said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which was collecting donations to help nonprofits responding to the disaster.“When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” Dickson said. “It rushes down the hill.”River tourism industry is a key part of the Hill Country economy. Well-known, century-old summer camps bring in kids from all over the country, Dickson said.“It’s generally a very tranquil river with really beautiful, clear blue water that people have been attracted to for generations,” Dickson said.Floods turned beloved Texas camp into a nightmare, with more than 20 still missingTexas parents frantically posted photos of their young daughters on social media with pleas for information as at least 23 campers from an all-girls summer camp were unaccounted for Friday after floods tore through central Texas overnight.At least 27 people, including nine children, are dead after a storm unleashed nearly a foot of rain just before dawn Friday and sent floodwaters gushing out of the Guadalupe River through the region known for its century-old summer camps. Many more are still missing, and authorities said about 850 people had been rescued so far.State officials said 23 to 25 girls from Camp Mystic, a riverside Christian camp in Hunt, Texas, were still unaccounted for.”I’m asking the people of Texas, do some serious praying,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said. “On-your-knees kind of praying that we find these young girls.”Flood turns storied Camp Mystic into a nightmareThe camp was established in 1926. It grew so popular over the following decades that families are now encouraged to put prospective campers on the waitlist years in advance.Photos and videos taken before the flood are idyllic, showing large cabins with green-shingled roofs and names like “Wiggle Inn,” tucked among sturdy oak and cypress trees that grow on the banks of the Guadalupe River. In some social media posts, girls are fishing, riding horses, playing kickball or performing choreographed dance routines in matching T-shirts. Girls ranging in age from 8 to 17 years old pose for the camera with big smiles, arms draped across the shoulders of their fellow campers.But the floodwaters left behind a starkly different landscape: A pickup truck is balanced precariously on two wheels, its side lodged halfway up a tree. A wall is torn entirely off one building, the interior empty except for a Texas flag and paintings hung high along one side. A twisted bit of metal — perhaps a bedframe — is stacked next to colorful steamer trunks and broken tree limbs.First responders are scouring the riverbanks in hopes of finding survivors. Social media posts are now focused on the faces of the missing.Rescuers evacuate some campers by helicopterBy Friday afternoon, Texas Game Wardens had arrived at Camp Mystic and were evacuating campers. A rope was tied so girls could hang on as they walked across a bridge, the floodwaters rushing around their knees.Elinor Lester, 13, said she was evacuated with her cabinmates by helicopter after wading through floodwaters. She recalled startling awake around 1:30 a.m. as thunder crackled and water pelted the cabin windows.Lester was among the older girls housed on elevated ground known as Senior Hill. Cabins housing the younger campers, who can start attending at age 8, are situated along the riverbanks and were the first to flood, she said.”The camp was completely destroyed,” she said. “It was really scary.”Her mother, Elizabeth Lester, said her son was nearby at Camp La Junta and also escaped. A counselor there woke up to find water rising in the cabin, opened a window and helped the boys swim out. Camp La Junta and nearby Camp Waldemar said in Instagram posts that all campers and staff were safe.Among those confirmed dead was the director of another camp just up the road from Camp Mystic.Elizabeth Lester sobbed when she saw her daughter, who was clutching a small teddy bear and a book.”My kids are safe, but knowing others are still missing is just eating me alive,” she said.Families of missing campers worryDozens of families shared in local Facebook groups that they received devastating phone calls from safety officials informing them that their daughters had not yet been located among the washed-away camp cabins and downed trees.Camp Mystic said in an email to parents of the roughly 750 campers that if they have not been contacted directly, their child is accounted for.On Friday afternoon, more than a hundred people gathered at an Ingram elementary school that was being used as a reunification center, watching for the faces of loved ones as buses full of evacuees arrived. One young girl wearing a Camp Mystic T-shirt stood in a puddle in her white socks, sobbing in her mother’s arms.Camp Mystic sits on a strip known to locals as “flash flood alley.””When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which was collecting donations. “It rushes down the hill.”State officials began warning of potential deadly weather a day earlier. The National Weather Service had predicted 3 to 6 inches of rain in the hilly region northwest of San Antonio, but 10 inches fell. The Guadalupe River rose to 26 feet within about 45 minutes in the early morning hours, submerging its flood gauge, Patrick said.Decades prior, floodwaters engulfed a bus of teenage campers from another Christian camp along the Guadalupe River during devastating summer storms in 1987. A total of 10 campers from Pot O’ Gold Christian camp drowned after their bus was unable to evacuate in time from a site near Comfort, 33 miles (53 kilometers) east of Hunt.Happy camp memories are now tinged with griefChloe Crane, a teacher and former Camp Mystic counselor, said her heart broke when a fellow teacher shared an email from the camp about the missing girls.”To be quite honest, I cried because Mystic is such a special place, and I just couldn’t imagine the terror that I would feel as a counselor to experience that for myself and for 15 little girls that I’m taking care of,” she said. “And it’s also just sadness, like the camp has been there forever, and cabins literally got washed away.”Crane said the camp is a haven for young girls looking to gain confidence and independence. She recalled happy memories teaching her campers about journalism, making crafts and competing in a camp-wide canoe race at the end of each summer. Now, for many campers and counselors, their happy place has turned into a horror story, she said.___Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City. Associated Press writer Rebecca Boone contributed from Boise, Idaho. Cortez reported from Hunt, Texas. Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press reporter Susan Haigh contributed from Hartford, Connecticut.

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