At least 82 dead including 28 children, 41 missing after flash floods in Texas at popular camp spot

Festive moods over the Independence Day weekend in Texas, U.S. were dampened when torrential rains resulted in flash floods along the Guadalupe River, AP News reported.

82 people have been confirmed dead so far, including 28 children.

At least another 41 people remain missing.

'Months worth of rain'

Ten inches, or about 25.4cm of rain fell overnight on Jul. 4 as part of an intense storm that swept across Kerr and Kendall counties, according to The Guardian.

In just a few hours overnight, the water levels in Kerrville, the county centre of Kerr County, had reached more than 22 feet, or about six and a half metres.

The rushing water carried away homes, trailers, cars and people, The Guardian said.

One victim in Ingram, a city in Kerr County, said water poured into her riverside home in the middle of the night, forcing her and her family to cling to a tree while waiting for water levels to recede.

Another victim called the scene "a pitch black wall of death.”

While earlier forecasts has reportedly warned for rain and floods, the volume of the eventual rain in some areas exceeded expectations, the National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Fogarty told AP News. 

No warning system

Local media also reported that little to no warning was given in advance as the floods occured rapidly over a two-hour span, resulting in a lack of evacuation orders.

"We do not have a warning system", an official in Kerr County said.

Authorities in the affected areas have appeared relatively unsurprised by the disaster.

“We have floods all the time,” one told reporters when asked about the lack of precautions taken.

“This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States.”

The affected areas are supposedly known as "flash flood alley" due to the thin layers of soil in the surrounding hills, which do not soak in water when it rains and causes water to rush down the hills.

In the aftermath of the disaster, high water levels, challenging terrains and snakes were main challenges in the rescue process, AP News said.

While Texas' Kerr County was reportedly the worst hit area, surrounding counties of Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson also saw a total of ten deaths.

Popular summer campsite

River tourism along the Guadalupe River is a key part of the county's economy and the river's banks are reportedly a popular site for children's summer camps and campgrounds, according to The Guardian.

Among the casualties and missing persons are campers from Camp Mystic, a centuries-old, all-girls Christian summer youth camp located along the river in Kerr County.

10 of the 41 confirmed missing people thus far are girls who were attending the camp, including two school-age sisters from Dallas, and their grandparents, AP News reported.

Among the dead were also an 8-year-old camper at Camp Mystic.

The camp's owner and director, Dick Eastland, also allegedly died while trying to save campers, Texas media reported.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Texas Governor Greg Abbott described the camp as "“horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I’ve seen in any natural disaster".

"We won’t stop until we find every girl who was in those cabins", he vowed.

Helicopters carried some campers to safety

AP News reported that when the storm hit Camp Mystic's campsite in the early hours of the morning, a rope was tied for a number of girls in the cabins to hold onto as they walked across a bridge away from the water.

Helicopters then carried the girls to safety, one such camper told the media.

Families of the children were allowed to enter the camp's cabins to see the devastations on Jul. 6, AP News said.

A reunification center was also set up in Ingram, where a number of children were seen reunited with their families.

On Jul. 6, U.S. President Donald Trump declared the floods a major disaster and deployed federal emergency management resources to Texas.

He called the disaster "a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible".

He reportedly promised Texan authorities "whatever [they] need" in the rescue efforts, which will be provided by the White House.

"We’ll take care of them."

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