At least 13 dead in Texas floods and more than 20 children missing from a girls summer camp

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Months worth of heavy rain fell in a matter of hours on Texas Hill Country, leaving at least 13 people dead and many more unaccounted for Friday, including about 20 girls attending a summer camp, as search teams conducted boat and helicopter rescues in fast-moving floodwaters.

Desperate pleas peppered social media as loved ones sought any information about people caught in the flood zone. At least 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain poured down overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River.

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Authorities stressed that the situation was still developing and that the death toll could change, with rescue operations ongoing for an unspecified number missing. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said six to 10 bodies had been found so far. Around the same time, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha reported that 13 people had died in the flooding.

“Some are adults, some are children,” Patrick said during a news conference. “Again, we don’t know where those bodies came from.”

Judge Rob Kelly, the chief elected official in Kerr County, said authorities were still working to identify those who died.

“Most of them, we don’t know who they are,” Kelly said during a news conference.

Pleading for information after flash flood

On the Kerr County sheriff’s office Facebook page, people pleaded for help finding their loved ones and posted pictures of them. Patrick said at least 400 people were on the ground helping in the response. Nine rescue teams, 14 helicopters and 12 drones were being used in the search, and Patrick said some people were being rescued from trees.

About 23, out of the roughly 750 girls, attending Camp Mystic were among those who were unaccounted for Friday, Patrick said.

Search crews were doing “whatever we can do to find everyone we can,” he said.

At Hunt, where the Guadalupe forks, a river gauge recorded a 22 foot rise (6.7 meters) in just about two hours, according to Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office. Fogarty said 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,” Forgarty said.

‘Pitch black wall of death’

In Ingram, Erin Burgess woke up to thunder and rain at 3:30 a.m. Just 20 minutes later, water was pouring into her home directly across from the river, she said. She described an agonizing hour clinging to a tree and waiting for the water to recede enough so they could walk up the hill to a neighbor’s home.

“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.

Of her 19-year-old son, Burgess said: “Thankfully he’s over 6 feet tall. That’s the only thing that saved me, was hanging on to him.”

Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, said police came knocking on doors at 5:30 a.m. but that he had received no emergency warning on his phone.

“We got no emergency alert. There was nothing,” Stone said. Then: “a pitch black wall of death.”

Stone said police used his paddle boat to help rescue a neighbor. Stone said he and the rescuers thought they heard someone yelling “help!” from the water but couldn’t see anyone.

‘Everything was done to give them a heads up’

The forecast had called for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a warning overnight for at least 30,000 people. But totals in some places exceeded expectations, Fogarty said.

Patrick noted that 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.”

Asked about how people were notified in Kerr County so that they could get to safety, Kelly said, “We do not have a warning system.”

When reporters pushed on why more precautions weren’t taken, he responded: “Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming.”

“We have floods all the time,” he added. “This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States.”

Popular tourism area prone to flooding

It’s in an area of Texas 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.”

Nonetheless, the river tourism industry is a key part of the Hill Country economy, said Dickson. Well-known, century-old summer camps bring in kids from all over Texas and the country, Dickson said. Between Hunt and Ingram are many river homes and cabins for rent.

“It’s generally a very tranquil river with really beautiful clear blue water that people have been attracted to for generations,” Dickson said.

Deaths in New Jersey blamed on thunderstorms

The flooding in Texas occurred as severe weather moved through central New Jersey, where thunderstorms were blamed for at least three deaths.

Among them were two men in Plainfield who died after a tree fell onto a vehicle they were traveling in during the height of a storm there, according to a city Facebook post.

The city canceled its planned July Fourth parade, concert and fireworks show.

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Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press reporters Adrian Sanz in Memphis, Tennessee, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, and Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut, contributed.