The rescuers toured the flooded shores full of shattered trees on Saturday and delivered rocks in the search for more than two dozen boys from the girls' camp and many others missing after a water wall revoked a river in Texas Hill Country. The storm killed at least 43 people, including 15 children.
The authorities have not given several people in total there are still beyond the 27 children of Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp throughout the river.
Destructive and fast waters along the Guadalupe River increased 26 feet by just 45 minutes before dawn on Friday, washing houses and vehicles. Strongs were expected on Saturday, and sudden flood warnings and watches remained in force.
Search engines used helicopters, ships and drones to look for victims and rescue people stranded in trees and camps isolated by torn roads.
“We will not stop until we find all who are missing,” said Nim Kidd, head of the Texas Emergency Management Department, at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
Kerr County Sheriff, Larry Leitha, said the bodies of 32 people had been recovered: 18 adults and 14 children.
The authorities were under the growing scrutiny on Saturday about whether the camps and residents in long places vulnerable to floods received adequate warning and if enough preparations were made.
The hills along the Guadalupe River, in the center of Texas, are dotted with centennial youth camps and camps where generations of families have come to swim and enjoy the outdoors. The area is especially popular around the July 4 holidays, which makes it more difficult to know how many are missing.
“We don't even want to start estimating at this time,” said city administrator Dalton Rice on Saturday morning.
The furious storm came to the camp in the middle of the night
“The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of the hundreds of campers at the Mystic Camp. “A helicopter landed and began to take away people. It really scared.”
A furious storm driven by incredible amounts of moisture woke up his cabin just after midnight on Friday, and when rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the girls to support him while walking along a bridge with flood waters revolving around his legs, he said.
Parents and frantic families published photos of disappeared loved ones and supplications to obtain information.
On Saturday, the camp was mostly deserted. The helicopters roared up while a few people looked at the damage, including a truck thrown to its side and a building that is missing its front wall.
Among the confirmed dead were an 8 -year -old girl from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who stayed in Camp Mystic, and the director of another camp along the way.
The flood in the middle of the night of July 4 on vacation caught many residents, campists and officials by surprise in the country of Texas Hill, which is located northwest of San Antonio.
Accuweather said the private prognosis company and the National Meteorological Service sent warnings about possible sudden floods before devastation.
“These warnings should have provided officials a sufficient time to evacuate camps such as the mystical camp and take people to a safe place,” said Accuweather in a statement that called Texas Hill Country one of the most prone areas to the United States due to their land and many water crosses.
The officials defended their actions on Friday while they say they had not waited for a downpour so intense that it was the equivalent of the rain of months for the area.
A prognosis of the National Meteorological Service at the beginning of the week had required up to 6 inches of rain, Kidd said. “The amount of rain we saw did not predict,” he said.
Helicopters, drones used in the frantic search for foul
The search teams faced hard conditions while “looking at each possible location,” Rice said.
The authorities said about 850 people had been rescued. The United States Coast Guard helicopters flew to help.
A reunification center in a primary school was mainly quiet on Saturday after going to hundreds of evacuated the previous day.
“We still have people who are looking for their loved ones.
President Trump said on Saturday that the Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, was traveling to Texas and that his administration was working with officials on the field.
“Melania and I are praying for all the families affected by this horrible tragedy,” Trump said in a statement in his social network.
'Pite the black wall of death'
In Ingram, Erin Burges woke up with Thunder and Rain in the middle of the night. Only 20 minutes later, the water was spilling at home from the river, he said. He described an agonizing hour clinging to a tree with his teenage son and hoping that the water would ride enough to walk the hill to a safe place.
“Fortunately, it is more than 6 feet high. That is the only thing that saved me was clinging to him,” he said.
“My son and I float in a tree where we hung from him, and my boyfriend and my dog floated. He was lost for a while, but we found them,” he said.
Matthew Stone, 44, from Kerville, said the police called the doors, but that he had not received any warning on his phone.
“We have no emergency alert. There was nothing,” Stone said. Then “a black wall of death.”
'I was scared to death'
In a reunification center in Ingram, families cried and cheered when loved ones left rescue vehicles. Two soldiers took an older woman who could not climb a ladder. Behind her, a woman grabbed a small white dog.
Later, a girl with a white “Camp Mystic” shirt and white socks stopped in a puddle, sobbing in their mother's arms.
Barry Adelman said the water pushed everyone in his three -story house to the attic, including his 94 -year -old grandmother and his 9 -year -old grandson. The water began to cross the attic floor before going back.
“I was horrified,” he said. “I had to look at my grandson in the face and tell him that everything was going to be fine, but inside he was scared to death.”
'No one knew that this type of flood approached'
The forecast for the weekend had requested rain, with an improved flood clock to a warning during the night for at least 30,000 people.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said the potential for heavy rains and floods covered a large area.
“Everything was done to let them know that you could have heavy rains, and we are not exactly sure where it will land,” Patrick said. “Obviously, when he darkened last night, we got into the small morning of the hours, it was when the storm began to concentrate.”
Kerr County Judge, Rob Kelly, the former elected official of the County, said: “We don't have a warning system.”
When they were put on why no more precautions were taken, Kelly said no one knew that this type of flood approached.
More pockets of heavy rains are expected
The slow movement storm stuck in the center of Texas is expected to bring more rain on Saturday, with the potential of strong and more flood fish pockets, said Jason Runyen, of the National Meteorological Service.
The threat could stay overnight and Sunday morning, he said.
The area is known as “Alley Flash Flood” due to the thin layer of land of the hills, said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the country of Texas Hill, which was collecting donations to help non -profit organizations that responded to disaster.
“When it rains, the water is not soaked on the ground,” Dickson said. “It rushes to the hill.”
The river tourism industry is a key part of Hill Country's economy. The well -known summer camps centenarians bring children from all over the country, Dickson said.
“In general, it is a very quiet river with really beautiful transparent blue water that people have been attracted to generations,” Dickson said.
Seewer and Vertuno write for Associated Press.
