- Ten campers, a advisor who still are missing in the summer camp.
- The authorities declare a disaster, activate new federal funds.
- Trump disputes the notion that employment cuts contributed to the disaster.
The death toll due to catastrophic floods in Texas increased to more than 100 on Monday, since rescuers continued their gloomy search for people sweeping by water torrents.
Among the dead were at least 27 girls and counselors who stayed in a summer camp for young people in a river when the disaster extended during the holiday on July 4.
The forecasts have warned about more floods as the rain falls in saturated terrain, which complicates the recovery efforts that involve helicopters, ships and dogs, since the number of victims is expected to increase still.
President Donald Trump plans to visit Texas on Friday, said the White House, since he criticized critics claiming that his cuts to weather agencies had weakened the warning systems.
“To blame President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and has no purpose during this national mourning time,” said press secretary Karoline Leavitt to journalists on Monday.
She said that the National Meteorological Service, which reported the New York Times, had several key roles in Texas without covering before floods, issued “appropriate and precise prognosis and warnings.”
Trump described the floods that arrived in the early hours of Friday as a “100 -year -old catastrophe” nobody expected. “
The president, who previously said that disaster relief should be handled at the state level, has signed a great disaster statement, activating new federal funds and releasing resources.
Tragedy
Kerr County in the center of Texas has been the most affected of the counties devastated by floods, with 56 adults and 28 killed children, according to the local Sheriff's office.
They include the 27 that had stayed in Camp Mystic, a Christian camp of girls that housed some 750 people when the flooders hit.
The camps are a dear tradition in the long summer vacations in the United States, with children who often remain in forests, parks and other rural areas.
Texas Senator, Ted Cruz, described them as an opportunity to make “friends of a lifetime, and suddenly becomes a tragedy.”
In a terrifying exhibition of the power of nature, the waters sunk by the rain of the Guadalupe River reached the trees and roofs of the cabins while the girls in the camp slept.
The blankets, teddy bears and other belongings were covered in mud. The windows in the cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of water.
The volunteers were helping to look for debris from the river, with some motivated by personal connections with the victims.
“We are helping the parents of two of the missing children,” said Louis Deppe, 62. AFP “The last message they received was 'we are being dragged' and the phone came out.”
The value of the rainy months fell in a matter of hours on Thursday night until Friday, and the rain has continued in fighting since then.
The Guadalupe increased around 26 feet (eight meters), more than a two -story building, in just 45 minutes.
Sudden floods, which occur when the ground cannot absorb torrential rain, are not unusual in this southern region and the center of Texas, colloquially known as “flash flood alley.”
Human -driven climate change has made extreme climatic events, such as floods, droughts and more frequent and most intense heat waves in recent years.
