A devastating flash flood tore through the Texas Hill Country over the Fourth of July weekend, killing at least 32 people, including 14 children, and leaving more than two dozen still missing, most from a Christian girls’ camp along the Guadalupe River.
“The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.”
The floodwaters surged nearly 30 feet in under an hour before dawn Friday. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha confirmed 18 adults and 14 children have died, with more than 800 people evacuated and 850 rescued.
“We will not stop until we find everyone who is missing,” Nim Kidd, chief of Texas Department of Emergency Management, said at a press conference Saturday afternoon.
Camp Mystic had 700 girls on-site when the storm hit. Officials believe at least 23 to 25 campers remain unaccounted for.
Kerr County judge Rob Kelly said the area does “not have a warning system” and said that authorities were shocked by the ferocity of the floods. “We had no reason to believe that this was gonna be any, anything like what’s happened here. None whatsoever,” Kelly told CBS Evening News.
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice described the sudden convergence of river forks that led to a catastrophic rise in water levels.
“When you look at the headwaters of the Guadalupe… there’s a north and a south fork,” Rice said Friday night. “Since 1987, under normal conditions, if you can call it that, you’ll hit water in one of those areas, and those two forks will converge into the Guadalupe, which comes through the city of Kerrville.”“This rain event sat on top of that and dumped more rain than what was forecasted on both of those forks,” Rice continued. “When we got the report, it was about 7 feet or so on the south fork, and within a matter of minutes it was up to 29 feet, and all of that converged at Guadalupe.”
State and federal officials have launched an all-hands-on-deck rescue and recovery effort. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is on the ground, and Governor Greg Abbott has expanded the federal disaster declaration.
“We will stop at nothing to ensure that every asset and person and plane, whatever is needed, is going to be involved in the process of rescuing every last person and ensure everybody involved in this is going to be fully accounted for,” Abbott said.
President Donald Trump released a statement of support:
“The Trump Administration is working with State and Local Officials on the ground in Texas in response to the tragic flooding that took place yesterday. Our Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, will be there shortly. Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy. Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best. GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES, AND GOD BLESS TEXAS!”
Search efforts continue as the community holds its breath for those still missing. I am sure that Legal Insurrection readers will join me in praying for the families and victims across Texas as this tragedy continues to unfold.
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