As the desperate search continues for survivors of the flash floods in Central Texas, concerns have already been raised about the shortcomings of the United States’ weather warning service and the response of local authorities.
The death toll stood at 82 late on Sunday, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott saying that 41 people were unaccounted for across the state, adding that more people could be missing, local media reported.
In Kerr County, home to Camp Mystic and other youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, said Sheriff Larry Leitha, who pledged to keep searching until “everybody is found”.
The flash floods happened in a region where the natural beauty of rivers, lakes and hills has made it a popular destination for summer vacations. The Guadalupe River bank area had attracted many visitors for the long Fourth of July weekend.
However, before daybreak on Friday destructive, fast-moving waters rose rapidly on the river in only 45 minutes, washing away homes and vehicles.
Questions are growing about whether enough warnings were issued in an area long vulnerable to flooding and whether enough preparations were made.
Families were allowed to look around Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river where 10 girls and a counselor were still unaccounted for, on Sunday morning.
One girl was seen walking out of a building carrying a large bell. A woman and a teenage girl, both wearing rubber waders, briefly went inside one of the cabins, which stood next to a pile of soaked mattresses, a storage trunk and clothes. At one point, the pair doubled over, sobbing before they embraced.
Texas floods raise doubts over US weather warnings
