Death toll from Texas floods reaches at least 50; dozens still missing

At least 50 people have been confirmed dead following flash floods in central Texas, authorities said as rescuers continued a frantic search for dozens more campers, vacationers and residents who were still missing.

The casualty toll will likely rise, authorities said, as localities beyond the main site of the disaster in Kerr County were affected by the flooding. A Travis County official said four people had died from the flooding there, with 13 unaccounted for, and officials reported another death in Kendall County.

Some news organisations reported the death toll was already as high as 52. Reuters could not confirm that.

Officials said more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 38 cm of rain in an area around the Guadalupe River, about 140 km northwest of San Antonio.

Among the missing were 27 girls from the Camp Mystic summer camp, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice told a press conference on Saturday evening, and there may be others beyond that.

Rice said 27 people were known to be missing, but "we will not put a number on the other side because we just don't know".

The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as 9 metres.

"We know that the rivers rise, but nobody saw this coming," said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top local official in the region.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 17 of the confirmed dead, including five children, had yet to be identified.

The National Weather Service said the flash flood emergency has largely ended for Kerr County, following thunderstorms that dumped more than a foot of rain. That is half of the total the region sees in a typical year. A flood watch was in effect until 7:00 pm for the broader region.

Kerr County sits in the Texas Hill Country, a rural area known for rugged terrain, historic towns and tourist attractions.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said an unknown number of visitors had come to the area for an Independence Day celebration by the river.

“We don't know how many people were in tents on the side, in small trailers by the side, in rented homes by the side," he said on Fox News Live.

'COMPLETE SHOCK'

Camp Mystic had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood, according to Patrick.

A day after the disaster struck, the camp was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least six feet from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, one had a missing wall.

Another girls' camp in the area, Heart O' the Hills, said on its website that co-owner Jane Ragsdale had died in the flood but no campers had been present as it was between sessions.

In Comfort, a town about 40 miles down the river from Camp Mystic, huge trees, some over 60 feet tall, were pulled out and scattered around the river by the floods, with several blocking roads. While the main highway from San Antonio to affected areas remained mainly intact, some two-lane bridges were severely damaged by water.

A Reuters photographer saw around 10 cars - some with smashed windshields and doors - that had been swept away by flood waters and lay abandoned near the river.

Videos posted online showed bare concrete platforms where homes used to stand and piles of rubble along the banks of the river. Rescuers plucked residents from rooftops and trees, sometimes forming human chains to fetch people from the floodwater, local media reported.

President Donald Trump said he and his wife Melania were praying for the victims. "Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best," he said on social media.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a press conference he had asked Trump to sign a disaster declaration, which would unlock federal aid for those affected. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Trump would honor that request.

Trump has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government's role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves.

Noem said a "moderate" flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system.

The administration has cut thousands of jobs from the National Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, said former NOAA director Rick Spinrad. He said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of advance warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but said they would inevitably degrade the agency's ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts.

"People's ability to prepare for these storms will be compromised. It undoubtedly means that additional lives will be lost and probably more property damage," he said.