has climbed to 24, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said Friday night.
-At least 24 people died in Kerr County, Texas, after severe flooding inundated the area, County Sheriff Larry L. Leitha said Friday. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said more than 20 girls are unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, which is in Kerr County, reports CNN.
-More than 200 people have been rescued following severe flooding in Kerr County, Texas, and emergency response efforts are still underway.
-President Donald Trump called the central Texas flooding “terrible” and pledged federal support in the aftermath. “It’s terrible. The floods? It’s shocking. They don’t know the answer yet as to how many people, but it looks like some young people have died,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to his New Jersey golf club.
-The search for those swept up in floodwaters in central Texas will continue throughout the night as state and local officials “remain in a search and rescue posture,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday.
-Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the flooding an “extraordinary catastrophe,” and promised the state would provide everything in its power to find the missing people and help the communities hit by the flooding.
-The Houston-born owner and director of a Hill Country summer camp was one of at least 25 to die after rain surged over the banks of the Guadalupe River Friday morning, camp officials told Houston Chronicle.
-Many events in Texas for Independence Day had to be cancelled last minute as a result of heavy rainfall. The rain is expected to continue here overnight and through Sunday.
-At a press conference, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said the flooding began sometime after 4:00 a.m., when extreme rains of as much as 12 inches an hour hit. The flooding in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise.
-More than 12 inches of rain fell over a 12-hour period, sending the Guadalupe River near Hunt to its second-highest level on record at 29.45 feet, the National Weather Service said.
-West-central Texas will continue to see flooding into the weekend, the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center said on the afternoon of July 4. "The forecast calls for locally heavy rainfall to persist into tomorrow (Saturday July 5)."
Rescue operations are ongoing in Central Texas after flash flooding along the Guadalupe River left 23 girls from Camp Mystic unaccounted for. The names of some of the nearly two dozen girls missing after floodwaters swept away a Christian girls’ summer camp in Texas are beginning to emerge as desperate families await news from search and rescue crews.
One of the missing Camp Mystic girls is Hadley Hanna, 8, from Dallas, as per CBS News. Other missing Camp Mystic girls from North Texas include Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, 9, from Dallas.
Hadley Hanna’s parents told WFAA their cherubic 8-year-old was among the girls confirmed missing, and that they’ve rushed to Hunt from their Dallas home to be on hand for the search. The mother of 9-year-old camper Lainey Landry told CNN her missing daughter was “brave and sweet.” Young Renee was in the same cabin as Eloise and Lila, and her parents told NBC DFW she was confirmed missing with them.
“We are just praying,” Janie Hunt's distraught mother told CNN. Camper Kellyanne Lytal is also among the missing, according to Fox 4. Virginia Hollis has also been confirmed missing, according to WANE. Greta Toranzo, who attends Sinclair Elementary School in Houston, was also confirmed missing, according to the Houston Chronicle.
(With inputs from agencies)
