Rescuers Scour Flooded Texas Camps For 27 Missing Girls Amid Rising Death Toll

Rescue operations continued across central Texas on Saturday following unprecedented flash floods that swept through Kerr County and its surrounding areas, claiming the lives of at least 43 individuals, including 15 children.

Among the missing are 27 girls from Camp Mystic, a century-old Christian summer camp located along the banks of the Guadalupe River. According to the Associated Press, the camp—situated near the town of Hunt—was among the worst-hit sites, with most of the fatalities recovered so far traced back to the campground. An estimated 700 girls were present at the time of the disaster.

The floodwaters, which rose by over 26 feet (approximately 8 metres) in less than an hour before dawn on Friday, were triggered by a powerful storm system that unleashed torrential rainfall across the region. Though the National Weather Service (NWS) had issued flash flood warnings for west and central Texas earlier in the week, state authorities acknowledged that the actual intensity of the rain far exceeded forecasts.

As reported by Al Jazeera, search operations are being carried out by over 1,000 personnel, including local first responders, emergency volunteers, and units from the U.S. Coast Guard. Helicopters, drones, and rescue boats are being deployed to scour washed-out structures, treetops, culverts, and riverside debris along the Guadalupe River, which winds through Texas’s rugged Hill Country.

Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said to CNN "While over 850 individuals have been rescued, the total number of people missing remains uncertain due to the large number of tourists and campers in the area for the Independence Day weekend."

"The hills and canyons of this region attract thousands during the summer, making it difficult to account for everyone who may have been caught unaware," said Mr. Rice. He added that the rescue teams were "looking in every possible location" despite difficult terrain and weather conditions.

The tragedy occurred in the early hours of July 4, as many campers were still asleep in their cabins. Thirteen-year-old Elinor Lester, a survivor from Camp Mystic, described the camp as “completely destroyed” and recounted how rescuers used ropes to guide the girls across a bridge while floodwaters surged around them.

Meanwhile, Heart O’ the Hills, another girls’ camp in the vicinity, confirmed that its co-owner, Jane Ragsdale, was among the deceased. Fortunately, no campers were present at the time, as the facility was between sessions.

In a public statement on Saturday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared Sunday a day of prayer, calling upon citizens to remember the lives lost and support the families still awaiting news of the missing. “We will find every one of them,” he said, assuring that rescue and recovery efforts would continue without pause.

According to Al Jazeera, the floods caught many off-guard during the holiday weekend, prompting criticism over the absence of timely evacuations and a lack of infrastructure capable of withstanding such events.

According to BBC, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that the federal government is working closely with state and local authorities to support ongoing rescue operations, and that additional resources are being mobilised.