Flash floods in Texas killed more than 100 people over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and left an unknown number of others still missing.
Most of those killed were swept away in Kerr County, where investigators were still searching for 10 girls and a camp counselor who were reported missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls.
The devastation along the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio, drew a massive search effort as officials faced questions over their preparedness and the speed of their initial actions.
Massive mountains of muddy debris were nearly everywhere along the river, where rescuers – for days – have been furiously combing the aftermath for survivors.
Among the dozens of harrowing tales of survival, there were many stories of sorrow and heroism.
“My husband started panicking,” resident Christina Wilson said. No way out. He tried to bust open the window.”
Christina’s husband, Julian Ryan, sliced his arm so badly trying to save his family and children, he started to bleed out.
“I just remember holding him, so he wouldn’t get swept in the flood,” his mother said. “Blood going everywhere…”
According to the latest numbers from NBC News, at least 104 people have died in six counties.
Camp Mystic said 27 of its campers and counselors are among the dead and missing.
A number of girls managed to escape from a cabin.
“She grabbed the tree and hand of a friend and hand on tree,” Hallie Thompson, the mother of a 10-year-old who escaped, said. “One by one, the girls held on to anything they could cling to.”
Hallie was nearby and also survived – physically. But the grief is unbearable.
“we have received word of friends daughters who have died.” she said.
NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Kevin Jeanes breaks down why the floods in Texas Hill Country happened so fast, and the timeline of when and how alerts were sent.
Blair and Brooke Harber, 13 and 11 years old, were spending the holiday with family. Their bodies were found together 15 miles downstream. Their grandparents are still missing.
More information emerged Monday about the wireless emergency alerts sent out in central Texas — including Kerr County — on the morning of July 4 between the critical hours of midnight and 6 a.m. at key points along Guadalupe River — when most people were sleeping.
Camp Mystic also didn’t allow phones.
The National Weather Service reported a flood watch on Thursday, which was elevated to a flash flood emergency at 4:03 a.m.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has defended the service.
“We did see people heroically take kids out of way…but should’ve happened earlier,” he said. “How we make that happen is a reasonable discussion.”
Meteorologist Eric Lenning, who leads the Chicago office of the National Weather Service, said the key for our safety is to have a plan in place known as “PPMA.”
“It’s that Plan, Practice, Monitor, Act, message to public safety officials and to the general public,” he said. “If people aren’t receiving or have a plan in place to respond, it won’t make the forecast very effective.”
The American Red Cross said it’s providing food, relief supplies, mental, travel and financial resources for days and weeks ahead as needed.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
