Texas parents frantically posted photos of their young daughters on social media with pleas for information as at least 23 campers from an all-girls summer camp were unaccounted for on Friday after floods tore through the state’s south-central region overnight.
At least 24 people were dead and many missing after a storm unleashed nearly a foot of rain just before dawn on Friday and sent floodwaters gushing out of the Guadalupe river, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters on Friday evening.
The flood-prone region known as Hill Country is dotted with century-old summer camps that draw thousands of kids annually from across the Lone Star State as Texas is commonly known.
State officials said 23 to 25 girls from Camp Mystic, a riverside Christian camp in Hunt, Texas, still were unaccounted for. They declined to estimate how many people were missing across the region but said a massive search was underway, with 237 rescued so far.
“I’m asking the people of Texas, do some serious praying,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said. “On-your-knees kind of praying that we find these young girls.” Texas Game Wardens said on Friday afternoon that they had arrived at Camp Mystic and were starting to evacuate campers who had sheltered on higher ground.
Campers in lower cabins sought shelter up the hill. By morning, they had no food, power or running water, she said. When rescuers arrived, Elinor Lester said they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge with floodwaters whipping up around their calves and knees.
“The camp was completely destroyed,” she said. “It was really scary. Everyone I know personally is accounted for, but there are people missing that I know of and we don’t know where they are.”
Her mother, Elizabeth Lester, said her son was nearby at Camp La Junta and also escaped. A counsellor there woke up to find water rising in the cabin, opened a window and helped the boys swim out. Camp La Junta and another camp on the river, Camp Waldemar, said in Instagram posts that all campers and staff there were safe.
