Hundreds of rescue workers continued to search for people swept away by the Texas flood that killed more than 100 people on Tuesday, authorities said, amid the threat of more heavy rain.
As of Tuesday morning, authorities in the hardest-hit Kerr County area had recovered the bodies of 87 victims, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters.
The dead include at least 27 girls and counselors who were staying at a youth summer camp on the Guadalupe River over the July 4 holiday weekend.
Texas Governor Abbott said 161 people, including 12 children, are still missing due to flooding in Texas.
“At this time, five Camp Mystic campers and one counselor are still missing,” Leitha added.
At least 109 flood-related deaths have been reported in central Texas, according to local authorities.
President Donald Trump said during a cabinet meeting that he would travel to Texas on Friday with First Lady Melania Trump and thanked the state’s Republican governor for helping with the rescue efforts.
“We brought in a lot of helicopters from all over the place… They were real professionals and they were responsible for getting a lot of people out. And we got them there quickly, and there were some good ones in Texas, but the response was incredible,” Trump said.
Trump, who has previously said disaster relief should be handled at the state level, signed a major disaster declaration earlier this week, activating new federal funding and freeing up resources.
Extremely dangerous
Ben Baker of the Texas Game Warden said search and rescue efforts involving helicopters, drones and dogs are extremely difficult because of the water and mud.
“When you’re trying to do these rescues, these big piles can be very obstructive and it’s very dangerous to go deep into them,” Baker said.
“It’s extremely dangerous and time-consuming. It’s dirty work, the water is still there.”
He added that special attention is being paid to the mental state of first responders, especially considering the bodies of children are being recovered.
In the town of Hunt, the epicentre of the disaster, an AFP team saw rescue workers sifting through piles of debris as helicopters flew overhead as hopes of finding any survivors faded.
Javier Torres, 24, was digging in the mud looking for his grandmother’s body after finding his grandfather’s remains.
He also discovered the bodies of two children who had apparently been swept away by the river.
Authorities warned that rescue efforts would be made more difficult as more heavy rain was forecast.
“We’ve had some reports of maybe a little bit more water coming in, which will affect search and rescue efforts,” Baker said.
He said the weather could affect air patrols but “it won’t deter them”.
Meanwhile, questions arose about whether Trump’s funding cuts had weakened warning systems and how the rescue operation was being managed.
Baker evaded a question about the speed of the emergency response at an at-times tense news conference.
“Right now, the team here is focused on getting people home,” he said.
Shel Winkley, a weather expert at the research group Climate Central, attributed the extent of the disaster to geography, the remnants of tropical storm Beryl and the exceptional drought, where dry land absorbed less rainfall.
“This part of Texas, at least, especially with the Kerr County flood, was in an extreme to exceptional drought. So this is the worst drought conditions you could possibly have, and we know that temperatures have been above average since May,” Winkley told reporters.
Tom Di Liberto, the agency’s media director, said staff shortages at the National Weather Service contributed to the disaster.
“What’s shared in weather forecast offices, not just in Texas but across the country, is that the people who have the most experience in dealing with and communicating these extreme (events) have left many places, so you can’t necessarily make up for that experience,” Di Liberto said.
Source: Musitem Haber
