What to know about the flash floods in Texas that killed over 100 people

KERRVILLE Texas AP Flash floods in Texas killed more than people over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and left others still missing including girls attending a summer camp The devastation along the Guadalupe River outside of San Antonio has drawn a massive search effort as executives face questions over their preparedness and the speed of their initial actions Here s what to know about the deadly flooding the colossal weather system that drove it in and around Kerr County and ongoing efforts to identify casualties Massive rain hit at just the wrong time in a flood-prone place The floods grew to their worst at the midpoint of a long holiday weekend when a great number of people were asleep The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up Friday s flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped the majority of its inches centimeters of rain in the dark early morning hours After a flood watch notice midday Thursday the National Weather Facility office issued an urgent warning around a m that raised the feasible of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life By at least a m specific in the Kerrville City area say water levels were getting alarmingly high The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River causing it to rise feet meters in just minutes Death toll is expected to rise and the number of missing is uncertain In Kerr County home to youth camps in the Texas Hill Country searchers have uncovered the bodies of people including children Sheriff Larry Leitha announced Monday afternoon Fatalities in nearby counties brought the total number of deaths as of Monday afternoon to at least Ten girls and a counselor were still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic a Christian summer camp along the river For past campers the tragedy turned happy memories into grief Beyond the Camp Mystic campers unaccounted for the number of missing from other nearby campgrounds and across the region had not been published Gov Greg Abbott on Sunday had commented that there were people endorsed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice noted Monday he couldn t give an estimate of the number of people still missing saying only it is a lot Search-and-rescue crews at one staging area Monday commented over contributors had been directed to Kerr County Bureaucrats face scrutiny over flash flood warnings Survivors have described the floods as a pitch black wall of death and explained they received no exigency warnings Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly who lives along the Guadalupe River disclosed Saturday that nobody saw this coming Executives have referred to it as a -year-flood meaning that the water levels were highly unlikely based on the historical record And records behind those statistics don t inevitably account for human-caused state change Though it s hard to connect specific storms to a warming planet so soon after they occur meteorologists say that a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture and allow severe storms to dump even more rain Additionally representatives have come under scrutiny about why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner than a m or recounted to evacuate Rice explained Monday that he did not at once know if there had been any communication between law enforcement and the summer camps between a m and a m on Friday But Rice reported various factors including spotty cell arrangement in several of the more isolated areas of Kerr County and cell towers that might have gone out of function during the weather could have hindered communication Rice revealed authorities want to finish the search and rescue and then review manageable issues with cell towers radios and exigency alerts Agents noted that the community can grow weary from too numerous flooding alerts or forecasts that turn out to be minor Kerr county executives reported they had presented a proposal for a more robust flood warning system similar to a tornado warning system but that members of the society reeled at the cost Monumental clearing and rebuilding effort The flash floods have erased campgrounds and torn homes from their foundations It s going to be a long time before we re ever able to clean it up much less rebuild it Kelly explained Saturday after surveying the destruction from a helicopter Other massive flooding events have driven residents and business owners to give up including in areas struck last year by Hurricane Helene President Donald Trump declared he plans to visit the flood zone Friday AP photographers have captured the scale of the destruction and one of Texas largest rescue and recover efforts Source