Guadalupe River in Texas rises: 25 dead and at least 23 missing girls

Kerryville.- The floods that have affected the south-central of Texas caused this Friday a huge rise in the Guadalupe River, which leaves at least 25 dead and dozens missing, including 23 girls, in addition to damage to basic infrastructure. "This is a tragic event. It is going to cause a large number of casualties," the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Freeman F. Martin, anticipated this Friday to the press, regarding the floods, which have mainly occurred in the area of the Guadalupe River and have been caused by the intense storms that have been affecting the area since Thursday night. Larry Leitha Jr., the sheriff of Kerr County, an area east of the city of San Antonio and one of the most affected by the floods, explained at a press conference that the bodies of 25 fatalities have been found so far and that he believes "there will be more when this is over."

Among the dozens of reported missing, are 23 of the 750 girls who were staying at the Mystic Christian summer camp for girls only, which is located on the banks of the Guadalupe, in the west of Kerr County.

The camp directors had to request emergency air assistance from the authorities due to the rising river and reported that there were many girls who have not been located and that some camp cabins appeared to have been flooded and possibly swept away. The Texas Emergency Management Division and other agencies have deployed 14 helicopters, 12 drones, and 9 rescue teams (comprising between 400 and 500 people in total) to assist in search operations. The Department of Homeland Security has, for its part, activated the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help search for the missing, as explained by the spokesperson for the portfolio, Tricia McLaughlin, in a post on the social network X.

Catastrophic Zones

For his part, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a press conference that search and rescue operations will continue to operate throughout the night and announced that he is declaring disaster areas at the state level for the counties of Bandera, Cope, Comal, Concho, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Llano, Mason, McCullouch, Menard, San Saba and Tom Green. In turn, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to what happened in Texas as "something terrible" and stated that he would "take care" of the state, when asked if federal funds would be granted to deal with the situation.

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The floods have submerged roads and left entire areas without electricity or access to the internet or telephone signal.

Local authorities have warned all those who live near the Guadalupe, and also near streams and tributaries of that river, to evacuate to higher ground.

Almost 10 meters of flow

The U.S. National Weather Service has reported that more than 30 centimeters have accumulated in a 12-hour period since Thursday night in the region, which raised the flow of the Guadalupe, near Hunt (where Mystic camp is located), to its second highest recorded level, with 9.9 meters high. Near Comfort, in Kendall County, the river reached a maximum height of 10.5 meters, also causing significant damage. Today's flood in this region, accustomed to floods and which its inhabitants call "alley of flash floods", brings to mind a tragic event that occurred there in July 1987. On that occasion, two vehicles failed to evacuate another Christian summer camp in Comfort in time, and ten teenagers died. Rain and intermittent storms are still expected until the early hours of Sunday in the region, while a decrease in the flow of the Guadalupe River upstream and floods are expected to begin to occur downstream during the night of today in the area from Comfort to Spring Branch.