Texas flood death toll rises to 50, search ongoing for 27 girls missing from summer camp

DEVASTATION AT CAMP MYSTIC

On Saturday, Sheriff Leitha said 27 children from the Camp Mystic Christian summer camp in the flooded Kerr County were still missing. Around 750 girls were enrolled at the camp.

US media reported that four of the missing girls were dead, citing their families.

The windows of camp cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the water.

Michael, who only gave AFP his first name, was searching the camp for his eight-year-old daughter.

“I was in Austin and drove down yesterday morning, once we heard about it,” he said, adding that he was hoping for a “miracle”.

The obituary section of the Kerrville community news site was dotted with tributes to local victims, including Camp Mystic’s owner and director Dick Eastland.

The director of Heart O’ The Hills summer camp located about a mile from Camp Mystic, Jane Ragsdale, was also confirmed dead.

Elsewhere in Texas, four people were confirmed dead in Travis County, northeast of Kerr, and 13 people were missing, public information office director Hector Nieto told AFP.

A 62-year-old woman’s body was found in the city of San Angelo in Tom Green County, along the Concho River, police said.

Two more people died in Burnet County, the area’s emergency management coordinator Derek Marchio told AFP, bringing the state-wide death toll to 50.