Severe flash flooding leads to death, destruction in Texas Hill Country

By Hannah Fingerhut Associated Press Texas Hill Country was beset by death and accident Friday after multiple fatalities were shared from months worth of heavy rain that fell in a matter of hours leaving search teams to conduct boat rescues as fast-moving water threatened riverfront communities and children s summer camps As much as inches of heavy rain poured down in just a limited hours overnight in central Kerr County causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River Teams conducted dozens of rescues and the emergency response continued as an unknown number of people remained unaccounted for People with children and relatives at area summer camps pleaded for information about their loved ones endangered by the flooding Judge Rob Kelly the chief elected official in the county proven fatalities from the flooding and dozens of water rescues so far He explained he was advised not to cite specific numbers and revealed government are still working to identify those whose lives were lost The bulk of them we don t know who they are Kelly commented during a news conference One of them was totally naked he didn t have any ID on him at all We re trying to get the identity of these folks but we don t have it yet Related Articles Rising summer heat increases peril of child deaths in hot cars Hurricane Flossie could become a major hurricane off the Pacific coast of Mexico Eastern half of US sweltering again with dangerous heat wave expected to last until midweek Britain and Northern Europe bake in the first heat wave of How to stay cool in the heat wave hitting parts of the US even without air conditioning A flood watch issued Thursday afternoon estimated isolated amounts up to inches of rising water That shifted to a flood warning for at least people overnight When petitioned about the suddenness of the flash flooding Kelly revealed we do not have a warning system and that we didn t know this flood was coming even as local reporters pointed to the warnings and pushed him for answers about why more precautions weren t taken Rest assured no one knew this kind of flood was coming he announced We have floods all the time This is the largest part dangerous river valley in the United States Texas Gov Greg Abbott declared the state was providing tools to Hill Country communities dealing with the flooding including in Kerrville Ingram and Hunt I urge Texans to heed guidance from state and local administrators and monitor local forecasts to avoid driving into flooded areas Abbott announced in a comment The Texas Hill Country a scenic and rocky gateway to booming vineyards and vacation rentals begins west of the state capital and is a popular outdoor summer getaway Parts of the region are prone to flash flooding Dozens of people posted on Facebook asking for any information on their children nieces and nephews attending one of the a great number of camps in the area or family members that went camping during the holiday weekend Ingram Fire Department posted a photo of a announcement from Camp Mystic saying the private Christian summer camp for girls experienced catastrophic level floods Parents with a daughter not accounted for were directly contacted the camp stated Another camp on the river located east of Hunt Camp Waldemar stated in an Instagram post that we are all safe and sound The Guadalupe s river gauge at the unincorporated region of Hunt where the river forks recorded a -oot rise in just about two hours according to Bob Fogarty meteorologist with the National Weather Amenity s Austin San Antonio office Fogarty disclosed the gauge failed after recording a level of and a half feet This is the kind of thing that will catch you unaware Fogarty commented The water s moving so fast you re not going to recognize how bad it is until it s on top of you New Jersey also sees deaths due to severe weather Meanwhile strong thunderstorms were being blamed for at least three deaths in central New Jersey including two men in Plainfield who died after a tree fell onto a motorcycle they were traveling in during the height of a storm there according to a city Facebook post The men were ages and administrators explained They were not at once publicly identified Our hearts are heavy in contemporary times Mayor Adrian O Mapp declared in a message This tragedy is a sobering reminder of the power of nature and the fragility of life The city canceled its planned July parade concert and fireworks show Mapp commented the devastating storms had left deep scars and widespread damage in the district of more than people and it was a time to regroup and focus all of our vigor on recovery Continuing power outages and downed trees were revealed Friday throughout southern New England where particular communities received large amounts of hail There were reports of cars skidding off the road in northeastern Connecticut