Gabriella Ybarra, Tony Plohetski, Anthony Franze, Elizabeth L T Moore, Marc Duvoisin, San Antonio Express-News
\n\u00a0|\u00a0 Hearst – Austin Transition<\/p>\n
At least 13 people are dead and dozens more are missing \u2014 including more than 20 children who were staying in area summer camps \u2014 as heavy rains caused \u201ccatastrophic\u201d flooding along the Guadalupe River, with parts of Kerr County particularly hard-hit by the natural disaster.<\/p>\n
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha Jr. said the remains of 13 victims had been found.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there will be more when this is over,\u201d he said at an afternoon news briefing.<\/p>\n
Emergency crews continue to search for people feared swept away by the floodwaters, which were spurred when heavy rains soaked the Hill Country overnight.<\/p>\n
In an afternoon news briefing, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said about 23 children who were attending Camp Mystic, a local Christian summer camp, are still missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re praying for them to be found,\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n
He said state game wardens were searching the flood zone on foot, looking for survivors.\u00a0Patrick said the Texas Division of Emergency Management and other agencies had deployed 14 helicopters, 12 drones and 9 rescue teams\u00a0\u2014 400 to 500 personnel in all\u00a0\u2014 to assist with recovery operations in the Hill Country.<\/p>\n
More than 12 inches of rain fell over a 12-hour period, sending the Guadalupe River near Hunt to its second-highest level on record at 29.45 feet, the National Weather Service said. Near Comfort, the river crested at 34.76 feet, more than 6 feet above flood stage and the fifth-highest level on record for that area.<\/p>\n
As of 1:30\u00a0p.m. Friday, a flash flood emergency remained in effect in South-Central Kerr County, including the Guadalupe River and areas like Hunt,\u00a0Center Point, Kerrville and Comfort.<\/p>\n
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said the storms created \u201ca very devastating and deadly flood,\u201d and urged all Kerr County residents who live near the Guadalupe River to evacuate and move to higher ground.<\/p>\n
State officials were \u201csurging all available resources\u201d to respond to the \u201cdevastating flooding,\u201d\u00a0Gov. Greg Abbott said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat includes water rescue teams, sheltering centers, the National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety,\u201d Abbott said in a written statement. \u201cThe immediate priority is saving lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The flooding evoked memories of a similar disaster that happened in July 1987, when heavy rains sent the\u00a0Guadalupe River pouring out of its banks and engulfed the Pot O\u2019 Gold Christian camp near Comfort.<\/p>\n
Officials evacuated the site, but the last two vehicles to depart, a bus and a van, were caught in floodwaters as they tried to cross a low bridge across the\u00a0Guadalupe at 7:45 a.m., killing 10 teenagers.<\/p>\n
On Friday morning, Kelly told Hearst Newspapers that at least six people were confirmed dead in the current flooding, and the\u00a0Kerr County Sheriff\u2019s Office also said the floods had resulted in fatalities.<\/p>\n
But at a news conference later in the day, Kelly declined to give an estimate on the number of people who were dead or missing.<\/p>\n
He said there had been dozens of water rescues, but declined to provide updated casualty numbers, saying officials had been advised not to do so. He did not say by whom.<\/p>\n
Kelly, who lives along the\u00a0Guadalupe River, said floodwaters had reached his home office.<\/p>\n
‘No one knew this flood was coming’<\/p>\n
Asked at the news conference whether the county had a warning system that might have sounded an alert as the\u00a0Guadalupe River rose, he said: \u201cWe do not have a warning system.\u201d<\/p>\n
He bristled at the suggestion that the county might have taken precautions to prevent loss of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cRest assured, no one knew this flood was coming,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThis is the most dangerous river valley in the United States. We deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we have water. We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what happened here, none whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said authorities had established two reunification centers: one at\u00a0Ingram Elementary School at 125 Brave Run West in Ingram, the other at the Arcadia Live, a historic theater on Water Street in Kerrville.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we need is cooperation and prayers,\u201d Kelly said. He encouraged people to donate to the American Red Cross and specify that the money go to victims of the Guadalupe River flood.<\/p>\n
Among the sites hit by the flooding was Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls in Hunt, an unincorporated community west of Kerrville on the Guadalupe River. Camp directors\u00a0Britt and Catie Eastland pleaded for help and said that some children were not accounted for and that some cabins appear to have been flooded and possibly washed away. They also said the roads have been washed out and that they need urgent air assistance.<\/p>\n
Emergency crews carried out rescues before dawn at an RV park near Howdy\u2019s Restaurant in\u00a0Kerrville.<\/p>\n
Lorena\u00a0Guillen, owner of Howdy\u2019s, said she noticed heavy rains at 2:30 a.m., so she walked to the river\u2019s edge to check the water\u2019s height.<\/p>\n
She said everything looked fine, but an hour later, the flash flood came in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sheriff\u2019s (office) came knocking on doors, and we started getting people out,\u201d\u00a0Guillen said. \u201cBy then, it was too late for the campers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every RV that was parked in the RV park below the restaurant had been swept away,\u00a0Guillen said. She estimated 28 RVs had been parked in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s total devastation\u2026 helicopters are flying in, rescuing people trapped in trees,\u201d Guillen said. \u201cIt\u2019s bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connie Salas said she lost her brother, Julian Ryan, 27, when floodwaters overtook their mobile home park in\u00a0Kerrville, just off the\u00a0Guadalupe River.<\/p>\n
Ryan died after breaking a window with his arm and he severed an artery,\u00a0Salas said.<\/p>\n
The stay-at-home father of three was trying to escape his flooded home where he lived with his mom and children.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe died a hero for trying to save his family,\u201d\u00a0Salas said.<\/p>\n
Salas said her home was so full of water, she was floating on top of her bed and had to punch a hole in the roof to escape.<\/p>\n
‘We thought they were gone’<\/p>\n
At Calvary Temple Church in\u00a0Kerrville\u00a0\u2014 which Texas DPS officials and representatives of the Salvation Army and Red Cross were staging area\u00a0\u2014 San Antonio residents Dawn and Scott Moore sat at a foldout table with Tammy and Paul Paynter, waiting for news on their sons.<\/p>\n
Carson Moore, 21, and Michael\u00a0Paynter, 20 are childhood best friends and college students who were spending the holiday weekend at the Moores\u2019 home along the Guadalupe River in Hunt.<\/p>\n
Tammy\u00a0Paynter said her son called her in a panic at 3:45 a.m. The men had been awakened by the sound of windows shattering as floodwaters began pouring into the home. They climbed out a bathroom window onto the roof of the house.<\/p>\n
The phone cut out at about 4:15 a.m., Tammy Paynter said.<\/p>\n
An hour later, a neighbor told the\u00a0Moores that their house and several others in the neighborhood were destroyed. They feared the worst for their son and his friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought they were gone,\u201d Dawn Moore said.<\/p>\n
About an hour later, a shop owner called her and said Carson was clinging to a tree about two miles from the home. The shop owner saw Carson and shouted out to him, and the man pleaded with the owner to call his parents. He shouted their phone number from the tree, Dawn Moore said.<\/p>\n
Michael\u00a0Paynter was also rescued from a tree, his parents said. Both men were taken to a rescue triage facility nearby.<\/p>\n
While the\u00a0Paynters were waiting to reunite with their son at the church, a doctor called to tell them Michael was injured but stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be more of a relief when I can hug him, see him and not let him go,\u201d Tammy\u00a0Paynter said.<\/p>\n
Flooding in Kendall County<\/p>\n
Significant flooding also struck in northern and western Kendall County, including in Comfort.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Boerne Fire Department deployed rescue teams to assist residents in the Comfort area, according to city spokesman Chris Shadrock.<\/p>\n
Kevin\u00a0Klaerner, spokesman for the Kendall County Sheriff\u2019s Office, said crews rescued one man who was stuck in a tree. He said everyone who needed to evacuate has done so. \u00a0<\/p>\n
County officials opened a shelter at Comfort High School for people displaced by the flooding. In early afternoon, there were about 36 \u00a0first-responders at the shelter and fewer than 20 evacuees. \u00a0The evacuees included a woman wearing scrubs accompanied by three children, a man accompanied by three children and eight other adults.<\/p>\n
Officials set up a PB&J sandwich station in the atrium outside the school\u2019s gymnasium, along with coffee, chips and cookies at the concession stand.\u00a0Some area residents brought by a pizza and others dropped off homemade sandwiches.<\/p>\n
Tony Bernal, 91, and his wife Hope Bernal, 71, evacuated to the shelter from their home in Comfort, which is about a block from Cypress Creek.<\/p>\n
They said they\u2019ve lived through four other floods since they moved to Comfort from San Antonio 23 years ago, and they brought their medication, water, a comb and some magazines to the shelter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had been raining all night and (her husband) said we\u2019d better think about evacuating. We started putting things in bags, and went to church to drop off some clothes so they didn\u2019t get messed up,\u201d Hope said.<\/p>\n
A neighbor came over to check on them at the request of their son, who had been unable to reach them and was concerned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got up in the morning and I told her, \u2018We\u2019d better put some clothes on because we might have to leave,\u2019\u201d said Tony, who was killing time at the shelter working on the word games and\u00a0Sudoku puzzle in the San Antonio Express-News.<\/p>\n
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.<\/p>\n
The Austin American-Statesman contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gabriella Ybarra, Tony Plohetski, Anthony Franze, Elizabeth L T Moore, Marc Duvoisin, San Antonio Express-News \u00a0|\u00a0 Hearst –…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[13184,2696,2701,31294,11103,4446,6006,2697,1074,31452,1075,11574,5026,31293,31078,31450,31451,425,728,1571,6231,451,50,450,457,15912,8743,6228,6003,646,67,132,68,313],"class_list":{"0":"post-39277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-abbott","10":"tag-accidents","11":"tag-accidents-u0026-disasters","12":"tag-dan","13":"tag-dan-patrick","14":"tag-death","15":"tag-death-u0026-tragedy","16":"tag-disasters","17":"tag-exclude","18":"tag-exclude-from-inline-linking","19":"tag-from","20":"tag-greg","21":"tag-greg-abbott","22":"tag-guadalupe","23":"tag-guadalupe-river","24":"tag-inline","25":"tag-linking","26":"tag-local","27":"tag-local-news","28":"tag-national","29":"tag-national-weather-service","30":"tag-negative","31":"tag-news","32":"tag-overall","33":"tag-overall-negative","34":"tag-patrick","35":"tag-river","36":"tag-service","37":"tag-tragedy","38":"tag-u0026","39":"tag-united-states","40":"tag-unitedstates","41":"tag-us","42":"tag-weather"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114797524198275155","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}