At least 27 people including nine children have died in the flash floods that have swept through Kerr County in central Texas.
Search and rescue operations are continuing in ‘harsh’ terrain after the Guadalupe River rose more than eight metres in less than an hour overnight Thursday and devastated several towns.
At least 27 children are missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ summer camp which is located on the river.
Emergency services have evacuated more than 850 uninjured people and eight injured people, the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office said this afternoon.
The update came as Donald Trump put out a message on Truth Social saying he and his wife Melania are ‘praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy.’
Kerr County Sheriff Larry L. Leitha told a press conference in Texas this morning, local time, that the death toll currently stands at 27, including 18 adults and nine children.
Six of the adults and one child were unidentified at the time he spoke.
‘Our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones,’ Sheriff Leitha said.
‘We are working hard to locate anyone who is still missing and to ensure they are safe.’
Rescue and recovery operations are taking place more than 24 hours into the tragic event, Sheriff Leitha told reporters.
‘We will not stop until every single person is found,’ he said.
‘We’ve got all the resources we need we’re here for the long haul.
‘As I said numbers will be changing rapidly.’
Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr said that ‘it will be a hard day’ as he outlined how people ‘from across the state and the world’ can help via following the city’s Facebook page.
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Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said there are 27 ‘potentially missing campers’ while ‘the unknown is how many people were here visiting, on vacation, doing other things in the community that we do not have numbers [for].’
‘These numbers are going to change throughout the day,’ Mr Rice said.
He said a ‘primary search’ is taking place covering a ‘harsh environment’ with personnel turning over rocks and searching culverts and trees.
Trump said on the social network that his administration is working with state and local officials on the ground in Texas.
He wrote: ‘Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best. GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES, AND GOD BLESS TEXAS!’
Camp Mystic was devastated by the flooding as the disaster in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise.
‘The camp was completely destroyed,’ said 13-year-old Elinor Lester, one of hundreds of campers at Mystic.
‘A helicopter landed and started taking people away.
‘It was really scary.’
One young girl was shown being rescued after clinging to a tree for safety.
More rain is expected in central Texas today, which may bring heavy downpours and flooding due to a slow-moving storm over the region, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecaster Jason Runyen said the threat could last into Sunday morning.
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