Texas flash floods death toll rises to 43, including 15 children, with dozens missing near Guadalupe River

At least 43 people, including 15 children, have been confirmed dead following flash floods in Texas, as rescuers continue a frantic search for dozens more campers, holidaymakers and residents who are still missing.

The toll will likely rise, authorities said, as localities beyond the main site of the disaster in Kerr County were affected by the flooding. A Travis County official said four people had died from the flooding there, with 13 unaccounted for, and officials reported another death in Kendall County.

Some news organisations reported the death toll was already as high as 52. Reuters could not confirm that.

Officials said more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 38cm of rain in an area around the Guadalupe River, about 140km northwest of San Antonio.

Among the missing were 27 girls from the Camp Mystic summer camp, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice told a press conference on Saturday evening, and there may be others beyond that.

“We will not put a number on the other side because we just don’t know.,” Rice said.

The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly as high as nine metres.

“Nobody saw this coming,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top local official in the region.

The National Weather Service said the flash flood emergency has largely ended for Kerr County, following thunderstorms that dumped more than 3ocm of rain. That is half of the total the region sees in a typical year.

Kerr County sits in the Texas Hill Country, a rural area known for its rugged terrain, historic towns and tourist attractions.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said an unknown number of visitors had come to the area for an Independence Day celebration by the river.

“We don’t know how many people were in tents on the side, in small trailers by the side, in rented homes by the side,” he said on Fox News Live.

Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp, had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood, according to Patrick.

A day after the disaster struck, the camp was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least two metres from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, one had a missing wall.

Another girls’ camp in the area, Heart O’ the Hills, said on its website that co-owner Jane Ragsdale had died in the flood but no campers had been present.

In Comfort, a town downriver from Camp Mystic, huge trees were pulled out and scattered around the river by the floods, with several blocking roads. While the main highway from San Antonio to affected areas remained mainly intact, some two-lane bridges were severely damaged by water.

“Complete shock. I’m still in shock today,” said Tonia Fucci who was in Comfort visiting her grandmother.

“You know, it’s not going to be a good ending. It’s just not going to be. There’s no way people could have survived the swiftness of the water.”

Videos posted online showed bare concrete platforms where homes used to stand and piles of rubble along the banks of the river. Rescuers plucked residents from rooftops and trees, sometimes forming human chains to fetch people from the floodwater.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a press conference he had asked President Donald Trump to sign a disaster declaration, which would unlock federal aid for those affected.

The administration has cut thousands of jobs from the National Weather Service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said.

with ap