The Camp Mystic death toll has risen to 27 campers and counselors as authorities continue their urgent search for children still missing from the Texas floods.
The Christian all-girls summer camp, situated along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, was ravaged by the flash floods that took the Lone Star State by storm on the early morning of Fourth of July.
Roughly 750 children were likely asleep while the devastating flooding sent a wall of water through the centuries-old camp.
Camp Mystic issued a statement Monday morning confirming an updated number of fatalities from the harrowing natural disaster over the weekend.
‘We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls,’ the camp said in a statement posted on its website.
‘We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from community, first responders, and officials at every level.’
At least 10 girls and a Camp Mystic counselor are still unaccounted for.
In the floods’ aftermath, blankets, teddy bears, clothing and other belongings at the camp were caked in mud.
Windows in the cabins were shattered from the force of the surging river, which rose 30 feet above its normal level on Friday.
The beloved director of Camp Mystic, Richard ‘Dick’ Eastland, 70, died while trying to save girls as a month’s worth of rain dropped in a matter of minutes.
When the survivors were evacuated, cabins full of girls held onto a rope strung by rescuers as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs.
The floods have caused the most destruction Hill Country – dubbed ‘Flash Flood Alley’ – in Kerr County, where the camp is located.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly revealed the county has no unified emergency response system to notify residents of an oncoming disaster.
‘We’ve looked into it before … The public reeled at the cost,’ he said.
He also did not know what kind of alert system Camp Mystic had to try and get all 750 of its campers to safety.
‘What I do know is the flood hit the camp first, and it came in the middle of the night. I don’t know where the kids were,’ he added.
‘I don’t know what kind of alarm systems they had. That will come out in time.’
Beyond the camp, Texans have expressed discontent with how emergency alerts were rolled out, with many saying they were not given enough time to evacuate.
‘This wasn’t a forecasting failure,’ meteorologist Matt Lanza told the Texas Tribune. ‘It was a breakdown in communication.’
‘The warnings were there. They just didn’t get to people in time,’ he added.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined Abbott at a Saturday press conference, vowing to update the ‘ancient system’ in place.
‘The weather is extremely difficult to predict,’ Noem said. ‘But also that the National Weather Service, over the years at times, has done well and at times, we have all wanted more time and more warning and more notification.’
She said the Trump Administration is working to ‘fix’ and ‘update the technology.’
‘We needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years and that is the reforms that are ongoing there.’
She further elaborated on Fox & Friends, saying Trump is ‘working to put in new technology and a new system’ at the NWS ‘because it has been neglected for years.’
At least 82 people – including 28 children – have been killed, and at least 41 others have been reported missing across the state, but there could be more, according to Governor Greg Abbott.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management has predicted this grim number will top 100, Daily Mail can exclusively reveal.
In an email sent out Saturday, the state disaster office told partners the number of dead would surpass 100, two different sources confirmed to Daily Mail.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said in an advisory that heavy rains of up to three inches and thunderstorms could cause more flooding across the Texas Hill country on Monday.
Some area could see rain that exceeds five inches which will ‘quickly lead to flooding’, the National Weather Service has warned.
Rain has already begun to fall near Williamson County this morning and is expected to increase throughout the day.
The heaviest storms are currently near Killeen, a city in Bell County, where a flash flood warning is currently in effect.
Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding areas are among the areas predicted to be impacted by today’s storm, according to the latest NWS forecast.
Officials warn the risk of heavy rainfall remains across the region.
