At least 161 people are still missing in a single county in Texas four days after sudden deadly and devastating floods struck the parts of the state last week, said governor Greg Abbott, while Hope fades so that the survivors are found alive.
The disappeared in Kerr counting for sure include five campers and a Camp Mystic councilor, a Christian summer camp of the girls located on the banks of the Guadalupe river.
At least 109 people died in the event of a disaster, including 94 in the Kerrville region, Abbott said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Texas is not alone. New Mexico now notes an emergency of sudden floods also, with the National Weather Service (NWS) warning intense floods on Tuesday evening.
Frenched research and rescue efforts continue in Texas, with Abbott who promising emergency teams “will not stop until each disappeared person is counted”.
Abbott added that it is most likely more missing to miss the list in the coming days and urged people to point out anyone who thinks they are not counted.
General Thomas Suelzer of the Texas National Guard said that research efforts include Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters with rescue palans.
He said there were 13 Black Hawk helicopters helping in the research effort, including four who arrived from Arkansas. He added that the authorities also used Reaper drones.
In New Mexico, the NWS said the urgency of sudden floods on Tuesday and told residents of Ruidoso, New Mexico, to be on high alert for floods.
Officials are already working to save people trapped in flood waters and the houses have been swept away.
A wave of flooding on the Rio Ruidoso reached 15 feet (4.5 m), said the NWS to Albuquerque in a post on X.
“Looking away from the river! Look for a higher ground now!” They wrote.
In Texas, stakeholders from various agencies work together on rescue efforts, including agents from Border Patrol, FBI and the National Guard.
More than 250 responders from various agencies were assigned to the Kerrville region to help research and rescue.
Questions have been raised to find out if the authorities provided adequate warnings before the disaster and why people were not evacuated earlier.
Experts say that there were a number of factors that contributed to the tragedy in Texas, including extreme weather, the location of holiday homes and timing.
The governor, who had spent part of the day studying the flood zone, said the authorities had issued a storm warning and knew a possible sudden flood, but “did not know the scale of the storm”.
No one knew it would lead to a “30-foot tsunami wall,” he said.
The governor answered a question about who was going to “blame” for the huge death report, saying: “This is the word choice of losers.”
He has made a sporting analogy, saying that American football teams are making mistakes; The champion teams are those who do not “point their fingers”.
Most of the victims died in Kerr county, where the Guadalupe river was swollen by torrential showers before Daybreak on Friday, the fourth holiday.
Camp Mystic had confirmed earlier than at least 27 girls and the staff were one of the dead.
They said in a statement on Monday: “Our hearts are broken alongside our families who endure this unimaginable tragedy.”
President Donald Trump will go to areas ravaged by floods with First Lady Melania Trump on Friday.
