TEXAS, July 5: At least 13 people are dead, and at least 20 children are missing, after torrential rain in the American state of Texas caused massive flooding, according to the News.com.up.
The flooding occurred today across much of central Texas, most devastatingly at a Christian summer camp for girls, Camp Mystic, which is located next to the Guadalupe River.
The camp, which hosts up to 750 girls, was brutally affected by the floodwaters, which at one point saw the river swell by eight meters in just 45 minutes.
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The bodies of both adults and children have been retrieved by emergency responders.
“Within 45 minutes, the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet, and it was a destructive flood, taking property and, sadly, lives,” Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, filling in for the holidaying Governor Greg Abbott, said during a news conference.
He said the area had copped about 12 inches (300 millimeters) of rain per hour.
There are more than 700 emergency responders on the ground and in the air, searching for survivors and those in need of aid. They’re being helped by 14 helicopters and 12 drones.
“That does not mean they’ve been lost,” Mr Patrick said of the missing girls, saying everyone was “praying for them to be found alive.”
“They could be in a tree; they could be out of communication.”
