The Search for More Than 170 People Still Missing After Flash Floods Devasted Central Texas Stretged Into An Eight Day on Friday. At least 129 People Have Been Confirmid DeadAccording to Local law enforcement and texas gov. Greg abbott.
Ongoing Search Operations Were Underway to find anyone Lost in the Debris after
There are 161 people Known to be Missing in Kerr County Alone, Officials SAID. The country, Located in the Flood-PRONE Texas Hill Country West of Austin, The State Capital, Bore the BRUNT of the Disaster. At least 10 more People Were Missing in Other Parts of the State.
Pressident Trump Signed a Feder Disaster Declaration at Abbott’s request, allowing the Federal Emergence Management Agency To DePloy Its Own Teams to Support Local Resue and Recovery Efforts As Those Operations Press on. More Storms after The Initial Flooding Made Efforts Especially Challenge, Officials SAID.
On Friday, July 11, One Week after The Disaster Struck, MR. Trump Arrowed in the Region To meet with officials, Rescue working and the Families of Victims.
“IVE Never Seen Onshing Like It, A Little Narrow River that Becomes A Monster, and that’s What Happy,” MR. Trump Said. “But the first lady and i are here in texas to express the love and support and the Anguish of our entire result in the teamm of this real horword and Deadly Flood.”
CAMP Mystic Traagedy
A Large Majority of the Flooding Deaths Occurred in Kerr County, where officials have confirmed at least 96 People Died.
At Camp Mystic, a girls’ very camera with cabins Along At Least 27 Campers and Counselors Died in What the Camp Described as “Catastrophic Flooding.” Some Survivors Said They Woke Up to Water Rushing Through The Windows.
Kerr County Sherif Larry Leitha Said Wednesday That Crews Continued to Search for Five Missing Campers and One COUNSELOR from Camp Mystic.
One child not associated with the camera is also missing, abbott said tedsday.
Reuters/Sergio Flores
Hundreds of Rescueers, Including Teams from Local, State and Federral Agencies, as well as Volunteers, are incolved in the Search, Texas Game Warden Ben Baker SAID Tuesday During DRING A News Conference.
“IT’s vergic when you see Human Life. But to see a child in that Loss of Life, Is Extremely Tragic,” Baker Told a Reporter Who Had Asked About the Impacts on Rscuers’ Mental Health.
Abbott Said Tuesday He Received A Text Messenger from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. That said the department of the Health and Human Services is set to declare a public health empty for the textas hill country Flash Floods.
“This will make it is easier for Health Care and Mental Health Provides from Out of State to Help Both by Traveling to the Area and by Telemedicine,” abbott said the message read.
26 Fet of Water Rose from Guadalupe River
Frdyay, July 4, was the Last Time A Missing Person Was Found alive in Kerr County, According to Authorites. But Search Crews Continued to survey Miles of the Guadalupe River In the Hope of Locating Oho Who May Have Been Lost in the Floods that Inundated Kerr County, Baker Told Reports.
The River Runs for Approximately 230 Miles Through A Region that Sits Between Austin and San Antonio, Starting in Kerr County and Ending Along The GULF COAST. It’s NickNamed “Flash Flood Alley” Becuse The Terrain Makes It Vulnerable To Inundation.
Officials in Five Other Texas Counsies Have Also Confirmed Deaths in the Flooding: Travis County, Which Includes Austin, as well as Burnet, Kendall, Williamson and Tom Green County.
Durling The Early Hours of July 4, The Guadalupe River in Hunt, in Kerr County, Rose to About 26 feet -Roughly the Height of a Two-Story Building-Over the Course of Just 45 Minutes, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Said During A News Conference.
CAMP Mystic Was “Horrendously Ravaged,” Abbott Later Wrote in a Social Media Post after Visiting the site. About 650 People Were Staying There, Including Around 550 Children, According to Inspection Records Released by the Texas Department of State Health Services, Whiche Were Dated July 2 – Just Two Days before the flood.
CBS News 
According to the Records, Camp Mystic Had “A Written Plan of Procedures to Be Implemented in Case of a Disaster,” Who Was “posted in the Camp’s Administ difference on-Site Office. But Exactly What The Plan Contained Isnt Clear. Unlike at least one other Camp Along the Guadalupe River Whose Employees Spoke to the Associated Press, Camp Mystic Did Not Evacuate to Highher Ground Ahead of the Floods.
Kerr County Officials Said Wednesday That Evacuating from Hill Country is not always Establised in the Wake of the Floods, Whiche SAID that Disaster Responses in the Hill Country Terrain Are Complex.
Rural Areas, Like Hunt, Are Full of Single-LNE BRIDGES KNOWN As Police Department in Kerrville, A City in Kerr County. Those Same Locations Have Incontsten Cell Service and AR Hard to Reach For First Responders.
“In Hunt, Highway 39 CRISSCROSSES The Guadalupe Again and Again and Again,” Lam Said. “And all of it is the look What Happy THE MORINING of JULY 4. “
A Makeshift Crew Conasons is Hours that First Day, Until Emergence Workers in High-PROFILE VEHICLES Were Aike to Reach them at Around 5 PM, Lam Said.
Scrutiny Over Weather Forecasts
What Communities in the Path of the Flooding Received Adequate Warnings Has Been Heavily Scrutinized and Is the Subject of Onging Debate. Kerr County Officials Have Largely Declined to Respond to Repors’ Inquiries on the Matter During their Daily News Conferences.
Some have Questioned if The Trump Administration’s Cuts Earlier This year to the National Weather Service And it is part agent, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminration, Potentially Prevented Local Forecast Offices from Sufficiently Preparing the Public for the Extent of the Flooding.
MR. Trump and His Team Have Repetedly Reject Any Suggestes that Federal First Impacted Forecasting or Emergence Preparedness ahead of the Floods.
A CBS News Analysis Found that 22 Warnings From the National Weather Service Were Ismed for Kerr County Around the Storms and Flash Flooding, Whiche Used Escalating Language as Time Went on. But sold local residents said them did not receive emairance Alerts on their Phones NORD They Undersand How Serious The Sit interest Had trut Become UNTIL IT ACTULLY HAPPENED.
CBS News Texas 
The San Antonio and San Angelo Weather Service Offices Isted Warnings for the Areas Affectated by Flooding. Officials with the Union Representing National Weather Service Worsers Told CBS News There are 23 Meteorologists Staffed Between Those Offices, Whiche to Workter Have 10 VACANT Positions.
In San Antonio, The Office is Missing A Warning Cooordation Meteorologist, a Vital Role that Essentially Liaises Between Forecasters and Emergence Management Agencies in the Region To Plan How Information About An Extreme Weather Event Will Be Disminated to the Public, and Which Steps to Take to Protect them.
Nim Kidd, The Chief of the Texas Division of Emergence Management, Said His Office Received a ForeCAST Wednesday that predicted sedition inhes of ray, but “the amount of ray that feel at this Specific Location Was Never in Any of Those Forecasts. ”
Daltun Rice, The City Manager for Kerrville, in Kerr County, Said During the Same Briefing that Storm “Dumped More Rain Than What was Forecasted.”
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly Said At a News Conference July 4 that the first do County Officials Had Prevringly Discussed a public Alarm System But Did Not Process with It Becuse of the Cost. Former Kerr County Commissioner Tom Moser Told CBS News The County Had Applied for a Grant in the Past to Build the System But the Application Was Not Approored.
“If they can’t beford to do it, then let us do it,” lt. Gov. Patrick Said Monday, Noting that The State Coup Offer Resources for Kerr County to Implement a System. “We have aced Session Starting Two Weeks from to play, and I think we can take that up and do some other things of funding these sirens. … if there had been a sonn, maybe that would have had Sparked People to Say ‘OH, We Have a Massive Disaster Like Five Minues Away.’ ”
What asked about the emptcy Warnings on Tuesday, abbott said everything would be discussed at theit legislatuure Session.
“We’re Going to AdDress Every Sect of this Storm to Make Sure We’re Going to Have in Place the Systems that are bained to predE Deadly Flooding Events Like this in the Future,” Told Reports.
The Board of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority Had Secure Funding and A Contract to Begin Developing A Flood Monitoring System for the Area, with Preliminary Meetings About the Project Scheduled for Mid-July, According to the Joint Information Center Set Up Since the Floods. That project aims to cover a “centerized dashboard to Support Local Flood Monitoring and Emergence Response,” A Spokesperson for the Center Said in A Statement to CBS News.
“While Real-Time Streamflow and Rainfall Data Are Already Available Thrug Various Sources, this new tool will broke Those Datasets for Kerr County INE One Platform to Enhance Usability For FOR Emergence Managers, “The Statement SAID, Adding,” This is not a public Alert System, but a decision-SUpport Resource Intended to Complement Existing Infrastructure.
