Floods leave many dead

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Texas Hill Country was beset by death and disaster Friday after multiple fatalities were reported from months worth of heavy rain that fell in a matter of hours, leaving search teams to conduct boat rescues as fast-moving water threatened riverfront communities and children's summer camps.

As much as 10 inches of heavy rain poured down in just a few hours overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River.

Teams conducted dozens of rescues, and the emergency response continued as an unknown number of people remained unaccounted for. People with children and relatives at area summer camps pleaded for information about their loved ones endangered by the flooding.

Judge Rob Kelly, the chief elected official in the county, confirmed fatalities from the flooding and dozens of water rescues so far. He said he was advised not to cite specific numbers and said authorities are still working to identify those whose lives were lost.

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"Most of them, we don't know who they are," Kelly said during a news conference. "One of them was completely naked, he didn't have any ID on him at all. We're trying to get the identity of these folks, but we don't have it yet."

A flood watch issued Thursday afternoon estimated isolated amounts up to 7 inches of rising water. That shifted to a flood warning for at least 30,000 people overnight.

When asked about the suddenness of the flash flooding, Kelly said "we do not have a warning system" and that "we didn't know this flood was coming," even as local reporters pointed to the warnings and pushed him for answers about why more precautions weren't taken.

"Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming," he said. "We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States."

The Texas Hill Country, a scenic and rocky gateway to booming vineyards and vacation rentals, begins west of the state capital and is a popular outdoor summer getaway. Parts of the region are prone to flash flooding.

Dozens of people posted on Facebook asking for information on their children, nieces and nephews attending one of the many camps in the area, or family members that went camping during the holiday weekend.

Ingram Fire Department posted a photo of a statement from Camp Mystic, saying the private Christian summer camp for girls experienced "catastrophic level floods." Parents with a daughter not accounted for were directly contacted, the camp said.

Another camp on the river located east of Hunt, Camp Waldemar, said in an Instagram post that "we are all safe and sound."

Meanwhile, strong thunderstorms were being blamed for at least three deaths in central New Jersey, including two men in Plainfield who died after a tree fell onto a vehicle they were traveling in during the height of a storm there, according to a city Facebook post.

The men were ages 79 and 25, officials said. They were not immediately publicly identified.

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