Texas flooding flash flood Camp Mystic: 68 dead in Kerr County, including 28 children, with 11 still missing - what's happened?
The death toll from the catastrophic Texas floods has risen to at least 82 — with dozens more people missing and the number of those killed only expected to rise.
At least 68 are dead at the flooding’s epicenter in Kerr County, while 12 more were killed in other counties, according to officials. The confirmed dead in Kerr were 40 adults and 28 children. Still, multiple adult victims and four of the children there have not yet been able to be properly identified.
So far there have been 525 rescue operations across the state, with 366 being conducted by air. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said that 11 girls and one counsellor are still missing from Camp Mystic, the Christian girls’ summer camp just off the banks of the Guadalupe River. Five campers, ages 8 and 9, have been confirmed dead in the flooding — along with the camp’s owner.
Late Saturday, missing camper Anne Margaret Bellows’ mother told NBC 5 that authorities had recovered her daughter’s body. Bellows’ mother said that her daughter had been staying in the same cabin as Renee Smajstrla, Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, whose bodies were all recovered Saturday.
Linnie McCown, another girl at Camp Mystic, was also found dead, her father Michael confirmed to the Austin-American Statesman on Sunday. “She filled our hearts with so much joy we cannot begin to explain. We are going to miss her so very much but know she’s up there shining bright,” Michael wrote on social media.
A flash flood threat remains in place overnight and is expected to last through Monday in parts of Texas Hill Country, according to the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio. Additional rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches and isolated amounts of up to 10 inches could occur in the watch advisory area, which includes Austin, San Antonio, Kerrville and other surrounding areas, the weather service advised in a post on X early Monday.