Death toll in Texas floods rises to 78

The death toll from flash floods that rampaged through Central Texas rose to at least 78 overnight as rescuers manoeuvring through challenging terrain found more bodies and continued their desperate search for many others, including 11 missing girls from a summer camp.

In Kerr County, home to Camp Mystic and other youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said.

He pledged to keep searching in that Hill Country region until “everybody is found" from Friday's flash floods.

10 other deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, according to local officials.

The death toll is certain to rise over the next few days, said Col. Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said there were 41 people confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.

Rescuers dealt with broken trees, overturned cars and muck-filled debris in the difficult task of finding survivors.

Families were allowed to look around the camp Sunday morning while nearby crews operating heavy equipment pulled tree trunks and tangled branches out of the water as they searched along a riverbank. Thunder rumbled from a new storm.

A woman and a teenage girl, both wearing rubber waders, briefly went inside one of the cabins, which stood next to a pile of soaked mattresses, a storage trunk and clothes.

At one point, the pair doubled over, sobbing before they embraced.

With each passing hour, the outlook of finding more survivors became even more bleak. Volunteers and some families of the missing who drove to the disaster zone searched the riverbanks despite being asked not to do so.

Authorities faced growing questions about whether enough warnings were issued in area long vulnerable to flooding and whether enough preparations were made.

US President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County, activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Texas.

The president said he would likely visit Friday. "I would have done it today, but we’d just be in their way," he told reporters before boarding Air Force One back to Washington after spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

"It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible."

The destructive, fast-moving waters rose eight metres on the river in only 45 minutes before daybreak Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. The danger was not over as flash flood watches remained in effect and more rain fell in central Texas on Sunday.

Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue people stranded in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads.

Officials said more than 850 people were rescued in the first 36 hours.

Governor Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state.

"I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday — for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines,” he said in a statement.

In Rome, Pope Leo XIV offered special prayers for those touched by the disaster.

History’s first American pope spoke in English at the end of his Sunday noon blessing, “I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.”

The hills along the Guadalupe River are dotted with century-old youth camps and campgrounds where generations of families have come to swim and enjoy the outdoors.

Survivors shared terrifying stories of being swept away and clinging to trees as rampaging floodwaters carried trees and cars past them. Others fled to attics inside their homes, praying the water wouldn’t reach them.

At Camp Mystic, a cabin full of girls held onto a rope strung by rescuers as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs.

Among those confirmed dead were an 8-year-old girl from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was at Camp Mystic, and the director of another camp up the road.

Locals know the area as “flash flood alley” but the flooding in the middle of the night caught many campers and residents by surprise even though there were warnings.

The National Weather Service on Thursday advised of potential flooding and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.

At the Mo-Ranch Camp in the community of Hunt, officials had been monitoring the weather and opted to move several hundred campers and attendees at a church youth conference to higher ground.

At nearby Camps Rio Vista and Sierra Vista, organisers also had mentioned on social media that they were watching the weather the day before ending their second summer session Thursday.

Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expect such an intense downpour, the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.

US Rep. Chip Roy, whose district includes the ravaged area, acknowledged that there would be second-guessing and finger-pointing as people look for someone to blame.