Hope of finding Texas flood survivors dims as search efforts go on

By JIM VERTUNO NADIA LATHAN and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press KERRVILLE Texas AP Hope of finding survivors of the catastrophic flooding in Texas dimmed Tuesday a day after the death toll surpassed and crews kept up the search for people missing in the aftermath The search efforts benefited from improving weather The storms that battered the Hill Country for the past four days began to lighten up although isolated pockets of heavy rain were still accomplishable Texas Gov Greg Abbott planned to make another visit Tuesday to Camp Mystic the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp where at least campers and counselors died during the flash floods Administrators announced Monday that campers and one counselor have still not been discovered Campers belongings sit outside one of Camp Mystic s cabins near the Guadalupe River Monday July in Hunt Texas after a flash flood swept through the area AP Photo Eli Hartman A wall of water slammed into camps and homes along the edge of the Guadalupe River before daybreak Friday pulling people out of their cabins tents and trailers and dragging them for miles past floating tree trunks and cars Particular survivors were identified clinging to trees Questions are mounting about what if any actions local authorities took to warn campers and residents who were spending the July Fourth holiday weekend in the scenic area long known to locals as flash flood alley At constituents briefings administrators in hard-hit Kerr County have deflected questions about what preparations and warnings were made as forecasters warned of life-threatening conditions A person moves debris at Guadalupe Keys Resort an RV park in Center Point Texas after flooding Monday July AP Photo Ashley Landis We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice disclosed Monday We re looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete Several camps were aware of the dangers and monitoring the weather At least one moved several hundred campers to higher ground before the floods But various were caught by surprise Searchers have exposed the bodies of people including children in Kerr County home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps near the river functionaries noted Related Articles Wisconsin Supreme Court clears the way for a conversion therapy ban to be enacted Amazon extends Prime Day discounts to days as retailers weigh tariff-related price increases Netanyahu says he nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize From there it s a secretive process Wall Street mixed early as markets shrug off Trump s new tariff deadlines In the present day in History July Thai cave rescue Nineteen deaths were disclosed in Travis Burnet Kendall Tom Green and Williamson counties local administrators commented Among those proven dead were -year-old sisters from Dallas who were at Camp Mystic and a former soccer coach and his wife who were staying at a riverfront home Their daughters were still missing Elizabeth Lester a mother of children who were at Camp Mystic and nearby Camp La Junta during the flood noted her young son had to swim out a cabin window to escape Her daughter fled up the hillside as floodwaters whipped against her legs Both survived Search-and-rescue teams used heavy equipment to untangle trees and move large rocks as part of the massive search for missing people Hundreds of assistants have shown up to help with one of the largest rescue operations in Texas history Piles of twisted trees sprinkled with mattresses refrigerators and coolers littered the riverbanks Vertuno broadcasted from Austin and Seewer stated from Toledo Ohio Contributing to this statement were Associated Press writers Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery Alabama Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Sophia Tareen in Chicago